To Boldly Go

During the intro of Star Trek, the announcer states that the Starship Enterprise is "to boldly go where no man has gone." This is no easy task. It's actually a darn right, super terrifying task. But this week I found a couple great recipes that I think really could have helped Captains Kirk and Picard in their exploration of new worlds, life and civilizations.

But first, let me back up a couple steps. Both my sisters love a book called, In Defense of Food. In the book, the author suggests only eating desserts that you make to help monitor the amount of sugar you are consuming. One sister is actively working on doing this.

I decided that perhaps this week I should follow my sister's lead and also take the challenge to only eat Rachel-made desserts. Now, since I've taken on this one-sweet-a-day plan, I haven't baked much. And for good reasons. The temptation to grab a handful of chocolate chips or a ball of cookie dough while baking seems too overwhelming. But I thought I'd give it a try anyway.

The big question with baking is what to do with all the left overs. I do not have enough self-control to be left alone with several dozen cookies. So, I decided that since I only know one couple in my neighborhood, that I'd introduce myself to other neighbors by distributing the remainder of my baked goods. This idea scared/intrigued me because it was out of my comfort zone, but I decided that like the crew of the Enterprise, I could also boldly go where I've never gone before.

So here's what I learned:
- You can do ANYTHING you want with a plate of cookies. The confidence they give you to just knock on random doors is flat out amazing. Anytime I would second guess knocking on a door, I'd just say to myself, "Who wouldn't want a plate of cookies? Even if this goes bad, they get a plate of cookies out of it."

- Perfect strangers are charmed at the thought that you would bake something for them. They also gladly welcome you into their home.

- Baking is a horrible practice for those who are trying to limit their sugar. I can't wait to bake most these things again after August and eat at least five of them at a time. (I guess this is a sign that this experiment may not have a lasting impact.)

-Baking is also extremely rewarding, delightful, entertaining and therapeutic.

The first two points are the main reasons I referred to Captains Kirk and Picard at the beginning of this post. Perhaps if they had approached most of their intergalactic activities with a plate of cookies, relations could have gone a little more smoothly. I feel very confident about this after this week. I've decided I will now go about all awkward and tense situations with a plate of cookies.

On a side note, can I also show you what I baked? I decided if I was going to bake, then by all means, I was really going to bake.


These are double-stuffed Oreos surrounded by chocolate chip cookie dough. These cookies were fairly massive (which is obviously a plus for me).





I wanted to try these because I wondered if you could make a cookie that tasted like a Little Debbie. But, these actually tasted even better. What a great surprise.




These are s'mores bars. I rarely say things are too rich (that would be admitting defeat to the dessert), but these could easily throw someone off the sugar edge.





Imagine carrot cake in cookie form (except replace those disgusting raisins with giant chocolate chips) sandwiched together with cream cheese icing.





These are actually peanut butter cookies with red food coloring and Hershey Hugs on top. Perfect for kids and sassy women.