Okay, I’m going to work on a single-lady cinnamon roll… and maybe a blondie or brownie too. But not today. I don’t want to look at another single-lady anything for at least the next few days! Cookie testing tired me out!
Yesterday, you saw the pretty Single-Lady Cookie.
But you didn’t see the half of it! 😕
Before there was a good single-serving Chocolate-Chip Cookie, there were many ugly ones. Consider them the ex-boyfriends of the cookie world. 😉
My first tester cookie came out way too dry. The second puffed up so much it looked more like a muffin than a cookie. The third cookie was absolutely disgusting, thanks to too much baking soda. And the fourth… well, let’s just say I almost gave up completely after that one! By the time lunch rolled around, I was burned out (and I’m not just talking about “burned” in the sense of cookie tester #5)! So I quickly threw together a very non-cookie lunch. (I used the same ribbon from the Single-Lady Cookie photoshoot. Somehow, it just seems too weird to use fake flowers in December.)
Bulgur pilaf, sautéed peppers and onions, and Coconut Candied Veggies with pecans.
After lunch, I caught my dad happily munching on the throw-away cookies. That man will eat anything. I swear, he has no tastebuds!
One time, I gave him a Raw Macaroon, and he said, “Mmm, this is good. Is it lemon?” Um, not exactly, Dad! :-?) After that, he was banned from taste-testing. Often, I’ll bombard my mom and friends with samples, saying, “Here, try this and tell me what you think.” My dad will ask, “Do you want me to taste it?” Nope, not really LOL! It’s so weird, because my own tastebuds are soooo hyper-sensitive. If there’s even a hint of a certain spice in a recipe, I’ll pick up on it.
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What about you?
Are your tastebuds super-sensitive? Or will you eat anything?
Don’t forget to enter to win some Fudge Babies… Although, judging by the number of comments on that post, I don’t know if there’s anyone left who hasn’t already entered! 🙂
Keri - I Eat Trees says
Haha, when I first scrolled through the images without reading, I was thinking, is she making vegan cookie crisp cereal?! 😀
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
I always hated that cereal… because it tasted nothing like cookies LOL!
Serena says
I know -_- Sooo disappointing! All the commercials made it looks like mini cookies in a bowl and how amazing would THAT be?! but the real thing…euuurgh
Jennifer JCD says
You learn more from failure than you do from success. And I made your single lady cookie last night and I can certainly say all those failures were worth it; the end recipe is great!
My tastebuds are in the middle somewhere. I can taste a lot of flavours, but cannot detect which spices are which half the time. But when it comes to salt and sugar, I’m super sensitive and can taste even the smallest bit.
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
Oh I’m so glad! Haha I’m glad I spared you the trouble of tasting so many bad ones ;).
Holly @ couchpotatoathlete says
I think the cookies look good — and I’d eat them too! Because a cookie that tastes bad is STILL A COOKIE and cookies are awesome 🙂
Healthy Chocoholic says
I have pretty sensitive taste buds……if there is even a little bit of a spice or anything that I don’t care for in a dish, I notice it immediately! Of course, I like most things, so that doesn’t happen often! =D
Janna says
Haha that’s so funny about your dad. So cute.
I’m not sure how sensitive my tastebuds are, I would say I can definitely pick up spices, ingredients in a recipe pretty easily. An interesting fact: In one of my psychology classes at school the teacher handed around a small piece of paper to everyone and we had to lick it! If it tasted like nothing you were a “non-taster” which means you didn’t have very sensitive tastebuds and probably enjoyed spicy food because it didn’t effect you as much, if it tasted a little bitter then you were a “taster”, which meant you had average tastebuds and if it tasted very bitter you were a “supertaster” which mean you were very sensitive to the taste of foods – especially bitter veggies and spicy food!
What was I?… I was too scared to lick the paper 🙂
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
Ahhh hahha ewww I think I would’ve been with you.
(Oh, and at first I thought you meant you all had to lick the same paper!)
Alice says
Hello, Janna!
I know that it’s weird to ask you this now, two years after you posted the comment, but… was it a special kind of paper? Because I when I read your comment I just had to lick a random paper and I tasted only a paper-y taste that reminded me of the peel of a grape’s peel and a kinda sweet taste which is from the caramel tea it was lying on… OMG, wait! The paper-y taste turned pretty bitter while writing this…. disgusting…
So… was it a special kind of paper?
Christin@purplebirdblog says
Sad cookies that taste like cookies are totally eligible for eating! 🙂
Movesnmunchies says
Katie do you know the nutritional stats for your single lady cookie?
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
Hehe, I am too wordy for twitter ;).
