The February theme for Cookie Thursday is a Thing is Baking the Baking Pantry. I was pulling eggs out to make cookies when I noticed a nearly full bottle of wine in the bottom of the fridge.
In this household we don’t drink. It’s not that we are opposed, more that I can’t stand the taste.
This bottle of wine has been in the fridge, with only one glass out of it, since Christmas! Don’t worry it has been sealed the entire time.
I mean, I gave it the sniff test.
This means I had a nearly full bottle of Rosé wine that I needed to do something with. Pouring it down the sink was eh, I think I can do better.
Cookie Thursday is a Thing has always been about experimentation. I was contemplating the bottle of wine and I wondered if I could make it into syrup that I could then add to cookie dough.
And I can!
I started by making a syrup out of the Rosé wine.
The ratio that I used was a 3 c wine to 1 c sugar. I boiled the mixture for 20 minutes over medium heat until it was reduced by a third.
I did taste it. Tasted like sweeter wine. Not that I know anything about wine, despite growing up in Northern California in the Wine Bucket.
The next step was deciding what kind of cookie was most forgiving and could be used as a base.
I considered the tried and true Toll House recipe but then I decided that the best cookie to experiment on would be an oatmeal cookie base. I thought that the oatmeal would be sturdier.
And it WORKED!
Since I was adding almost 2 entire cups of wine syrup to the batter, I also added an additional 1/2 c flour.
This part I just guessed.
The resulting cookies are subtly rose wine flavored.
They could have been more cohesive and thicker.
But I am happy with the output.
Dispatches from the Evening Shift 