After skipping last year's Fair, I decided I missed it so I'm back this year. I actually waited until I got my August work schedule to decide if I REALLY wanted to participate. I decided that I wasn't going to request any days off and what happened would happen. I almost didn't sign up for any pre-fair entries because I am working this weekend and this is drop off weekend. Upon closer inspection though I realized I could drop off on Friday and cakes weren't due in until Monday. Originally I was scheduled Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I asked a co-worker to trade with me on Monday and figured if he agreed, then I would enter; if, not, no big deal. Well, he traded so here I am.
Moderation is my goal this year. I only had four items due yesterday. I decided on these four because they seemed to be the most likely goods that I could bake ahead and stay "fresh" until judging since I was dropping off on Friday. I know, like one day is really going to make a difference... but that's how I think.
I always bake things "fresh" for the Fair. In the past that meant I was a crazy sleep deprived lunatic for 48 hours before drop off. Not this year... so I thought. Ha! Well... so far I've managed a little more sleep...
I kicked off my baking on Wednesday (7/25) with a batch of caramel corn. My signature caramel corn that I could make in my sleep. Except... it tasted maybe a wee bit "burnt" when I tasted it. Hmmm. I put it in an airtight container and went grocery shopping for other ingredients I would need over the next couple days. Also made the cookie dough for my decorated cookies and put it in the fridge. Went out for a 5 mile run in the afternoon, then I went out to dinner with a friend. I got back home at 9 pm and baked my cookies, then decided to make another batch of caramel corn. That resulted in me going to bed at midnight.
Thursday started off at a leisurely pace. My original plan had been to get everything done on Thursday for the Friday drop off but when I learned that I could drop off until 8 pm on Friday that changed things. I figured I had plenty of time on Friday during the day to get my cookies baked and make my yeast rolls. So Thursday I made my chocolate chip cookie dough. Actually, two batches of cookie dough. I had two different chocolate chip cookie recipes that I had created and I wanted to try them out both and decide which was better. After that I started icing my decorated cookies and put down the base coat. Went out for another 5 mile run while that dried. Then I started decorating my cookies.
Expectation...
Reality...
I had really been taken by these cookies in a YouTube video I saw last fall and the Fair was the perfect opportunity to try it out. It looked pretty straight forward in the video. Except... no matter what consistency I made the black icing I couldn't get the fine outlining done. The video used a #2 icing tip. I used the same tip but no matter what I did I couldn't get the lines thin enough without them running together. Maybe her cookie was bigger? I dunno. In any case, after multiple attempts I did my own thing without the outlines.
Practice Cookies... do you think my co-workers will eat these?
This is what made the cut
So... Friday. All I had to do was make my yeast rolls that I've made a bazillion times and bake off my chocolate chip cookies. Sounded simple enough. I waited until a bit later in the day to make my yeast rolls because I wanted it to warm up outside. I've discovered that the back of my SUV makes for the perfect proofing oven on a hot summer day. It's been scorchingly hot this summer. Except today.
I started by trialing oven times and temperatures for my two chocolate chip cookie doughs. After baking the first two cookies I decided my macadamia nut based chocolate cookie dough was a no go. It tasted OK but was not what I had envisioned for this competition. It wasn't soft and chewy enough.
OK, so now all I had to do was get a good bake time and temperature for my other dough. The first go around made a perfect consistency cookie but it looked too brown. Lowered the oven temp and time. Nope. Too underdone. Put the temp back up and made a bigger cookie. No, still not right. This continued for hours. Ugh. I just couldn't find the right shape, temperature and time combo to suit me and the cookies just looked worse and worse. Finally I ran out of dough and just picked the six best looking ones but definitely not competition quality in my opinion.
Arghh!! This was an exercise in frustration
My Flat Cookies... sigh
In between playing with my cookie dough I finally started my yeast rolls. It never warmed up to where I wanted it but I moved my car so the sun was directly beating down on it and hoped for the best. When I was kneading the dough it felt a bit stickier than usual. Hindsight is 20/20. I should have added more flour but I didn't. I realized the dough was too heavy when I shaped the rolls and they were "oozy". I put them to rise and hoped for the best. Perhaps I should have made smaller rolls? Anyhoos, they came out looking more "flatter" than usual and just looked more doughy. They tasted the same though so, again, I picked the six best looking ones and will hope for the best.
sorting and selecting
I need six that look like these!
The Chosen Ones... they're flat like my cookies
I dropped off all my items at the fairgrounds at 5 pm.
The next items due are two cakes on Monday - a single layer cake and a multi-layer cake. The single layer cake is one of my "go-to" cakes. I had no idea what I was going to make for the multi-layer cake. I came up with an idea driving home from the fairgrounds.
I had promised my older daughter dinner out on Friday night to celebrate her finishing her college calculus class. I got home and she was there but I had no idea where my husband was. We waited... and waited... and waited... and finally shrugged our shoulders and went to the restaurant. I called him again when we got there and found out he had run out to do a quick errand, then got hit by a hit and run driver that tried to flee the scene and, well, hubs gave chase... and so did another woman that witnessed the whole thing... and luckily she called 911. My husband ended up chasing the guy to his residence and was in the middle of a confrontation when the police ... and the ambulance... and the fire department showed up. Excitement on a Friday night in Johnson County I guess. Long story short, he is sore and pissed but otherwise OK. Police handcuffed the driver but then ended up citing him or something and let him stay home, apparently because he was about 70.
My husband drove out to the restaurant and met us for dinner. He and our daughter went home after that and I went to the grocery store again to pick up the ingredients for the layer cake I had just dreamed up.
Got back home at 9 pm and considered doing a little crochet and going to bed at a reasonable hour... But... I wanted to make a trial cake before I entered it. Ended up making the cake. It looked beautiful. I started the frosting and realized it was 11 pm. I was committed now though cause frosting is never as good as when you first make it. I ended up putting the finishing touches on the trial cake at 1:30 am. So much for getting more sleep! Had to get up at 5:30 am to go to work today.
So today after work I tried out my cake... and I didn't like it. Probably going to take the remains to work in the morning.
I'm going to bed now. Not sure if my heart is still in this. Maybe I'm just tired. I'll think about it some more tomorrow.
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