Anyone else NOT a baker -- just a vent (LOL)

[mlktwins]

So...I started some holiday baking today.  It isn't going well!!!  So...once I finish the current batch of cookies, I'm calling it!

 

Anyone else here willing to admit that baking isn't your thing?  Every year I have these grand plans for baking Christmas goodies, giving them as gifts, spending quality time with my boys (who apparently like to eat them, but not do the baking - LOL), etc.  Well...I am done.  I don't enjoy it, I'm not very good at it, and I stress over it every year.  My mom baked wonderful Christmas cookies (she is gone now) and my MIL is a good baker (makes her own pie crust kind of baker), but she is too old to do it anymore.  I'm just going to admit defeat and not worry at all about it next year.  My boys and DH enjoy making pretzel hugs so I will get to that this year, but that is it.  One of my boys is building his Lego Christmas train and I would rather be on the floor doing that with him than in the kitchen making cookies that don't look very good -- LOL.

 

Oh...it feels good just to admit it to someone!

 

 

 

 

 

[Pink and Green Mom]

I hate baking and I stink at it.

 

My DS13 really wanted roll out sugar cookies this year.  I have never been able to do it right - dough stuck to rolling pin, flour all over the place, etc.  I told him he could make them if he did all the work and clean up.  He did, but said he would never do it again.

 

But I hear you.  And if it makes you feel any better, I helped at my older son's teacher appreciation lunch at school - they asked for 75 vounteers to each bring in 2 dozen cookies so the teachers could take a nice assortment home.  I would say the split between homemade and store bought was 50/50, or even more store bought than homemade.  So don't feel bad.

[Joyofsixreboot]

Go with your strengths. I can bake but car ed not one whit about decorating. To paraphrase Christmas was made foryou, you weren't made for Christmas.

 

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[Carol in Cal.]

I like to bake things that taste good; however, making them beautiful is a hurdle I have not surmounted.  That is all.

[Arcadia]

There are a handful of items I can bake well, even then I supplement with store bought baked items. My DS13 started baking and there were quite a few disasters. Now he is eyeing a KitchenAid mixer but I don’t have the countertop space for one.

 

Growing up my relatives always baked chocolate sponge cake for gatherings because any “defects†is easily covered by frosting the cake or serving a slice of cake with a scoop of ice-cream.

 

ETA:

The first time I baked cookies as a kid, it taste like rock buns. My cousins happily ate them up nonetheless.

Edited December 21, 2017 by Arcadia

[Guest]

I make easy stuff. Melted Rolo on a pretzel, Christmas Crack, etc. I do make hard candy but it is easy. No cut-out cookies in this house!

[alisoncooks]

I'm not much of a baker. I had 2 cookie recipes that I wanted to make today, but I decided I just DIDN'T WANT TO. I have enough to do before we travel, and I don't want to spend my time in the kitchen. (Mostly it's the baking-related cleaning that I don't want to be bothered with).

[rainbowmama]

There are things I can bake well, but if it involves rolling stuff out, forget it

[OneStepAtATime]

Pillsbury...

 

https://www.pillsbury.com/products/cookies/holiday-shape-cookies/christmas-tree

 

 

There are certain things I can bake.  From scratch cookies are not in that category.

 

:lol:

[Kassia]

We use refrigerated sugar cookie dough for cut-outs.  I would bake more, but the kids aren't really interested and baked goods are way too much temptation for me.  I always end up eating 3/4 of what I bake!  The sugar cookies don't tempt me and we all have fun decorating them.

Edited December 21, 2017 by Kassia

[fraidycat]

I’m not a baker.

 

The extent of my baking is that I’ll make myself a grain free chocolate cake every now and again if I’m hungry for cake and cream. But, I don’t even have to do that very often because my sister-in-law loves to bake and she loves me ;), so she makes me cakes. Lol

 

Eta: and monster cookies. A Christmas eve tradition that will probably not happen this year. The kids are over Santa now.

Edited December 21, 2017 by fraidycat

[GinaPagnato]

Man, I cook for HUGE eaters every.single.day. Ain't no way I'm spending more time in the kitchen just to bake! Plus, I would eat too much, and I can't afford the weight gain.

