Tastes Like Horse (ed. 11): My Toaster Oven

A number of weeks ago I was in a baking mood. Which is strange because I don't bake. The truth is: I'm scared of it. Too many things can go wrong once you've mixed everything up and stuffed it into the oven and there's no way to fix it. Cooking is much more forgiving.

But, because the days get long when I have no car and no place to go even if I did, I have to get creative with how to spend my evenings. I decided it would be pretty creative to attempt to bake a couple things I'd been craving: chocolate-chip cookies and creme caramel. I was surprised to find most of the ingredients I needed at either the American Food Shop or the Mongolian store down the street. I was lacking a blender and measuring utensils, but (since those are fairly recent inventions in our grand culinary traditions) I figured those things would be the least of my worries. My greatest concern was, in fact, my toaster oven.

Exhibit A

the fated toaster oven, originally uploaded by Wanderings.

Now, there are toaster ovens that really are more like miniature ovens. They have varying temperatures and cooking options and could probably even roast a quail, if it were small enough. I do not have one of these toaster ovens. My toaster oven has two settings: on and off.

I, however, was not to be deterred by such trivialities. I was on a mission. I had chocolate chips and I intended to use them. So use them I did.

Exhibit B

charred cookie with milk, originally uploaded by Wanderings.

First* rule of baking cookies: don't preheat your cookie sheet. Ooops.

Onto the next. Creme caramel! I had all the ingredients. I was determined to make a rich and satisfying custard complete with ooey-gooey caramel sauce. But I was having problems with the caramel sauce, so in my impatience I decided to go for good ol' plain vanilla custard. You must keep in mind that it is not easy to create a water bath when the cookie sheet you are using is warped and has a depth of 1/4 of an inch. And, as most of you probably know, a water bath is essential to keeping custards from drying out or baking too quickly. So out came the warped cookie sheet and the paper towel folded in half. Onto the towel went the custard cups and into the oven. Carefully, carefully I added water to the pan and, crossing my fingers, closed the oven door.

Exhibit C

mini-custards, originally uploaded by Wanderings.

My friends, I succeeded! The only thing I needed was some foil to protect those sensitive custards from the searing top-source heat of the toaster oven. Other than the fact that they were a bit overdone on the top and a bit underdone on the bottom, these turned out quite well and made yummy additions to my lunch over the next few days. Huzzah!

By this time, the caramel sauce has re-melted (still not sure what I did wrong there) and the rest of the custard is ready to be baked. Into the small glass baking dish it goes, onto the cookie sheet, into the oven with a bit more water added to the bath, and I wait.

Exhibit D

creme caramel disaster, originally uploaded by Wanderings.

I'm not entirely sure what went wrong here. Some foil would have helped even out the cooking process, but I don't think that would've been enough to save this creme caramel. Poor fallen custard.

*sigh*

But all is not lost! I now know that the toaster runs between 300ºF and 350ºF. There are a lot of things you can bake at those temperatures! I'm also confident that if I don't pre-heat the cookie sheet, I have a pretty good shot at making some cookies in this oven. AND the custards will be almost perfect with the addition of some foil. Maybe I'll even try making some caramel again. The sky is the limit and my little toaster is the means!

*This is probably not the first rule of baking cookies. The first rule is probably something along the lines of: "make sure you have all of your ingredients" or "don't eat all the chocolate chips before adding them to the dough" or "don't turn on the oven unless you are actually planning to bake the dough as opposed to eating it raw".