Spinning around with a chocolate covered spoon

Well I didn't get as much baking done this bank holiday weekend as I'd liked but I did a bit and got feedback from a different group of people who tried the vanilla and chocolate cookies.

It seems I have found a nice balance for the vanilla cookies and people really like them but the chocolate is still not chocolatey enough! I've been researching and trying to figure out how to rectify this and it is proving a lot harder to solve than I first expected. I've tried melting chocolate , adding more coco, less coco and more essence and still they just don't seem right. I've still got a few ideas to try out and will be giving them a bash some point this week hopefully. Seems there is a lot going on this week and trying to fit in the baking is proving hard but I really need to solve this chocolate problem!

 There are so many thoughts going through my head trying to figure out the best way forward with the doodle idea and at times I feel a little overwhelmed. I'm going to have to focus and come up with a step by step plan I think. Otherwise I risk just  going round and round....

Chocadoodle do!

I wasn't happy with my first batch of chocolate doodles so last night I tweaked the recipe a little and tried again.

I was never great at science at school and baking is quite sciencey (yeah I'm just making words up now) , its been challenging coming up with these new and unique recipes but I'm getting there and as long as I remember to actually add the right amount of flour I'm hoping not to have any major disasters.

After amending the amounts of essence, flour, coco etc I feel I'm on the right track to getting a chocolate doodle I'll be happy with.

I took the new cookies in to work and 8 people polished off 25 cookies in 30 minutes... I'm thinking that's a good sign. They really don't seem to mind being my guinea pigs.

Looking forward to the long weekend and baking a whole heap more!

I've also started looking online about what permits etc I would need to be legally allowed make and sell cookies from my kitchen and to be honest it's all a little scary so for now I'll just keep refining the recipes and work my way towards an end product that I'm happy with. There really isn't much point getting myself stressed about things like will i have to move the cat's food out of the kitchen, I'm guessing it's gonna be a yes to that question.... and there are so many others! 

Anyone with any hints and tips please feel free to share! This is all very new and at times I do feel a little lost. 

It started with a tesco value electric whisk...

Not really sure how to start this. I've never written a blog before - thinking I didn't really have anything important to share, but I recently had an idea which I am pursuing and thought this might be interesting for someone, anyone? to read. 

Maybe I should start by telling you about the idea. I love to bake and people like to eat what I make so i thought I could combine my passion for baking and possibly make some money eventually. I came up with my doodle idea: Snickerdoodles are a very popular cookie in America, but aren't very well known over here so I thought I would come up with my own version that people could enjoy. This adventure has been partly inspired by my old school chum Jimmy of Jimmy's Iced Coffee fame. Check him out @ http://jimmysicedcoffee.com 

This Saturday was spent in my kitchen baking, trying out my different flavour and recipe ideas. I ended up with over 100 cookies in six different flavours which I have now tried out on various friends, neighbours, acquaintances and colleagues. The flavours I've been trying out are Vanilla, Orange, Chocolate, Chili Chocolate, Ginger & Orange and Ginger & Chocolate. I'm trying to narrow it down 2 two flavours to start with. So far Orange and Vanilla are proving very popular... 

As with most things these days when you have an idea and what to find out how to develop it I went to Google and the search brought up loads of results which haven't really helped me on my journey (another reason for sharing on this blog) but luckily I have met some really helpfully people who have given me lots of pointers as to first steps. I also have a wonderful brother and sister in law who are offering their amazing design & sticker service. We'll hear more about them later. 

So whats next on the to do list? I've got to decide on my 2 flavours so i can start asking people to sample and fill in questionnaires, nail down the name, try out packaging so that I can start testing how long the cookies stay fresh ... 

All this while working a full time job, volunteering and trying to get fit for the first time in a very, very long time.

Here goes nothing!