Oh Yummy, Cookies!

I did some baking today. I used the mashed black beans. The instructions were to put the cooked beans through a food processor to mash them. I don't have a food processor, so I tried a potato masher. Didn't work, the beans were too small. Neither did the mixer. The beater just went around and around. I knew the blender wouldn't work, the beans were too thick and to add enough water for the blender to work would have made them too soupy. So I used a fork. My arm got so sore. Fibromyalgia can be a real bummer sometimes.

I talked to all three daughters today. My birthday is close to Mother's Day. I always get asked what I want for my birthday, Mother's Day or Christmas gift. I usually can't think of anything.... This year I have it! A NICE, STURDY, FOOD PROCESSOR. No beating around the bush, this is what I would like..... they were glad I told them something for once. They can combine my birthday with Mother's day and pool together with the boys. I really want a food processor.

I also would really like my own kitchen, but that would be a bit more and outside their budgets. I have been living in other people's homes for a year and a half. I'm grateful for the home to live in, it just isn't the same. That is one of the reasons I haven't done much baking for some time. The other reason was a sciatic nerve injury that is thankfully almost completely healed. I was bedridden for months and months. I was told it would take 12 to 15 months, it has been 13.5 months. I hope by 15 months the pain will be completely gone, but I can live with what I have now.

Back to the cookies. I replaced half the butter with mashed beans but also did too many other changes in the recipe. I reduced the sugar to half the amount and I added additional flour. I need to make the modifications one at a time and test the results. It's like a science project, process of elimination or some other logical method to get the recipe right. I'm too impatient....lesson learned, one at a time.

The cookies didn't flatten out thinly or fall apart, so that was an improvement. They also looked like they had chocolate chips in them, thanks to the black beans. This was on purpose, I wanted to see how the beans looked in the cookies after they were baked although I don't know WHY I wanted to see how they looked.

The thought of eating a chocolate chip cooking was exciting to Alison, I could see it on her face. I didn't tell her they were chocolate chips, she just assumed. She gladly accepted the cookie. She took a bite. YUMMY! she exclaimed..... then she stopped chewing.... I found the cookie on the floor where she had been standing a few minutes later.

The cookies weren't bad, they were okay, just not chocolate chip, and not overly sweet. I think I will need to add back some of the sugar I deleted.

The Xantham gum worked great so I'm pleased with that part of it. I will post the recipe when I am satisfied with the results.

I tasted a Norwegian Lefse that was left over from yesterday. I had placed them in the fridge and pulled one out today to see how it tasted. YUK!!! It was not good. The next step was to reheat it and see if that made it better..... it did! It just tasted pretty awful cold. I will still use them as tortilla shells for burritos, etc, but will definitely heat them first. Chloe even liked it after I heated it back up.

I got an email today, my Sunday School class was canceled for this Sunday so I won't be taking any of my successes to Church with me. I will be going to the regular class. This gives me an extra week to perfect my experiments. I'm not sure why I'm feeling such a drive to get this right and share it with that class. I do have a competitive nature, even if all I'm competing with is myself.

I usually have Friday's off, not watching my granddaughters, but Tiff needs me tomorrow night. She is attending a meeting associated with her internship and won't be back til late, so I'm spending the night. She is graduating in June with a B.S. in Criminal Justice. I'm very proud of my daughter. Getting this degree has been a challenge.... doing anything with little kids in tow is a challenge. Please pray for her that she will be able to get a good job.