Kyle was half an hour late getting to work this evening to take over for me (because of the traffic, which has been crazy busy), so when I got home finally from work I was kind of pissed off. Although, he did call to let me know he’d be late which was appreciated, and he agreed to take the Sunday shift I needed off since my family is coming up for an early Christmas with me (I wont be able to leave the city until after Jan. 2nd – so an early Christmas sounded better to them than a late Christmas). Normally I’m the only one who works Sundays, so it was really appreciated.
Anyway, to make myself feel better I decided to do some baking! I’m trying out a new recipe tonight for pistachio pudding sugar cookies! I was excited because the ingredients list is really small and was all things I had in the house already, and it was easy enough to put together. However, all mixed up it KIND OF smells like play doh to me, so I’m kinda nervous about that…
They’re in the oven now but will be out by the time I finish this tasting note. And, what goes best with cookies? Well tea, of course. So I decided to make some peppermint tea. Since this one has tasted borderline repulsive to me I’m giving it one last shot before I stick it in the swap thread or take it away thread. It’s been heartbreaking since peppermint is a love of mine, and this has always been a staple tea of mine. I’m wondering if the leaves have just turned or something :/
Normally I heavily over leaf this (like, quadruple the recommended amount of leaf) but tonight for thus one’s last shot at redemption I’m going to be dialing back and just sticking with the recommended leaf for the recommended time.
Ten Minutes Later
Ok, cookies are out of the oven and tea is made!
The first batch of cookies was pretty burnt, and basically just tasted like slightly burnt whole wheat sugar cookies – not a ton of pistachio (although they were definitely bright pistachio green). The second batch which I left in for less time, however, are a lot softer and chewier and taste nice and subtly sweet with a good strong pistachio taste! I think I’ll have to make them again since they’re actually relatively healthy (especially since I used whole wheat flour) – and they’ve proven to be nice for dunking in my tea (especially the burnt ones). Definitely no Play Doh flavour.
As far as the peppermint tea goes, I think this tea has been redeemed! With the heavily dialed back leaf and steep time this is actually so much more pleasant, although a bit weak compared to how I normally like it. So, what I’m deducing here is that I just gradually started using more and more leaf per cup with a longer and longer steep time until I finally just reached my threshold (which I guess was a tbsp. and a half at five minutes). So now I think I can work my way back up slowly until I figure out that perfect amount.
But I’m so pleased I don’t have to toss the tin, since I have a lot of this one. Also, I’m amused at how this turned into a tea and cookie review.
