Halfsies

I often like to cut recipes in half, sometimes it's because there's only two of us, sometimes it's because I want to try the recipe (usually for desserts) before I waste a whole bunch of expensive ingredients (chocolate, nuts, etc....). WithOUT fail I will inevitably forget half way through the cooking process that I am halving the recipe and start following the recipe as written. It's typically not a problem if I'm cooking and I add too much garlic or something, but it's a big problem when I'm baking and it's important to keep the measurements exactly.

So yesterday I was trying a new gelato recipe. The other day I went to the bookstore and jotted down a few recipes from a book since I had trouble finding recipes online. I'm not sure if that is exactly against the rules, but two employees walked by me while I was doing it and didn't say anything, so I don't feel too bad about it. Anyways, I was trying a chocolate hazelnut recipe. I started out a-ok, I halved the hazelnuts and the milk. I "measured" the chocolate (the measured is in quotes because all I did was guess how much I should use since the recipe called out ounces of chocolate for which I had no way to measure - I need a scale) and then I put the sugar in a separate bowl and was adding the egg yolks when I realized I had done it again. But I realized that I had a larger problem on my hands. The recipe called for 3 egg yolks and I would therefore need 1.5 egg yolks. Shiiiiiiiit. Clearly, I didn't think through this one.

So I had 2 egg yolks and 6 tablespoons of sugar in the bowl and I needed 1.5 egg yolks and 3 tablespoons of sugar. Nice. So I started randomly spooning the ingredients out of the bowl until it looked right to me. What a mess!! I had egg yolk goop everywhere: the floor, counter, my arm, why is it that when I screw something up it always involves egg yolks being everywhere? And how did it get everywhere? All I needed to do was take it from the bowl to the sink (which were next to each other). Perhaps it was because the counter was completely full of bowls and pans and dishes because I had baked a batch of cookies in the morning and had not yet done the dishes. You may begin to be imaging the mess in your head. It was a disaster zone.

I continued on with the recipe and finished it. When it came to the tasting, I was a little unsure. It looked good, but how would it taste? Remarkably though, it was quite tasty. WAY too chocolatey, but that's probably because I didn't actually measure the chocolate at all. But, overall, pretty darn delectable. But it seemed like there was a touch too much sugar. I think next time I'll make full recipes, it's not worth all the egg yolk mess, for all the "savings" I get for not using as many ingredients I get much more heartache with trying to fix what I messed up.

So today is my last official unemployed entry, no Fieldtrip Friday tomorrow, and my postings may not come as frequently. Hopefully though, I'll be posting at night now, so there should be a new one bright and early for you, I'm still aiming to post close to every day, but we'll see how it goes.