It really depends on so many things: what oil/applesauce you use, what flour you use, how many chocolate chips you add, etc. But since it’s single-serving, all you have to do is add up the individual ingredients you use and that’s your answer. No need for division :). (Yay for less math, right?)
Brandie says
LOL, Junior just saw me looking at your post, where ther’s the pic of your dad and he says “Who dat, Mommy?” I said “That’s Katie’s daddy.” and he says “Oh. He a boy Mommy.” LOL… He’s so funny! I get what you mean about the no tastebuds too – I wouldn’t prolly have my dad taste test either – his answer to everything is “that’s good”. Lol. !
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
Awwww lol. Hehe 🙂
Brandie says
Yeah he’s pretty “Awww” 😉 Hey! are you still going to post the Hug a Vegan thingie??
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
LOL yeah! Someday… I promise I will! (And I’ll let you know when it’s up.)
Kate (What Kate is Cooking) says
Not going to lie, I’ll pretty much eat anything 🙂
Nichole (Flirting with Food, Fitness & Fashion) says
My taste buds are pretty sensitive but I am not a picky eater – I will try anything (except those things made with meat). I might be picky to some people haha. I can normally pick up on certain spices in recipes that I haven’t made.
Erika @ Health and Happiness in LA says
Haha your dad’s face is hilarious!
I don’t have very sensitive tastebuds, and I like everything, pretty much. There are very few foods I don’t like!
Kayla (Little Miss Healthify) says
I used to be so picky when I was little: I didn’t drink milk, I didn’t eat any vegetables and I didn’t like creamy casseroles or ANYTHING! My diet consisted mostly of boxed mac n cheese and ramen noodles! I wish my mom would have made me healthier things to eat!!
But now that I’ve started making my own food I’ve grown to love veggies and trying new things! I’m not picky at all anymore!
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
LOL me too! I hated hated hated so many veggies. It’s so weird how tastes change :).
Marina says
Hm, I’m not sure, I don’t think I have really sensitive taste buds, but some things I just won’t eat. For me, texture is really important, I don’t like awful textures 😀
But my boy will eat anything 😀
Debbie C. says
Just have to tell you how much I enjoyed my Single Lady Cookie.I made a walnut and chocolate chunk cookie.OMG so delicious ! Next I am going to try a peanut butter version and after that a oatmeal raisin.I urge all cookie lovers to make a single Lady Cookie.Thanks Katie for all your hard work developing the recipe and please keep those Single Lady dessert recipes coming!
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
Aw yay!! 🙂 🙂
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
Ooh and if you do succeed with a peanut butter version, let me know if you’d ever be interested in doing a guest post about it, since the whole single-lady cookie idea was yours to begin with! 🙂
Kelly says
My taste buds are pretty sensitive, too – but my olfactory sense is even stronger! I often detect ingredients that nobody else notices… especially vinegar, which I find disgusting.
So, about these single lady desserts. Delicious as they look, here’s my concern: Isn’t it a waste of electricity to use the oven to make one muffin or one cookie? It doesn’t seem too environmentally friendly to me. 🙁 I suppose if you could microwave them, that’d cut down on some energy usage… hmm.
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
If I have the oven heated up, I’m usually making more than one thing :). For example, the muffin comes out and in goes a batch of roast veggies. They come out and in goes a spaghetti squash. I try to take advantage of the fact that the oven’s already heated up and get all my baking done at once :).
Kelly says
I should’ve known you wouldn’t be one to waste valuable oven time! 🙂 I do the same thing – and I love it when my roomie makes something and then the oven is ready and preheated right when I need it.
Diana (Soap & Chocolate) says
Haha, yeah my dad is not so sensitive in the taste/smell dept. Or color for that matter! Loving the single-serve cookie, but you make a good point about making a whole batch and just defrosting one ball of dough at a time! I didn’t think of that until I briefly interned at a restaurant where I had to make QUADRUPLE batches of cookie dough and then portion them into precisely-weighted balls for baking later one. I dont’ miss the restaurant method, but the idea is good. 🙂
Blog is the New Black says
don’t call them ugly! you’ll give them a complex. you need to give them an operation beautiful post-it to make up for it! 😉
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
Oh dear, you’re right. I’ve probably set them up for bad self-esteem for life now, haven’t I? 🙁
Averie (LoveVeggiesandYoga) says
“That man will eat anything. I swear, he has no tastebuds!”
Most husbands, men, and toddler, and co-workers in an office breakroom (this is the biggest one!!!) will eat just about anything sweet…even if it’s not perfect.
For me, if i am gonna eat something sweet, i want it PERFECT. I may as well enjoy all that decadence in true perfection!!
