Monday, February 11, 2013

Chocolate Covered Cookies for Your Valentine

The Secret Baker (which apparently isn't very ninja-like, since you can find them on Facebook) describes the company as "A manufacturer of premium baking kits that include everything needed for ordinary people to make professional-quality cake pops and cookies."

I'm an ordinary people.

The company offered me an interview with the company president, but I thought it would be more fun to play with the products. Because I'm all about the play.

And getting messy, when possible.

First impression was that the box and packaging would make this a good gift item. It's got that "oooh pretty!" look to it. Since I didn't know what they were sending, it was fun to unpack.

I received a kit for making chocolate-covered Oreos, plus a sanding sugar kit and a cute little box for presentation. Um, I wasn't supposed to just eat them? Uh oh.

I very carefully read scanned glanced at the instructions and figured it couldn't be all that hard. Everything - abso-tively-lutely EVERYTHING you need is in the kit. Well, except a microwave oven and opposible thumbs, but that would be sort of hard to pack.

A spatula (not included) is useful for making the cookie bottoms nice and flat, but unless you're living in a forest with strange woodland creatures, you probably have something that would work. A pancake turner. A flat knife. A bench scraper. A ruler.

So what was included in the kit I got? A cookie mold, Oreo Cookies (double-stuffed), chocolate melting wafers in two colors, microwave-safe melting tubs, squeeze bottles, plastic spoons, toothpicks, gloves, some melty-flaky stuff to add to the chocolate, and instructions.

There's nothing magical in the kit, but it's nice that it's all in one package. You don't need to run back to the store because you forgot something. You just open the box, pause a moment to look a the instructions, and have fun.

A little practice wouldn't hurt, but if you're using one of these kits, you're not making these professionally. It's for fun. Or to let the kids have fun.

But wait! Is my kit defective? Why on earth did they send me a kit that spells VOLE!? Isn't that some sort of rodent???

Oh. Never mind. Just someone re-arranging my letters.

The kit would also be useful for someone named Leo V. Just kidding. Sort of. I was having a little too much fun playing word games with the cookies. LOL.

With practice (and not that much practice) I'm sure I'd get a whole lot better at making these. If you look closely at the letter E, you can see that the Oreo can be seen peeking through the white. That's because I pushed it down a little too firmly. Now I know better.

These kits obviously aren't going to appeal to the super-experienced baker or cookie decorator. But that's not who these kits are designed for. So it's all good.

The company also sells refills for the kits as well as individual products. Besides the Oreo cookie kits, there are cake pop kits. I'm not a huge fan of cake pops in general, but I have to say that some of their designs are adorable.
Yum