Food blogger Nicole Weston has a “making lemonade from lemons” mentality. For example, when it’s way too hot to cook indoors, move your baking out of the house. One of her tried-and-true hot weather activities is to use extreme heat (100° F+) to bake cookies in her car.
You can, too, if we get a few hot days in July or August. You’ll avoid heating up your kitchen and can still have a yummy snack or dessert to serve your family. And a bonus: Your car will smell great afterward.
Here are her suggestions and her recipe for car-baked cookies.
- Park the car in full sun to gather as much heat as possible. She says that if it’s 100° outside, it should reach 180° inside your car.
- Place a towel or potholder on your dash so that the pan won’t damage your car.
- Use a slice-and-bake recipe so that you can cut the cookies in a uniform thickness.
- Mini chocolate chips are easier to slice than larger ones.
Car-Baked Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup quick cooking oatmeal
2/3 cup chocolate chips, mini, semisweet and/or white
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.
- In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Beat in egg and vanilla, followed by flour mixture. Once the flour has been incorporated, stir in oatmeal and chocolate chips.
- Place dough on a large sheet of wax paper and roll into a log approximately 11-inches long by 2.5-inches wide. Freeze for 2-3 hours or overnight.
- When ready to bake, park your car in the sun on a 100F+ day. Slice cookies slices no more than 1/4-inch slices and place on parchment-lined baking sheet. Place baking sheet on car dashboard (with protective towel underneath) and bake for 2 1/2 - 3 hours, until done.
- If you have a big dashboard (or a friend with another car), you can do two batches at once, otherwise you can save half of the dough for another day.
Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies.
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