Oh, great. My house stinks of burned cookies … again. I usually have at least one batch of edible treats to make up for it, but this time I’ve managed to smoke up the place without even turning on the oven.
It was another of my microwave experiments. Most of my microwave experiments result in some minor disaster and this was no exception.
But when they work, it is so fabulous. Discovering that I could melt chocolate without a double-boiler was worth the one or two batches of scorched chips I had to sacrifice to get it just right.
When the microwave hit the scene, it was an absolute miracle for the single woman on the go. Being able to cook a hot dog without waiting for water to boil is still a treat. But that doesn’t mean I ever truly understood it.
I remember being told that it heats food from the inside out, but sometimes I sort of forget. I remember being told that it might leak radiation and that you can’t dry your cat in it. Beyond that, I just accept it has a touch of magic to it.
That means that even though the directions say you probably shouldn’t do this or that, I’m inclined to test it myself (except the cat, of course).
I’ve made ice cold peanut butter spreadable, but I have also gotten a startling lightshow from some foil left on a jar edge. I’ve turned crystallized honey back to a lovely, warm syrup.
I’ve also melted the honey container. I’ve made perfect cocoa and I’ve also turned milk into a solid. I’ve gotten candle wax off of things, and I’ve had a candle holder shatter aIl over my microwave. I can’t resist trying to get it to do just one more trick.
This time I thought I could melt the waxy “icing” off the top of a store-bought cookie.
The cookie burned. The icing remained absolutely intact. The stench was nasty, but only temporary.
I bet Madame Curie would have coveted my can of aerosol air freshener.
Jean Gillette is a freelance writer practicing her own kind of black, slightly smoky magic. Contact her at [email protected].
