1st Zi'da, 720
Location: Luna's Dream Orphanage
The kids wanted to dive right into making the next batch of cookies, but Ari'sora insisted that they clean up the kitchen and the dishes they had used first. They grumbled a bit, but they got to work quickly, and between Ari'sora and the kids, they were finished before they knew it.
"So what do we need to make the sugar cookies?" Jacob asked eagerly.
Ari'sora read through the recipe.
"We need three quarters of a cup of shortening, two thirds of a cup of butter, a cup and a half of white sugar, two eggs, two teaspoons of vanilla extract, three and a half cups of all purpose flour, two teaspoons of baking powder, and a teaspoon of salt." she read out loud.
"It also calls for a third of a cup of granulated sugar for decorating the cookies, but since we decided to go with frosting instead, we won't need that." she added.
"Can we put the sugar on top of the frosting?" Hera asked hopefully.
Ari'sora thought that it would be a bit much if they used both, but the kids wanted to do it so badly that she agreed to let them. The older kids quickly got all of the ingredients that they would need, and Ari'sora carefully measured them out, double checking the recipe as she did so to make certain that she measured out the right amount of each ingredient.
"What do we do first?" Hera asked.
Ari'sora consulted the recipe.
"We need to heat the oven to three hundred and fifty degrees. Then we need to cream the butter, shortening and sugar. Once that is done, we need to stir in the eggs and vanilla. The next step is to combine the flour, baking powder and salt, and stir that mixture into the creamed mixture until the dough comes together. After that, we need to roll the dough into walnut sized balls and roll those dough balls in sugar. Finally, we need to place them on an unprepared cookie sheet roughly two inches apart. I will take care of getting the oven ready while you take care of the rest of it. Does that sound good?"
The kids nodded. They split up into groups so that some of the kids could cream the butter, shortening, and sugar together while the other combined the dry ingredients. Ari'sora kept one eye on what the kids were doing while she was dealing with the oven.
When the oven was at the right temperature, Ari'sora checked the lemon white chocolate chip cookie recipe and was happy to learn that those cookies also needed to bake at three hundred and fifty degrees. That would make handling both batches a lot easier.
"According to the recipe, we're ready to bake the sugar cookies now." Jacob told her.
"They're supposed to bake for ten to twelve bits. We'll know that they're done when their bottoms are a light brown. When they are, we're supposed to put them on a cookie rack so that they can cool down. This recipe makes fifty four cookies, so if we make four batches of it, we'll have enough for a lot of refugees. Especially if we make more than one batch of the other cookies too."
Ari'sora nodded. They still had time before the lemon white chocolate chip cookie dough would be finished chilling, so once the batch they had just finished making was put into the oven to cook, she got the ingredients they would need to make three more batches.
While the kids were working on making more cookies, she got to work on the frosting. When she checked the recipe, she saw that she would need half a cup of softened butter, three cups of confectioners' sugar, a teaspoon of vanilla extract, and a teaspoon of heavy cream. Once she had the ingredients she would need, she got to work. The first step was to beat the butter until it was creamy. mix in confectioners' sugar. Stir in vanilla extract. Thin frosting with cream if needed. Then she mixed in the confectioners' sugar, and stirred in the vanilla extract. Since this batch of frosting was only going to be used on the first batch of cookies, she decided that the heavy cream wasn't needed because she didn't want to thin the frosting any. Ari'sora set the frosting aside so it would be ready to use when the cookies were cooling down.
It was time to take the first batch of sugar cookies out of the oven, so Ari'sora did so. Once the cookies were on the rack, the kids put the frosting on them while she checked on the lemon white chocolate chip cookie dough. It was chilled, so she took it out of the ice box, and checked the recipe once more.
"The next thing we need to do is line some pans with parchment paper. We can do that while the dough is sitting for a few bits because it is a little bit too hard to work with just yet."
The kids were quick to do as she told them. When they were done, they turned to her to see what they needed to do next.
"Okay, now we need to drop rounded balls of dough onto the prepared baking sheets. The dough balls should be the size of one and a half tablespoons each."
Ari'sora had the kids do that while she put the other three batches of sugar cookies into the oven to bake.
"We're finished, Ari'sora." Jacob told her as she was closing the oven. Ari'sora checked the recipe once more.
"The cookies need to bake for about eight bits until they just begin to brown at the edges. The center should still be soft. The cookies will appear undone, but they will continue to bake on the warm baking sheet. After the cookies come out of the oven, we need to leave them to cool for ten bits before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. If we transfer them too quickly, they will break."
Ari'sora put the batch of lemon white chocolate chip cookies into the oven to bake, and checked on the sugar cookies that were already in the oven.
"How many cookies does this recipe make?" Hera asked.
Ari'sora consulted the recipe before answering.
"Twenty four cookies. So if we want to make the same number of these cookies as we are making sugar cookies, we will need to make eight more batches. The numbers won't be exact, but they will be close enough."
"Let's get to work!" Jacob said excitedly.
Ari'sora let the kids do most of the work preparing the batches of cookies while she made some more frosting, and took the cookies that were in the oven out of it when they were ready. She kept an eye on them while they worked, but the older kids took charge and made sure that everyone was following the recipe exactly. When the new batches of lemon white chocolate chip cookies were ready to be chilled, Ari'sora told the kids to go play while she cleaned up the kitchen. Then she joined them and offered to tell them a story while they waited for the dough to finish chilling.
When it had, the kids split up into groups once more and got the work done quickly.
"Thank you, Ari'sora." Felicia called from the doorway leading out of the kitchen as the last batch went into the oven.
"It was fun." Ari'sora said with a grin.
"And I think that I learned as much as the kids did."
Felicia grinned back at her.
"Still. You really helped me out a lot by being willing to do this with them. We'll bring the cookies over to Beacon on the next trial. Would you like to come with us when we go?"
Ari'sora considered saying yes. But although no one at the orphanage believed the rumors that were going around, some of the refugees did. Ari'sora didn't want to spoil things with her presence, so she politely declined the offer. Felicia frowned, but she understood why Ari'sora had refused, so she didn't say anything further. Instead, she dismissed Ari'sora for the trial, and told her to get a good night's sleep.
