Yep, it is hot again today so of course it is Day 2 of
Today we decided to try our hand at BAKING! Of course, our "oven" was the car. What a fun project for a hot, hot day! And all you really need is a car and a hot, sunshine day!
I really wanted to make chocolate chip cookies however "no chocolate chips". I know, how can a house be without chocolate chips! Guess we need to get to the store stat. Working with what we had, we whipped up a batch of Betty Crocker sugar cookies. I absolutely love the Betty Crocker cookie packages - so quick and easy and can be easily doctored up. I like to add almond extract to the sugar cookies. I also like to add chocolate chips to the peanut butter cookies. Mmmmmmmm. But I digress.
We mixed up the dough. I used the cut-out cookie recipe as it uses less butter and I felt that with the low cooking temp, we would need a dry dough. We pressed out our balls of dough into thin round cookies and for some fun, we added sprinkles. I really wanted red, white & blue but alas, we were all out.
I placed the pan on the dashboard in full sunlight and went back in the house and set the timer for 30 minutes. We went out and checked them every 30 minutes to see how they were coming.
30 minutes - starting to melt
60 minutes - starting to puff up a bit and you can see
some of the butter is melting out of the cookies.
It took our cookies about 2 hours to fully bake. They don't really brown like they would in a higher temp oven, however you can tell they are done when the edges begin to feel a bit crispy and the centers start to look a bit dry. When checking them, we tried not to open the car door too much so as not to let the heat escape.
The taste testers gave their sign of approval. Of course, dipping the warm cookies in a nice cold glass of milk was in order! Such a fun treat!
So here is my advice.
* This project takes a lot of patience, 2-3+ hours from start to completion (depending on the heat of your car). If your kids are helping, make sure you have something to entertain them while they are "waiting".
* The cookies are soft and gooey when baked at such a low temp. I think a chocolate chip cookie would be awesome as they are so good when they are warm and gooey. Sugar cookies, in my opinion, are best when they are a bit crispier. Pre-made refrigerator dough would be awesome!
* Use a good heavy metal pan that will hold the heat well as this helps the baking process. Make sure to use pot holders when removing the pan from the car as it gets very warm.
* Line your baking sheet with parchment so the cookies don't stick to the pan. The cookies are very soft when you remove them from the car. I was able to pull the parchment off the baking sheet onto the counter to more quickly cool the cookies a bit so they could be picked up. Bonus is it makes clean-up a breeze.
I hope you give this a try. It was a lot of fun. I have plans for another sweet treat tomorrow. See you then!
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This series is so funny. It is hot here too but not that hot :)
ReplyDeleteThat is hysterical!! I can't believe you can actually bake cookies in your car. Now when you climb into a hot car and declare it an "oven", it really is!
ReplyDeleteI will have to try this...it get in the triple digits here. So it's like an oven in the car.
ReplyDeleteNo way! I never would have thought of this and I'm shocked that it worked! So how hot did it get in there?
ReplyDeleteI never would have thought that would work. Too funny. You know I'm going to try that eventually.
ReplyDeleteI think this might work here...we've had record setting heat this year! My boys would probably enjoy this a lot too :)
ReplyDeletewhat a nifty idea, i think this is really cool!
ReplyDeleteWay to go on embracing the heat!
ReplyDeleteThat is such a good idea! I hate heating up the oven when it's hot out.
ReplyDeleteI've always said it's hot enough to bake cookies in the car, now you've proved that to be true!
ReplyDeleteI once had 2 cookie sheets in my car for about 7 months (in between a move). People at work picked on me and said that I was baking cookies in my car. I never would've thought that people actually do it! :) That's awesome!
ReplyDeletehow neat! I just posted your link on my blog. I had to share-I know we could do this here in florida
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh! I would have never thought of this! They turned out yummy looking! I bet that was so fun for the kids to see!
ReplyDeleteWow, thanks Couponing in Central Florida! I love that you shared this strange & silly idea! It was alot of fun!
ReplyDeleteIf you can bake cookies in your car, ALWAYS double check to make sure the children are out of it!
ReplyDeleteWhat a cute idea!!
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