Chapter Fifteen: What’s The Difference Between Cookies and Biscuits?
When I open the oven door, rows of perfectly baked cookies greet me on the baking tray. Despite the thick sweet-sour aroma in the air, the cookies themselves, dyed purple by the burst halberries oozing juice from the heat, exude a somewhat eerie atmosphere.
“Hey, Rin, can we eat these now?”
“They’re still hot, so waiting a bit longer might be better, Mr. Ville.”
“In this smell, with them right before my eyes… I have to wait…?”
“When you put it that way… yup, let’s eat them…!”
I place a barbeque grill mesh over a washed bowl as a makeshift cake cooler and line up the piping hot berry cookies fresh from the oven… Seeing Mr. Ville’s gaze alternating between me and the cookies still emitting heat that would probably burn your hands, I thought about mentioning that they might be hot enough to burn our mouths, but… he looked at me with such shock, as if his expectations were betrayed. So, I have no option but to concede to eat… there wasn’t any other choice. After all, despite saying things like "It’s better to wait…", deep down, I myself really wanted to eat them… It’s hard to resist the temptation of freshly baked cookies!
And in the end, my worries were needless. Mr. Ville opened his mouth wide and took a big bite of the cookie, but I didn’t hear any exclamation about heat… In fact, I didn’t hear any words at all.
His eyes are shining; he is utterly absorbed in eating.
Cookies look delicious… Yup, I’ll have some too…!
“Hot! But so good!”
“This is… great! Delicious!”
Despite cooling it down with a light blow, the cookie that cracks and enters my mouth is still quite hot. Perhaps the addition of fresh halberries to the already moist dough made it slow to cool. The center of the thickly risen dough is fluffy, perhaps because of the eggs, and crumbles in the mouth. If you eat only that part, it has the texture of a sweet bun. However, the thinly spread edges are beautifully browned, offering a crispy texture reminiscent of traditional cookies. While it could potentially steal moisture from the mouth, thanks to the juice from the fresh halberries, the scenario of the mouth feeling all dry and parched is avoided.
…Rather, it’s more like my mouth is juicy due to the overflowing juice. And even though the moisture from the halberry juice should have evaporated due to the heat, the sweetness, the acidity, and the vividness are condensed, creating a flavor that remains rich. The thick and sweet cookie dough, combined with the rich yet subtly light sweetness of the halberries, creates a nirvana in my mouth! After swallowing, the refreshing and sweetly sour aroma lingers, which is also great.
It seems like these cookies are turning out to be delicious not just once, but two or even three times over!
Oh… with the depth that goes beyond mere sweetness, it’s easy to keep going… It’s quite frightening…
“Ahh! But I messed up!”
“Hm? How? They seem so good I could keep eating forever.”
“They were meant to be our hunger-filling snacks, but they won’t keep like this…”
Yup. I was extremely careless!
Even though I baked it, the base being fresh halberries means it has too much moisture… A cookie that’s overflowing with juice like this would go moldy in no time at all!
As I pick up the lukewarm, cooled-down cookie, it seems the halberry juice has gently permeated it, giving a moist sensation that transfers to my fingertips… Yup. More a thin sweet bun than a cookie!
Well, if I put them in the fridge, I think it should last until tomorrow… Ah…
“I messed up… ate them all…”
“I couldn’t stop either… Too delicious… Sorry!”
“No, since it was intended to be a snack, it’s okay as it turned out… Just, can we save the spice cookies for later, like after tomorrow?”
“Got it. Sorry to trouble you.”
Somehow, the berry cookies I left to cool were all gone.
I messed up… we ate them all… This is… no longer an issue of lasting…
Well, you know… sweet things are tasty! It’s pure bliss! And, as I was thinking about that, my hands just wouldn’t stop, or something like that… The whole idea was initially, “Let’s make snacks that last for a while!”, so how did it end up all eaten? That’s how it feels.
Maybe I should make another round of cookies that are baked to last longer… I still have the spice mix, so time for spice ones… Well, excuse me, I quite like spice cookies too.
In the end, the original objective of "satisfying our hunger" and my personal desire for "something sweet" were both accomplished, so let’s count it as a success!
