Sometimes You Win, Sometimes You Loose

Who could have ever expected we would have a flour shortage in this world these days? Who would have ever expected I would be sitting here writing about it? This week's chemistry in the kitchen experiments required a lot of substituting and flour was the main topic.  

Country White Bread With Honey & Coconut Oil

What American kid growing up in the 80s and 90s didn't have cinnamon sugar toast on white bread for breakfast before school? I was no different. Since moving to India, I had not really eaten bread, so this actually came as a rare little treat of nostalgia for me. However I did throw a little modern grown-up flair to it. 

• Thick country white bread is the key. None of that fortified Wonder Bread. No offense, it has it place with grilled PBJs with me.
• No butter! That's right. I went for coconut oil because the butter was too hard to spread, I was lazy and wanted it now. So I grabbed the first easily spreadable thing I could find and to my surprise I loved it. 
• Cut the cinnamon sugar out and went for honey. This choice was just because my palate has changed over the years. 

Outcome: I loved it so much I had it 4 days last week for breakfast. Same way every time. I really like the coconut oil honey combo. 

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The Epic Fail of The Pancake

Now after that boring little commentary on toasted bread, allow me to entertain you with an epic fail of the week. This one will go into the book of classics for me. How bad could it be you might ask? Let's start from the beginning...

I take a lot of pride in my pancakes. Those who have eaten them always come back for more. It is one thing people actually ask me to make for them. I even have a shirt which says Pancake Master. The expectations were pretty high on this experiment. 

There is a lot that goes into my pancakes, however the base has always been since a kid, Bisquick. This is something which is damn near impossible to find anywhere in the world outside of America. Yes, I bring boxes of it back to India every trip I make. But after talking to my sister and hearing how easy it is to make homemade bisquick, I was open to giving it a shot and seeing what amazing goodness I could create.

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Let's start with the list of substitutions which lead to this epic ego blow...

• I started with the search for the best recipe of homemade Bisquick and  Don't Waste The Crumbs won. This is where it all went downhill.  Not because of their recipe.  It called for the flour, baking powder and an oil base of either butter, shortening or coconut oil as an option.
  • My creative self thought this was a good opportunity to give the coconut oil a chance. So I did.  
  • Given the current flour situation, I also thought it wouldn't matter that much with flour differences other than flavour, so I chose to go with this coconut flour I had bought. *I did buy it because it was the only flour available besides a wheat flour, which I didn't think would give the taste I was wanting to achieve.   I WAS WRONG. OH MAN, I WAS WRONG.​
• Almond or coconut milk is what I always use for my milk base, but we were out of that and I had to substitute with the real deal. Not an issue for me. I didn't think it was going to be an issue for this either. 
• Another substitute would be my rice. Yes, I put cooked rice into my pancakes. It's what makes them so amazing. However, it has to be kolum rice from Maharashtra to make the perfect texture and flavour. Clearly I don't have access to this, so I had to use a basmati which came from the normal grocer here. 
• I didn't have proper Mexican vanilla (yes, I am that particular) and honey from my brother's hive (which is another must). 

We all make do with what we have access to and I knew already it wasn't going to taste 'perfect'. But I really thought I had potential to create something better.  I didn't. Instead I gave myself a stomach ache. 

Lessons Learned...

• Coconut flour is not like other flours. It is like a super absorbent sponge. You can't equally substitute.
• You can't just keep adding adding liquid without adding more eggs other ingredients to balance. 
• Some homemade recipes for Bisquick call for baking powder while others call for baking soda. Still, I am confused. 
• For the first time in my life I made properly cooked rice! Although this small success did require a lot of draining of water. So was it really proper? I don't know. True confession; my cook always makes my rice for me at home.  
• If what you end up with really sucks...don't eat it. You could end up with a day long stomach ache. Or develop an aversion to coconuts now, which is my current situation. 
• Did I mention coconut flour is NOT like other flours?

I feel at this point you need to watch the slideshow experience, rather than me write about it. 
*Some photo notes to observe: The moment I realised coconut flour sucks up liquid. When I g​ot dough instead of batter. When my pancake essentially turned into coconut upma. 

​Outcome:  This Pancake Master Epically FAILED. Pancakes being the only thing in the kitchen which I am confident about, my ego was totally crushed. 

My brain works like a tubelight in the kitchen. Just now as I see the dough photo and it dawns on me, "could I have made scones out of this?" As soon as I got dough I knew my pancakes were going to be a fail. Could I have salvaged this concoction from the wreckage I was creating?  ...After a quick google, it may have actually worked. But I won't be trying this ever again. I won't even look up a special recipe which specifically uses coconut flour for pancakes. I am sure the homemade Bisquick recipe would have worked had I followed it perfectly, but I didn't. 

The mess was thankfully easy to clean since I didn't burn anything and I managed to make a flawless Nespresso coffee afterwards. Nothing like Nespresso to boost your confidence on making a perfect Americano (which yes, I have ruined those before too).

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Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies

It is ashamed the rest of the world doesn't appreciate peanut butter like the Americans.  But this could work to my advantage if I am the only one else ends up loving these golden chewy bites of yumminess here at the house. 

By now you know I also love oatmeal. So after a go at Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies which were a total hit, I thought I would take a stab at Oatmeal Peanut Butter, and because chocolate chips are actually bottom of my like list. And let's face it, I needed a solid comeback from that pancake debacle. 

So I started with my typical search for the perfect recipe with high flavour and chewiness ratings. We have established I am not strong enough in the kitchen to do much substituting, but given the flour situation I was once again forced think outside the box again. 
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• I started with Two Peas & Their Pod recipe. High ratings, simple, chewy, straight forward with directions. It seemed like a solid plan. 

Now time to accommodate for what I actually had in the kitchen.

• Oof...the dreaded flour. Keep in mind what I had just went through, and I did the cookies immediately after the pancake incident. I got right back into the saddle on this. Forgive my English, but I have no clue what wholemeal flour really is. After googling I am still confused. But I am going to give it a try.  Wholemeal...please, someone help explain. I never saw this once when I grew and living in America. In India, I am still trying to learn a whole new flour system there and what they are all for. But I gave it a go with WHOLEMEAL!
• Sugar. OMG we are out of sugar and the two groceries I stopped by were out too. I almost aborted the mission at this point, but I didn't panic. I thought sweet...honey. I love honey and peanut butter. I love honey and oats. How bad could it be? So I used 1/3 cup of honey because that was all I had. 
• I love peanut butter so I used a heaping 1/2 cup.
• Butter is in grams here and it called for 1/2 cup. I used about 150gms, so a little more than called for. 
• We had no vanilla so I doubled the cinnamon.
• Chilled for a few hours then put in the dreaded gas oven I used for the banana bread. I don't know what to do with an oven that cooks too hot in the center. I had to spin the sheet around for the last few minutes, but the center ones got too brown. I am open for solutions and suggestions. 

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CONCLUSION: These could quite possibly be the best cookies I have ever made. I believe the slight deviations from the original recipe actually made them better than intended. For a bunch of people who don't like peanut butter, they loved them.  This is one I would definitely make again and make my way. 

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In Closing

You win some and you loose some. Sometimes you end up playing a football match and tie. I feel like I accomplished the latter. This woman knows her place in the kitchen...which is to stay out of the kitchen! But I will continue to play around while we are stuck in this lockdown and contribute to our flour shortage. At least I know when I step inside the kitchen, there is always potential for a good laugh. That makes it worth it.