During some of my insomnia fueled research binges I found a cheap ebook for homemade spa and bath items. At $0.99 for some new ideas I was game. I’ve looked things over and set a few aside to experiment with. I decided tonight that I’d give the “bath cookies” recipe a spin with a few changes.
As you know I prefer sweet almond oil (SAO) as a carrier because it is good for the skin, has great spreadability, soothes the skin without clogging pores, and the silkiness lasts up to 9 hours. I substituted the SAO in place of the oils they used in their recipe and changed from Bergamot EO to a more indulgent winter combo of Chocolate FO and Purely Peppermint FO (mint cocoa – yum!!).
At first the blend seemed really neat and had an interesting consistency. To try and keep things even I used a cookie scoop, although I had to experiment for awhile to consistently scoop about .70 ounces each time (I developed a fun little twist and press method that somehow helped me be more consistent). I baked them and realized while the first batch of 15 were going that I was making a whole lot more than the recipe said it would yield. To be fair to myself the recipe was pretty dag on general with no tips on packaging, expected consistencies, how it would spread, etc. Anyway, with the cookie scooper I ended up with 40 “cookies”. I admit that I sat in a chair and stared at the first baked batch for awhile before continuing. Lol. First off they certainly did not brown at all, let alone the lightly that the recipe said to look for. Do not overbake was stressed, so once they baked almost twice as long as called for I said screw the looks. *grin* The second surprise is that they didn’t spread in the least. Since they were called a cookie I expected them to melt down into a tiny cookie no different than a standard cookie, since several of the base ingredients are the same. As you’ll see in the pictures they didn’t change in the slightest except hardening. I think mine are a little more like drop biscuits. Lol. Finally I was a little surprised to go to scoop up the second batch and they started falling apart. I poked around in the batter a bit and noticed that the interesting foam-like texture had faded into an almost streusel in the 8 minutes of baking and letting the first batch cool for a few to remove. After a little quick thinking I pulled the SAO back out and added a teaspoon, mixed it in as best as I could, and then added a second. I made the remaining mixture into a big clump to hold the moisture, but I still had a lot of problems with the biscuits crumbling as I ejected them from the scoop. Meh!
I will experiment with a few changes tomorrow hopefully and first off I will make the scoops way bigger. I’ll also try to bake as many as possible at once. If there is some mixture leftover from the first baking I’ll put Saran over it to hold the moisture as much as possible. In the meantime I’m not totally upset over these since they’re kind of fun, but I’m definitely disappointed. I soaked a bit to test and they dissolve fairly quickly. They leave a light silkiness and barely any scent; both should increase with longer exposure such as a full bath with them. I started out hoping they wouldn’t be like a homemade dog biscuit and I succeeded at that, so I’m calling this a half win. *grin* I’m attaching a few pictures for fun.
Georgia's Pampering 