Some of you may remember my talking about my first real baking venture of the year: Andes Mint Cookies. I’ve officially made them three times, and I wanted to share some tips, should you decide to make them.

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So some of you eagle-eyed readers may have noticed I’ve been quiet lately. Quiet, and if the two-weeks’ lack of progress reports is any indication, not writing. You’re right on both accounts. I’ve been feeling utterly blah and uninspired, unable to muster even the tiniest amount of motivation for anything at all, including work.

I spoke to a friend of mine last week who rightly called it Spring Fever. A funny thing to have, given the weather. I’m not located in one of the many parts of the US that’s been lambasted by snow, but today, the outside looks like a furious snowglobe, and while nothing is sticking, it lifts my spirits.

Weirdly — and I say this is weird since I’m not a domestic housewife by any means — the only thing satisfying lately is cleaning and baking. The former is weird because I like to put off cleaning until it’s absolutely necessary, but Saturday I woke up, stripped the bed down to the mattress, and washed every damn thing that goes on the bed that I could. Which doesn’t sound very impressive, but when you have a mattress pad AND an allergy cover (it covers both the mattress itself AND the mattress pad), you’ll understand I was in for a long day of laundry. I also vacuumed the bejeezus out of the bedroom, so hopefully, my allergies will thank me. Because they certainly don’t thank me when the cat sleeps on my head.

Baking is a running joke in my family because I don’t cook. I can screw up the most simple of instructions (seriously: I once tried cooking a Hot Pocket without its pocket, and it wasn’t like I didn’t know better!), but I really have a soft spot for baking. As long as the recipe isn’t too intimidating, I’m happy to try it. My hips and waistline aren’t so happy, so I have to be careful.

But this weekend, I tried the whole wheat recipe in the bread machine, and that was… disappointing. I think there were a number of factors involved, namely it missed one of its kneading cycles because the dough got stuck at the top of the pan and away from the kneading blade, and I didn’t catch that until the first cycle passed (not my fault that I couldn’t observe the cycle, and I won’t go into why). The bread itself turned out rather lopsided and really dense and, well, wheaty, so I think next time, I’m going to add more butter. Possibly more brown sugar. I like my bread sweet. Sue me. 🙂

However, I did have a baking triumph. Giraffe Days posted a recipe yesterday for Andes Mint Cookies, and once I read the instructions, I knew I had to make them ASAP, as I am a lover of Devil’s Food and Andes Mints. 🙂 Today, I picked up my ingredients and whipped up a batch right after dinner, and I must say: they are yummy! If you’re like me, and prefer easy recipes and don’t require everything be made from scratch (the devil’s food mix came out of a box, yo), then you’ll be really, really happy with these. I know I am. They’re fast and easy too, which means this recipe will be my go-to if there’s an event I need to bring something for.

As for the rest of my apathy, I’m hoping I’ll shake out of this mood soon. Writing-wise, the apathy deserves its own post, so I’ll wrap it up here with a simple HUZZAH for successful cookies!