Baking

Last week, I baked my Aine McAteer signature chocolate chip cookies... and they failed! Major shock, they were all flat and crumbly (they tasted good though). What had gone wrong? I thought initially that my oven wasn't hot enough, as I had only turned it on halfway through the preparation.

But Brendan helped me figure it out ("What's different?" is his usual question in these situations) - and then I remembered that the dough looked quite gooey and flat before I put the trays in the oven. And the only thing different were my new Ikea mixing bowls! The theory is that there is some small amount of silicone left from the moulding (apparently, silicone is used so that the bowls don't stick to the moulds), and silicone makes the dough go flat.

So, I need to give them a good wash before I use them again. (And in case you're wondering, yes, they were washed in the dishwasher before I used them for the first time!)

I tested the theory by immediately baking another set, using my good old glass mixing bowl (well, it's really a salad bowl, which is why I so wanted the Ikea mixing bowls). And I baked the most beautiful cookies ever. Brendan was happy to eat them all, with plenty of help from me!