It was juicy cookies, but if you eat them in succession, you start craving some water, right…? As I offer Mr. Ville some barley tea, opening my mouth for the last berry cookie I held…
“Um… Do you want… to eat it?”
“I really can!?”
“Ah, yes. Please… go ahead…”
For just a brief moment, ruby eyes seemed to ask “Are you really going to eat that?” and I stopped right before bringing the last cookie to my mouth. Mr. Ville was probably unaware of it as well. Whether it was a sudden realization or not, those eyes quickly shifted away. But I noticed it, which made things a bit awkward, or rather…
…Yup. He still seems like he wants more. But, you know, this is the last one, and I also feel like having a bit more… Hmm…
…Well. In the end, I passed the berry cookie to him…
…I lost… Seeing those sparkling eyes while he ate the cookies…! Damn! It’s not like I was moved or anything!
…But you know, Mr. Ville did help me earlier… So, I didn’t lose! I wasn’t moved either! It’s just a thank-you for the help I got earlier, a thank-you!
Seeing Mr. Ville happily pop the cookie in his mouth, my heart warms ever so slightly. Probably because he was so happy that it looked to me like he was perking up his ears and wagging his imaginable tail. It’s rewarding to see someone appreciate my cookies to that extent!
“Rin, what’s that?”
“Oh, these are for ginger spice cookies. They’re delicious in their own way.”
I start dropping spice cookie dough on the now cooled baking tray. I try to make the thickness even, and thinner than the berry cookies. I’m hoping for a quicker and more thorough baking, though it’s a bit of a gamble.
Although Mr. Ville reacts quickly, having wolfed down the berry cookies, I make a mental note to absolutely safeguard a portion of the spice cookies for snacking later!
“This aroma again… is exceptional…”
“Hehe… Quite stimulating, no?”
Around 10 minutes have passed since putting the spice cookies into the still warm oven. The air in the vehicle is now filled with a sweet aroma tinged with a refreshing spiciness.
I’ll say this definitively. The appeal of spice cookies isn’t just being sweet. Yes, it’s something altogether different.
When peering into the oven with Mr. Ville, the cookies seem to have taken on a rich color within the orange light. Let’s bake for another five minutes or so, and evaporate the moisture… By the way, I wonder if there’s a sealed container-like thing to store the cookies in?
“Oh, right! I used a tupper to bring ingredients too!”
“Tup… per?”
“It’s a rectangular container with a lid that you can tightly seal!”
Rising amidst the sweet air, I turn towards the four-dimensional storage where camping equipment and the recently acquired drop items are stowed away.
It’s like… a storage room? With the fishing cart, tackle box, rod stands, drops, and stuff placed randomly inside. When you think “I wanna check the cart”, somehow the cart gets placed in front of you. And while rummaging through the cart, when you think “I want the tackle box”, the tackle box again ends up within easy reach…
I get it… sometimes it’s hard to stop thinking, even when you try to, right?
By the way, I found the tupper safely inside the cart. And a pretty big one with a tight seal! I thought it would be a shame if the plastic bag I used to marinate the spare ribs ripped and leaked the juices… so I put it in the tupper just in case… I never thought it’d come in handy!
Since there was no leakage and it remained clean, I just put it away as is, but since I’ll be putting cookies in it, I’ll wash it just to be on the safe side…
Looking up, the sweet aroma drifting in the air had grown even stronger. This smell makes me crave coffee… While barley tea is delicious, and chilled barley tea with meals is justice, for me personally spice cookies go best with slightly sweetened milk coffee to bring out the spices!
…That said, I wonder if coffee exists in this world. I’ll look for some when I can!
The translator’s corner
When I bake something delicious, usually about half of it is eaten while still hot. Even cupcakes (a full oven of cupcakes!) don’t last long. So I can understand the heroine.
Same for me, I love eating cake, cupcakes, and cookies when they are still hot, its simply the best way to eat them!
ReplyDeleteI actually don't like eating them fresh out the oven 😭 especially cookies
ReplyDeleteOne time, when I was on my period, I was baking cookies for a later get-together. My husband came into the kitchen to see me holding my head and crying. He asked what happened, and I had to tell him that I ate ALL of them and have to make them AGAIN...
ReplyDelete