Tuesday, September 21, 2010

The "Whoopsie" Pie

You may think because I post delicious looking things on this blog that I am now a seasoned cook and I really know what I'm doing. Guess again. This blog isn't called the Honest Chef for nothing. Last weekend I really messed up. You know those chocolate chip cookies? That everyone loves and always asks me to bring to things? Yes, friends, I messed those up. I have made them probably 100 times. I hope this makes you feel better about messing up in your own kitchen. I hope you aren't laughing at my idiocy instead. Well, even if you are, I will be vindicated by the great ending to this story, so read on.

Here's what happened. I was making chocolate chip cookies for a birthday party. I put in all the ingredients, one by one, measuring, etc. I was moving right along until I got to adding the chocolate chips, where I stopped. The dough just didn't look quite right to me. It looked too firm, and frankly, not like cookie dough. It tasted ok, but I could tell something was off. And then I noticed them. The TWO EGGS were sitting there on the counter, next to the beater, looking up at me and saying, "Yep, you forgot us down here." NOOOOO. I couldn't make them all over again! I didn't have any more butter, and I had used up the last of the vanilla extract. NOOOOO. And have I mentioned how much I hate to waste ingredients?

So what did I do? Why, called my mom of course. "Oh my god Mom, I am an idiot and forgot to add the eggs to my chocolate chip cookie dough. Is there any possible thing I can make with this wrecked dough?" She replied hesitantly that I could try to make a crust for some kind of pie. She wasn't sure it would work, but she too hates to waste ingredients, so I thought I'd give it a go.

But what kind of pie? Chocolate cream, replied my husband. Perfect! The cookies were supposed to have chocolate in them anyway, plus it didn't require a long cooking time (which was good because the party time was creeping up on us). So, we put a little bit on a cookie sheet and popped it in the oven to make sure that it would taste good once it was cooked. Miraculously, it did! Actually it was really good. But then I tried to roll out the dough into a pie crust shape. Forget it. I could get it to be thin, but it kept breaking apart. At this point, I was willing to do anything to get it into the pie plate, so I took all the small rolled out pieces, and pressed them together into the pie plate. Then I threw it in the oven at 375, and kept an eye on it until it turned brown.

Once it was ready, I took it out and put it into the freezer immediately. (If you ever want to make this and you have more time though, just let it cool regularly. I was desperate to finish). While this was happening, I made the instant chocolate pudding. After the pie shell had cooled sufficiently, I poured in the pudding, and let it sit in the fridge for another ten minutes. Then I topped it whipped cream, and voila! It was finished. Too bad I didn't know how it tasted. But no matter, we at least had something to bring to the party.

Well let me just tell you, that was the best freaking chocolate cream pie ever! Take that people who were laughing at me! The crust was so rich and delicious it was just awesome! People were talking about how good it was days later. I have to say, it was my best mistake ever. Or best recovery from a mistake. (Thanks Mom!) I might actually do this on purpose again sometime soon!

So, now you know that I make mistakes on things I have made a hundred times. And you might too, but the good news is that now, if you forget eggs in your chocolate chip cookies, you'll know what to do!

*P.S. The photo is not mine. I didn't take a picture because I thought it would be terrible. But it kind of looked like this. And a blog post is boring without a picture.

3 comments:

  1. good job melin. I love you mom ~christine

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  2. I made a batch of cookies today. I put the dough in fridge to bake off when kids got home to have warm cookies. The dough looked funny and I thought it was due to being cold. Baked cookies, kids and hubby ate them. I just now realized I forgot to add the 1 egg recipe called for. No wonder dough was a little crumbly. I am gluten free so I can't eat them but they look good and apparently taste pretty good.

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  3. I also forgot to put the eggs in the cookie dough, and was wondering what I could do with it so it wouldn't go to waste. A pie crust sounds great, and is a much better solution than any I've come across so far. Thank you!

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