Visual Diary Entry 2: Baking Endeavors & Afternoon Moments

Visual Diary Chapter 2

April 20, 2021

Round 2 of Checkerboard cookies

If you scrolled through Chapter 1 of my Visual Diary, you’ll remember I took a stab at making vegan checkerboard cookies. I decided to try the same recipe with a different flavor combination and pattern using the same base cookie recipe by EatwKriss.

This time I wanted to try strawberry & matcha. I pulverized some freeze dried strawberries into as fine of a powder form as I could for one half of the dough. Matcha & a splash of vanilla in the other half.

While the dough is chilling…

I went ahead and had a quick and semi-healthy snack. Ya’ll ever tried puffed quinoa granola before? It’s so fun to eat—I love the texture! This was a store bought one that was chocolate flavored and it reminded me of a healthy and better tasting Cocoa Puff cereal. I’d love to make my own, I should go and get some puffed quinoa, it’s probably cheaper to make my own granola. I’ve been trying to be more conscious of the shit I buy at the store that I can easily make at home myself. Better for me, for my wallet, and I can make oodles of it if I want.

I enjoyed this with some delicious Forager vanilla cashew milk yogurt. Just for a touch of sweetness, topped it with a light drizzle of honey.

Chilled and Sliced

I had planned on doing a sort of pinwheel design for this batch, but the dough turned out a bit on the crumbly side unlike my first batch. I realized that in the first batch I had used an entire stick of butter and this time I went by the recipe to a tee. Unfortunately, I think the butter I left out, would have been perfect to add back a bit of moisture/fat for these (drier) powdered flavors I tried. So I went with a half and half look. Oh well, better luck next time right? I’ll likely make these again and keep tweaking since I like the cookie recipe so much.

A delicate cookie

These didn’t turn out as I intended, but they taste good. Both flavors are delicate, but shine on their own, yet complement each other. I’ll definitely be making this again, but with the original oopsie of adding a full stick of butter or a 1/2 cup. I think I’ll also double the strawberry powder next time, for a bigger fruity punch.

I’ve been enjoying zoning out baking or cooking these past few weeks. It’s as I’ve mentioned before a form of self-care and really allows me to just have an empty head. We could all use that feeling every now and then right?

Are you a baker? Any tips on how to get a chewier cookie with only flour, butter, and sugar? Would I decrease flour and replace the amount with a touch more sugar? I want these to be just a touch sweeter, too. I’m not super knowledgeable on baking, but it’s oh so fun to experiment.

Anywho, if you’ve made it through this short chapter, thank you and if you have any baking tips, drop those in the comments. See ya’ll in the next one.