Cookie Catastrophe!

Okay, catastrophe is a little too strong, but things did go a bit awry and I had to scrape my oven floor clean.

For quite a while, I'd been craving homemade oatmeal raisin cookies. I bought oatmeal and raisins last week at the store, but it was a busy week with papers to write and a major presentation to give. (I think it went pretty well.) Today after I finished teaching my 8 a.m. class, I decided it was time!

I got out all the ingredients and the great little mixer Grandma and Grandpa Staker gave me. The dough was ready in no time, and I spooned eight dollops onto my baking sheet. I didn't have a cookie sheet, so I used my pizza tin, which has holes in it to help pizza crusts bake up nice and crispy.

When the timer went off, I smelled something burning, but the cookies didn't even look done. Then I noticed weird little droppings on the bottom of the oven...and saw another one fall.

I know cookie dough gets melty when it's hot. That's why you have to space your dollops of dough a few inches apart. But for some reason, it never occurred to me that liquifying dough and a holey baking tin might be a troublesome combination...thus, oatmeal raisin stalactites. Hee!

I decided to stop baking for the day until I could get the burning cookie droppings out of the oven. Todd was actually glad. As my chauffeur, he gets a portion of all baked goods. Because of my mishap, he woke up to cookie dough instead of cookies, and as it turns out, that's just how he likes it. Heh. Cookie dough is quite enjoyable, but I did go out and buy a solid cookie sheet for next time.