Being a Bride...

is kinda like being pregnant. No, no – it’s true. I swear. Or maybe like being a blonde, you know the one that’s always the butt of the jokes? There are just moments when you’re planning your wedding that you would swear that planning this day has eaten a major portion of your brain for dessert, and it’s all gone. Just disappeared out of your body, because there are things that you do or say as a bride that you would NEVER normally say or do. And that’s what it’s like when you’re pregnant and the hormones take control of your body...

I had one of those moments this week. And it was a doozy! I’m not ashamed to share it with you...we all need a good laugh!

I’ve mentioned a few times that we are opting to do the charitable donation as our main favor. But since I can’t just give my guests a piece of paper telling them that, B and I also decided to give cookies out with that paper. And not just any cookies. My snickerdoodle cookies. These are slightly famous in my world. If you know me, and you’ve done a trip or something fun like a girl’s night out with me, then my snickerdoodles have more than likely made an appearance or two. In fact, I’ve been told many times that I was invited back solely on my ability to bring more snickerdoodles. So, I’m guessing that they’re good.

Good enough to be our wedding favors. I’ve known that I was going to do this treat for a while. And being the dessert chef that I am, I know that I can start mixing the dough up and getting cookies rolled and pressed before the wedding and just freezing them to bring out and bake the day or two before the wedding. Now that the 30-day mark has come and gone, I figured that it was time to get cracking on these. I had been buying extra butter and things for a few weeks now, anticipating this day.

The other night, I get everything out...follow my recipe and mix up one batch. I was tired, and my back hurt, so I figured that I had enough in me that night to mix, roll and freeze one batch before I pooped out. I tasted the dough (who doesn’t?!?!) and although it seemed a little off, I went on with my work. I scooped the dough, rolled it out in the cinnamon/sugar mix and proceeded to freeze them.

Skip to the next day. B asks me if I baked any of the cookies the night before. I said no, but that I would bake a couple tonight for us to enjoy after I mixed up another batch or two. I got home from work, and ate dinner and then proceeded to start up another batch of cookies. I accidently over-measured one ingredient, but figured it would be no big deal to make two batches, so I doubled the ingredients on everything else. While doing this, I popped a few of the cookies from the night before in the oven and baked them. They came out wrong.

Really wrong.

I was just starting the next batch and I was perplexed. Finally it hit me like a bolt of lightning. I had used baking powder instead of baking soda. Doh! Silly, rookie mistake. But oh well. I threw the batch from the night before in the trash can, and literally had to SCRAPE the ones that I had just baked off of the cookie sheet. I went on mixing my batch of new cookies (with the RIGHT ingredients) and went on with life. Fast forward and all cookies are mixed, rolled and ready to be frozen. Before freezing them, I take three cookies off the sheet and pop them in the oven to cook.

Like a mother hen, I watch over these as if they are truly babies, and they rise and puff out and look SO much better than the other ones. They get done, the others get frozen, and I take the cookies off of the baking sheet. That’s when they fell - like little cakes. I took the plate of cookies over to B and he immediately asked me what was wrong with me...and I know what he means, because I do NOT screw up snickerdoodles. It’s like, my law or something.

I bite into the cookie and the middle is hollow. Yep, you read that right. Hollow. I run back to the kitchen and pour over my recipe, thinking that I missed something else. No. It’s all there: flour, sugar, baking SODA, salt, vanilla…etc. I wrack my brain for a few minutes and just can’t figure it out. I even had the thought that maybe the baking soda was bad, or the cream of tartar had aged too much. I just couldn't figure it out. That’s when B decides to be really helpful and tell me that the messed up cookies taste good, they’re just really sweet. Hmmm...I had noticed that too when I sampled the cookie dough.

And that’s when the sign hit me in the forehead. I grabbed the bag of sugar and pull out the measuring cup that I leave in there. (We drink sweet tea, and we’re constantly making it, so a scoop is always in the sugar bag.) Yep, it’s the WRONG scooper. I normally leave a ½ cup scoop in there, because that’s how much sugar I put in a pitcher of sweet tea. (OK, OK...being honest I use more than 1 scoop, but less than 2 scoops!) Someone had replaced my ½ cup scoop with a FULL CUP scoop. I had used too much sugar!

This also explains why the tea had been SO sweet the last few days! (B is making fun of me...but I’m laughing too, so it’s ok!)

So the newest batch (which was a double batch) also went in the trash last night...I actually wanted to shed a tear or two at the two nights of hard work going out with the garbage.

Have you had some silly “bridal” moments during your planning process? Has anyone else noticed?