Baking and Cooking

Chocolate Chip Scones

ingredients

I honestly haven’t been doing much baking since I landed in this new apartment last year. The oven has baffled me. Because I’m a pretty good baker. Since I learned to drive, I’ve spent every christmas helping my grandmother – who is the best baker I know who doesn’t own a bakery, her older sister being the only person to come in at a tie with her – make our family kolachi and cookies and generally learning the “tricks of the trade.” After ten years of this – and I don’t mean to sound cocky or full of myself even though I’m about to – I know what I’m doing. Or at least I did.

Except now, in this new oven, everything I bake burns. And I don’t mean “gets a little too brown,” I mean charred to a solid black on the bottom. Even the bottom of my pumpkin pies managed to burn when I made them this past thanksgiving. And that seriously NEVER happens.

dry ingredients

I’ve tried everything. I’ve tried reducing the suggested cooking temp, thinking maybe my oven isn’t calibrated properly. I’ve tried recalibrating it. I’ve tried all the tricks my grandmother gave me for figuring out where the “hot spots” are (turns out its the WHOLE OVEN). I’ve tried using different pans, greasing them, not greasing them, using tin foil, not using tin foil… I haven’t used parchment paper mainly because if it can scorch scones the way it has (at a LOWER temp than they’re supposed to go in, and for less time!) I’m afraid it’ll start a fire!

cut in the butter

So I haven’t been baking nearly as much as I used to – which is a shame, because for the first time in my life I have a KitchenAid Mixer, so it would be faster than ever. But every once in a while I miss it so much that I give it another shot. This time I whipped up some Chocolate Chip Scones using this recipe.

Overall, the recipe is a fine one – they turned out delicious. Except for the charred to a crisp bottoms. Again. But we just ate around that and they were lovely. Not quite as flakey as I’d have liked – they’re a little more cookie like in texture once baked for whatever reason, but still delicious. If it wasn’t for my oven being bizarre, I’d have ended up with A+ baked goods.

Out to cool

If anyone has any suggestions as to other ways I can attempt to solve this oven problem, please please please let me know!

Come visit me at Magpiemakingdo.com!

4 Comments

  • Jenn

    You can come use my oven? I haven’t been utilizing it much haha. Also while you’re here, can you teach me how to properly use my kitchen aid mixer? I wanted one for SO LONG and asked SO MUCH and was finally gifted one…. and now every time I use it my stuff turns out horrible! Help 🙁

    • Magpiemakingdo

      I think with the mixer you have to be careful of what speed you use depending on the recipe – Unless a recipe specifies a speed, I always err on the side of the slowest setting possible to get the thing to combine because I know that you can over-mix things. That tac seems to turn out okay usually… although I’m still new to the machine myself. I know I can’t do my pie crusts in it at all, because even on the lowest setting it’ll over-mix and get too sticky and gooey, so it won’t bake properly. Why? I don’t know. Something about lipids and science and something something something that I’m sure I’d understand if I actually paid attention in Bio 101. Whoops :/

  • Timiae

    Those look yummy, burnt bottom and all! I also have the same thing going on in my oven here at the new house. It’s not as bad and I can manage to bake without burning the bottom sometimes, but usually I have to tel Charlie to just eat around the burnt part 🙁

    • Magpiemakingdo

      I’m glad I’m not the only one struggling with this! I’m lucky that Jim doesn’t really mind – I bake so rarely anymore that even burnt, it’s a nice deviation from the norm.

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