 

We get so many goodies every year from friends, neighbors, and DH's work, so nobody's sugar-deprived over here, lol.

Edited December 21, 2017 by GinaPagnato

[KungFuPanda]

I’m not talented, but I have a few easy recipes that I can churn out. I’m partial to the doughs you roll into tubes then slice and bake. I don’t do the fussy decorating stuff. My dh lives biscotti and he might get a batch every other year :-)

[freesia]

I like to bake things that taste good; however, making them beautiful is a hurdle I have not surmounted. That is all.

Me, too. And actually my desserts taste great --for some reason I am really good at getting sweet things to taste awesome. They just aren't much to look at no matter how hard I try.

[JustEm]

Dh is the baker in this family. Everything he makes is so delicious and often time pretty. I am not a baker and don't need another reason to be in the kitchen.

[SparklyUnicorn]

There are so many places to get baked good that I say there is no point in baking if you hate it!

 

I like baking.  Problem is I don't really eat that stuff, but I don't mind making it. 

[maize]

Not a baker.

 

My 14 year old is taking an interest in baking though.

[Soror]

I'm not ashamed to see I'm not much of a baker. I'm a cook as I'd much rather be a book. Baked goods you can do without and are mostly unhealthy anyway, pfft!

 

I do something here and there but no big baking extravaganzas at my house unless it is my daughter doing it.

[mlktwins]

OP here!  Love reading everyone's comments  :lol: !!!!

 

My last batch is in the oven, the dishwasher is loaded, the KitchenAid mixer bowl (which may never be used again -- LOL) is soaking.  2 pans and 2 cooling racks and I can close this thing out.

 

Funny thing is, these are just chocolate chip cookies  :laugh: !!!  I have made this same recipe for years.  The only thing I did different is to make a double batch of dough at one time.  They taste great, but look like crap -- LOL!  I tried them in 2 different ovens.  I would share a picture, but I'm too embarrassed!!!  DH requested them.  My next 2 cookies were going to be some Christmas favs that I've made before.  Just not feeling it though and after the poor turnout today, I'm just not gonna try.  Such a relief to put all the stuff away.

 

I could have done my vacuuming and cleaned the bathrooms in the amount of time I spent on these cookies today.   I would have enjoyed it more too!!!

 

 

ETA:  We are hosting Christmas dinner (on Christmas Eve) this year.  The cleaning and cooking for that don'e stress me.  I ordered a strawberry shortcake from the grocery store yesterday and am picking up a tuxedo cake from Costco for dessert!  These stupid cookies have totally stressed me out!!!

 

 

Edited December 21, 2017 by mlktwins

[Carrie12345]

I consider myself a pretty good baker.  However, I don't enjoy it at all.  This morning, I whipped up a batch of our traditional bread (4 loaves), 4 batches of cookie dough, and baked off 2 of the batches so far.  Yum!  But I'm cranky as all get out!

 

I almost only do this for Christmas.  I taught my kids well, and they handle most of the other baking throughout the year. They'll also make some extra Christmas cookies if the mood strikes.

[rebcoola]

I can bake don't really like to its the decorating I suck at.  Older DD loves to bake so I leave it all up to her at this point.

[scbusf]

*raises hand*

 

I have finally admitted that I need to stick to boxed mixes. I have ADHD and I tend to not be very exact with measuring things, which of course, doesn't work for baking!  Also, I eat gluten-free, and GF baking is extra-finicky. I also tend to get distracted and let things get crispy. Although, our new Alexa is helping with that situation!!!!! Now I just have to tell her to set a timer - I don't have to remember to actually set one.

[eternalsummer]

I am very bad at baking.  the reason is that I don't like to follow directions exactly.  It says, add one teaspoon of baking powder, sift with flour, etc. and I just get irritated.  So I sort of dump in a bit of baking powder and can't be bothered to sift.

 

I am a good cook.  Cooking is less exact.

[medawyn]

I’m actually a pretty good baker, and I don’t mind it. But I do hate stressing myself out this time of year. I just picked up a roll of Pilsbury slice and bakes to decorate with the kids this weekend so at least Santa has some cookies. I’m declaring that Good Enough.

