I am hosting a Passover Seder tomorrow night, so tonight the Passover baking began. I no longer do any cooking ahead of time. As usual, my day descended into a panic when I realized there simply were not enough hours to finish an article that was due today and get to the grocery store to pick up my meats and perishables. My day started at 7:30 with a phone interview, and went non-stop from there. Hubby, bless his heart, surprised me by coming home early, and (yay!) getting the groceries.
The baking began with Hubby, who took the lead around 4:30 p.m. By the time I was done with my work, Hubby had already baked a potato kugel (somehow alchemized from a mix for potato pancakes) and a box of Passover brownies. I began the challenging job of boiling water. And microwaving frozen leftover chili for dinner in The Great Pre-Passover Eat-Down (for details of tonight’s Passover Eat-Down, click here).
I even multi-tasked! While the water, which I soon filled with Passover egg noodles, boiled away, I made tortilla strips for the chili (more of the Great Pre-Passover Eat-Down). While the chili microwaved, I rinsed the noodles and let them drain. Eventually, I managed to turn the noodles into a sweet noodle kugel. No phone calls to Mom required, for the first time ever! Did I mention that I baked it in our toaster oven?
After putting the kugel into the toaster oven, I sprinted into the next baking project: Passover cookies (from a box, of course). Now, I’ll repeat that I do not bake, so Hubby came in to supervise, at my insistence. Immediately, he wanted to deviate from the package instructions and use his Ultra Power Professional Mixer instead of my brute strength to mix the dough. A small argument ensued, as apparently, I have gained enough confidence to now have opinions about how to make things in the kitchen.
To resolve our dispute, I did the only thing I could do: I called my Mommy. It was, in fact, the second call of the night to her. The first had been from Hubby, because I couldn’t remember how she turns chocolate chips into brownie topping (sprinkle them over the hot cake and spread them around as they melt, it turns out). Mom resolved our argument: Do not use the mixer on the cookie dough because it breaks up the chocolate chips, which would be a true tragedy.
What do 3/4-inch balls look like?
Now, I won’t go into the details, but suffice to say I required several baking consultations with Hubby. For example, what do 3/4-inch balls look like? That’s what the box said to do with the cookie dough: form into in 3/4-inch balls. I have seen these types of instructions before. Are there strange little baking/cooking rulers out there that I don’t know about?
I’m sure I formed the balls wrong, because I also ended up with an incorrect number of cookies, far fewer than the box promised me. I am still anxious about this issue, as I’m sure it means the cookies will somehow not be tasty because they are too big. I mean, sure, I ate a couple hot out of the oven (oh shut up – you’ve done it, too), but will my company like them?
I made a double recipe of the cookies, and it took two sessions to cook them. They didn’t all cook evenly, so it’s kind of like having three different cookies: one under-cooked, one slightly burnt and one that might be just right.
By the time 9:40 rolled around, I couldn’t cook any more. I felt like I’d accomplished a lot. Until I realized all I made was a kugel and some cookies. Sigh.
I’m taking a poll: Who wants Mom’s Kugel recipe (origin unknown but likely the back of a bag of noodles)? If enough of you ask for it, I’ll put it in a future blog. Right now, I’m about to fall asleep.
