My Baking Experience

My First Baking Attempt

Curiosity has really got the better of me. Searching for a cookie recipe on Google, I stumbled across this interesting recipe - "Spicy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies". Wow! Certainly sounds interesting, given its lengthy name. Immediately, I was attracted to this recipe, and I decided to try it out as my first batch of cookies.

However, as the idea of the spice turned me off, I decided to omit them from the recipe - namely, cinnamon and cloves, yuck! - and so, the modified new recipe was "Oatmeal Raisin Cookies". There, that sounds better.

Now then, after obtaining all the ingredients I needed, I proceeded to bake the cookies. Since it was my first baking experience, my dad helped me with it.

The cookie dough mixture

Baking the cookies

The results:


Well, all in all, they didn't look that bad, for a first-timer. But, I guess I needed to improve on the ratio of the ingredients.

My 2nd attempt

Alright, let's not give up! Here's my second attempt at baking. Again, my dad was very enthusiastic to bake, so we did it together. This time, we've decided to add more vanilla essence, add more raisins and use rolled oats instead of instant oatmeal. Then, we've decided to lower the baking temperature from 200 degrees C to 175 degrees C. The first batch cooked too quickly on the outside so the inside was not really cooked.

So, here're the results:

Baking the cookies

The finished product

These were much better than the first. These were more firm (compared to the first which crumbled easily) as we baked it at a lower temperature for a longer period of time, allowing the inner parts of the cookies to cook more thoroughly. Then, this batch also had more raisins and more chewy due to the use of rolled oats.

Overall, I was quite pleased with the second batch of cookies. But of course, I'll keep on experimenting with new ratios of ingredients, and perhaps new recipes in the future.

For those who are interested to try, the recipe is available at http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Beths-Spicy-Oatmeal-Raisin-Cookies/Detail.aspx

Happy baking!

BRIAN CHEE