[cjzimmer1]

I love to bake but I have no patience for futzy delicate or pretty looking things.  Christmas cookies (and anything involving rolling out dough) are on my most hated list of things to make.  But my dad's favorite cookies in the world are (of course) sour cream cut out cookies.  But eventually we came to the point where I realized he doesn't care about the decorations or even the shapes so I make drop cookies and slather some plain white frosting on the bottoms and he is happy.  And I'm happy because their is no rolling out dough and trying to perfectly frost those stupid gingerbread arms or the star on the tree.  Just bleh! Also most of my things are made into bars because those are even less work than trying to make even sized balls of dough. 

 

Rolos on pretzels are still one of my favorite Christmas things to make because the littles make them and my only responsibility is to stick them in the oven.

 

So don't feel bad even people who like to bake don't necessary get into Christmas baking either.

[OrganicJen]

I bake a lot and I used to live near sea level and everything I baked was just gorgeous looking. But then I moved to a higher elevation and it really has put a damper on my baking. I still bake because I like to eat baked goods made with freshly milled whole grains so if I want to eat that, I don't have a choice but to bake, but it just isn't as enjoyable as it once was. I get a lot of pleasure from the visual beauty of foods so it's sad that I can't bake the gorgeous loaves I used to. They taste good, but just don't look as good. I've replaced it as best as I can with red cabbage though. Cutting a red cabbage in half is just so darn beautiful I eat a lot more of it just because it's so pretty lol.

[KungFuPanda]

OP here! Love reading everyone's comments :lol: !!!!

 

My last batch is in the oven, the dishwasher is loaded, the KitchenAid mixer bowl (which may never be used again -- LOL) is soaking. 2 pans and 2 cooling racks and I can close this thing out.

 

Funny thing is, these are just chocolate chip cookies :laugh: !!! I have made this same recipe for years. The only thing I did different is to make a double batch of dough at one time. They taste great, but look like crap -- LOL! I tried them in 2 different ovens. I would share a picture, but I'm too embarrassed!!! DH requested them. My next 2 cookies were going to be some Christmas favs that I've made before. Just not feeling it though and after the poor turnout today, I'm just not gonna try. Such a relief to put all the stuff away.

 

I could have done my vacuuming and cleaned the bathrooms in the amount of time I spent on these cookies today. I would have enjoyed it more too!!!

 

 

ETA: We are hosting Christmas dinner (on Christmas Eve) this year. The cleaning and cooking for that don'e stress me. I ordered a strawberry shortcake from the grocery store yesterday and am picking up a tuxedo cake from Costco for dessert! These stupid cookies have totally stressed me out!!!

NOT worth the effort for chocolate chip when you can buy cookie dough and use one of those little scoops with it. I feel the same way about brownies there’s no reason to make them from scratch because girardelli box mix is so good. I save my baking effort for stuff I can’t buy or stuff that is a whole lot better homemade.

 

Generally if I’m making an effort I want a savory meal out of it, so I don’t really bake much. The precision required annoys me.

[KungFuPanda]

Another note about baking: I think I’m ready to switch over to all British recipes so that I can measure the ingredients. Going by volume is so inexact. I think most of my “keeper†recipes are probably the most forgiving. I mean “a cup of brown sugar lightly packed?†That’s just annoying.

[OrganicJen]

Another note about baking: I think I’m ready to switch over to all British recipes so that I can measure the ingredients. Going by volume is so inexact. I think most of my “keeper†recipes are probably the most forgiving. I mean “a cup of brown sugar lightly packed?†That’s just annoying.

I have recipe books from America's Test Kitchen that all use weight. I mainly only bake by weighing ingredients. I love the science and precision of baking.

[SamanthaCarter]

There’s awesome home baked goods at farmers markets all over the country right now. Go get some!

