I know. Doesn't sound too appetizing does it? Well regardless, I baked some tonight enabling me to add a new label here-Kitchen Disasters.  I hope to make very infrequent additions. 

Tonight, I thought that I would try a new recipe for Chocolate-Dipped Coconut Macaroons. There were about 4 ingredients in the cookies, what could possibly go wrong?

Mistakes I Made

1.) Craving a sweet supper-chaser and then deciding to bake when I ought to be preparing the meal. Way to prioritize!  It seemed a quick and easy recipe and I was sure that I could handle the multi-tasking.

2.) I neglected to read the directions all the way through. A quick check of the ingredients to confirm I was in possession of them all and I was off. Had I read the entire recipe, I would have immediately discarded my plans knowing that the parchment paper necessary to bake the cookies on is not an item I keep in stock. However, eggs are a rare commodity around here these days, so I wasn't willing to scrap the cookies. I forged ahead with my plan regardless, substituting waxed paper for the parchment. I knew better, but I was hoping the worst that would happen is the edges of the paper would burn in the oven.

The waxed paper either stuck to the bottom of the cookies or removed their bottoms entirely. Making the chocolate-dipped part impossible and a huge sticky mess of my hands. If I worked quickly enough at peeling away the bottoms, I was able to squish them in a ball to hold together while they were still warm.

3.) When it became evident that the waxed paper was a failure, I thought I might just try baking the remainders without the paper which resulted in burnt bottoms. Sure I could hide the appearance under the chocolate, but at this point, I didn't want to waste any precious chocolate on a burnt cookie!

4.) On the menu for tonight was turkey pot pie and I figured that since I was going to have to make pie crust, why not quadruple the recipe and stick the remainders in the freezer? Apparently, the middle of a cookie disaster isn't the best time to make eight pie crusts. I prioritized salvaging the cookies above the meal and supper was pushed back making for some very unhappy campers in my midst.

Looking on the bright side, I learned two valuable lessons: Bake well in advance of supper & and don't try to substitute waxed paper for parchment paper.  The cookies remained edible (pretty good actually despite being chocolate-less) and I did end up with the sweet supper-chaser that I had been after!