accidental discovery...

So...LAST Friday, I was heading to my friend Kim's house for her birthday. She was hosting a crop and swimming. I've known Kim for many years, having met her at Stevens Creek Community Church in Augusta, GA sometime around 2004. Well, I decided I was going to bake her cupcakes.

I had a new chocolate fudge cupcake recipe I wanted to try. The recipe said it would make 18 cupcakes. I happened to have a 6 cup pan and a 12 cup pan, so I was quite happy! Of course, near disaster struck!

Apparently, the recipe makes 18 LARGE cupcakes...not the lovely medium size I have. So of course, as they started rising and bubbling and cooking, the batter POURED out the pans, dripping onto the bottom and the heating element. Generally, if I even THINK something will drip, I put a cookie sheet under to catch drips...nope, I didn't do that this time. So the batter was burning on the bottom (thank GOODNESS I have THIS (not a paid ad, by the way...just a wonderful endorsement!)underneath...cleaning up burned up messes in the oven is NO fun!).

Of course, I REALLY wanted to finish cooking the cupcakes, but the stuff falling on the heating element kept trying to catch fire, and my house was filling with smoke. I reluctantly pulled out the cupcakes before they were completely done, but they ended up being edible, so my family and I ate them. (sorry Kim - I'll make them for another crop, I promise!). Of course, when I pulled out the muffin pan, it looked like a sheet cake! Cleaning up the oven wasn't too bad, and clearing the smoke out of the house required just a little ingenuity - the kids and I took the pillows off the couch and opened the windows and doors and swung the pillows around to help fan the air out.

So...fast forward to YESTERDAY. I was having a friend over (Hi Melissa!) for coffee and wanted a dessert to go with the coffee. Melissa's getting ready to move, and has been surrounded by boxes and stuff for at least a week, so this got her out of the house with her sweet little boy. I decided to use a "gift in a jar" mix that I'd gotten from MOPS in Manhattan for a Christmas gift. It was Oatmeal Scotchies, one of my favorite cookies. I've made them many times before, but not recently, as I thought Scott didn't like them (that and the fact that we're perpetually dieting....). I followed the recipe on the card, but for some reason, it wasn't like I remembered. But hey, the recipe's always right, so I follow it.

Didn't I learn ANYTHING from my last experience?

Nope.

I put a dozen scoops of dough on my rectangle stone. I put another dozen on my round stone. I put the rectangle stone in the oven and set the timer for 10 minutes. I opened the oven at 10 minutes and saw a big, doughy mess...the butterscotch chips weren't even melted...some of the dough was...AACK!...dripping off the side and once again onto the bottom (no element this time).

Pulled that out of the oven. Threw the 2nd stone in, figuring it was bigger and the scoops were smaller. Meanwhile...what to do with the messy cookies? They weren't cooked all the way through. The edges had browned nicely (if I'd left them in much longer, they'd have burned). I decided I would just let them cool and then toss them. Hopefully the 2nd batch would turn out.

Melissa rang the bell just as I pulled the 2nd batch out...and they were just as bad. What to DO? I had no dessert!!!

I decided to just scrape the entire mess off the stones, put it all into a pie plate and bake THAT. Threw that into the oven for another 15 minutes.

And you know what? It turned out GREAT! I created "Scotchie Cookie Pie"! We both enjoyed a piece. The kids (Hannah and Scotty) each had a "slice" after lunch and enjoyed it as well.

But the best part? SCOTT liked it! Thought it was a great idea to bake it in that way.

So: lesson learned. Do NOT over fill cupcake pans. Do NOT put a dozen large scoops of oatmeal cookie dough on baking stones (or better yet, use cookie sheets, so the dough doesn't drip off, lol). But, when all else fails, there is STILL something to be had for all the effort.

We ATE fudge brownies (albeit a bit sunken in), and the Scotchie Pie was fantastic. So always try to figure out a way to salvage what you can...you might have an accidental discovery that turns out great!