 

 

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[eternalsummer]

I bake a lot and I used to live near sea level and everything I baked was just gorgeous looking. But then I moved to a higher elevation and it really has put a damper on my baking. I still bake because I like to eat baked goods made with freshly milled whole grains so if I want to eat that, I don't have a choice but to bake, but it just isn't as enjoyable as it once was. I get a lot of pleasure from the visual beauty of foods so it's sad that I can't bake the gorgeous loaves I used to. They taste good, but just don't look as good. I've replaced it as best as I can with red cabbage though. Cutting a red cabbage in half is just so darn beautiful I eat a lot more of it just because it's so pretty lol.

 

 

We are very different people if a cabbage can substitute for cookies in terms of satisfaction :)  

 

We are at a very high elevation at the moment and I have noticed that bread doesn't work in the bread machine.  It never worked for me (because of how much I hate measuring) but DD12 is a conscientious baker and used to have good luck.  

[Seasider]

:iagree:

 

I admire bakers. I like to watch The Great British Bake Off. I especially love consuming baked items! I own baking books and a KitchenAid, but I do not actually enjoy baking. I think part of it is the mess. And the stickiness. I don't like getting my hands into things like kneading dough or anything else. You are not alone.

Yes. Without a kitchen clean up Elf, I'm not stirring up that mess! And sugary treats are abundant without my contribution.

[OrganicJen]

We are very different people if a cabbage can substitute for cookies in terms of satisfaction :)

 

We are at a very high elevation at the moment and I have noticed that bread doesn't work in the bread machine. It never worked for me (because of how much I hate measuring) but DD12 is a conscientious baker and used to have good luck.

Lol...well cookies are actually one of the items that seem to work well at any altitude thankfully. It's the bread loaves and rolls and muffins and cakes that make me sad to look at now. And I make all of our bread and baked goods so I just have to deal with it, but I miss when my loaves of bread were so beautiful they could have been on a magazine cover.

[Carol in Cal.]

I bake a lot and I used to live near sea level and everything I baked was just gorgeous looking. But then I moved to a higher elevation and it really has put a damper on my baking. I still bake because I like to eat baked goods made with freshly milled whole grains so if I want to eat that, I don't have a choice but to bake, but it just isn't as enjoyable as it once was. I get a lot of pleasure from the visual beauty of foods so it's sad that I can't bake the gorgeous loaves I used to. They taste good, but just don't look as good. I've replaced it as best as I can with red cabbage though. Cutting a red cabbage in half is just so darn beautiful I eat a lot more of it just because it's so pretty lol.

ARGH!

Our cabin is at 5400 feet, and although I can make cookies there, meringue pie crusts rise twice as much as at home while they are in the oven and then catastrophically deflate to a gummy mess while they are cooling.

 

Got any tips for me?  I already tried using extra large eggs instead of large ones.  No help.

[mschickie]

I do not mind baking if I have the time.  I am not fabulous at it but I can get by.  Problem is our kitchen is constantly a mess because we are so busy that I have no desire to bake nor do I really have the time to do it without it being stressful.  My solution:  I go to the bakery and buy cookies!  Yes it is more expensive but as dh said today some times it is worth it to pay more if it keeps your sanity!

[Elizabeth86]

Well baking is the ONLY thing I'm good at in the kitchen.  It's the meals I have trouble with especially meat which is so frustrating because well my people have to eat kwim?  May

[Word Nerd]

I like baking but I don’t have the patience for cookies.

[OrganicJen]

ARGH!

Our cabin is at 5400 feet, and although I can make cookies there, meringue pie crusts rise twice as much as at home while they are in the oven and then catastrophically deflate to a gummy mess while they are cooling.

 

Got any tips for me? I already tried using extra large eggs instead of large ones. No help.

I wish I had a suggestion for meringue but I don't. I've found some solutions for bread so that it's better but it's still not like it was at sea level. I've read the thing about more egg, also read less sugar, higher temp so it doesn't have time to over rise, but I've not experimented with meringue.

[J-rap]

I'm not a baker, and I don't feel pressure to be.  I do enjoy making dinners.  :)

 

I baked three types of Christmas cookies every year, but that was it.  Once my kids were about 12 and became interested in baking, they took over.  I don't feel guilty.

 

 

[lllll]

nm

Edited January 7, 2018 by .....