Random aside, I am maybe (not even for sure yet) thinking about redoing my blog, migrating to WP, but i have said this for years…I love yours and Heabs. Did Zesty do it? I am willing to pay$$ to have it 100% hired out. I dont want to do a thing myself…I know my limitations…any advice, info$, etc, email me if you have time 🙂
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
Sending you a lengthy email lata today!!
Kiersten says
When I mess something up I usually don’t eat it, although it depends on how badly I messed up. If I was in your situation, I wouldn’t have eaten the cookies, but if it’s something like adding a little too much cayenne to something I’d eat it. My fiance will eat absolutely anything, he has the lowest food standards. I find it oddly amusing.
Fi says
I’m pretty sensitive alright! I hate anything with celery spice, star aniseed, nutmeg or White pepper! Urgh! I love the scrap bits of baking.there the best nibble bits! X
Namaste Gurl says
Haha, your mom sounds like my dad AND mom. As long as it’s somewhat sweet and yummy looking, they’ll eat it, regardless of what’s in it or how it tastes 🙂 Someday they’ll get it…..
My sense of taste, on the other hand, is VERY strong– I can note what’s in a food by taking one nibble.
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
Hehe well, at least that means you can experiment on them. My mom is the PICKIEST eater! She’s so suspicious of all my creations!
Alex@Spoonful of Sugar Free says
I always have others test my recipes before I post them because I am not super sensitive! I will eating anything! I usually have my sis test because she is hypersensitive! She always smells something from miles away, and we are like, “we don’t smell anything!”
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
LOL that’s me!! My parents had salmon last night, and you could not get me to stop complaining about it. I was trying to eat a cookie dough fudge baby bar, and all I could taste was salmon! 😕
Julia (The Veggie Side) says
Other than a few spices that I’m not that fond of, my tastes aren’t that sensitive. I did make cookies the other day that tasted like chocolate cardboard. The thing is, they came out so pretty that I used a picture of them as the header of my blog. (I know…shame on me. 🙂 But it gets better! I found my hubby and daughter munching on them like they were Oreos! My tastes must be more sensitive than I know. 🙂
Jenny says
Haha! This is a great post. 😀 (Put a smile on my face!… And made my stomach rumble even though I’ve just eaten, but your lunch looks delicious!)
Oh well… Ugly or not, at least your cookies were beautiful on the inside? 😉 So they might’ve been a little too dry or cakey sometimes… I’m sure they were still tasty in their own way! Heheh.
My dad is almost like yours!! He eats anything… and he eats so quickly too! When we had a dog still, we had his Christmas doggie biscuits on the counter… and my dad ate the ENTIRE bag!! And then asked since when my mom started buying cookies again (she doesn’t normally buy cookies – we usually bake them ourselves). We all had a good laugh. 🙂 (And they were perfectly fine for people to eat, obviously – I’m sure they just tasted a bit like… whatever dog food tastes like, I suppose, haha.)
I have super sensitive taste buds! When I was a child, a fleck of parsley on my pizza wouldn’t go undetected when I took a bite, even if it was hidden under the cheese. (I sadly hated green things when I was little!) I’m glad I changed – now my sensitive taste buds get the joy of tasting a rainbow of flavours – veggies and grains of all sorts~!
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
Oh Jenny, thank you for making me laugh today! I cannot believe your dad ate a bag of dog cookies! TOO funny!
sarah says
That picture of you dad is priceless! My taste buds are so sensitive and sense of smell too. I think it can be good thing. Hey, did you know that brussel sprouts are loaded with protein?. I just read an article on them and I think a cup has about 6 grams–not too shabby! One more comment on them, I started roasting them since reading your post, but the leftovers have stunk out my fridge! Does this happen to you–I hope it’s a rare occurance, since I’ve been really enjoying them!
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
Hmmm… I never notice the smell, and I am HYPER-sensitive to smell, so hopefully it was just a one-off thing for you!
Claire says
My rule is I’ll try anything (and I mean anything) once. I don’t know if you’ve heard of Heston Blumenthal, he’s an English chef (sounds German right?!) and he’s an advocate of molecular gastronomy cooking techniques which he used to make all sorts of weird and wonderful food. Have a look http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8twH67Egl0, he’s pretty incredible. Anyway, the point is if it was made by him or someone who knows what they’re doing for example if it was a delicacy somewhere I was travelling then I’d eat anything … if someone just offered me worms or something I doubt I’d tale them up on the offer 😛 How about you, would you break veganism if you where offered a delicacy on your travels?
Our families are somewhat similar, dad is known as the garbage bin as he’ll eat anything and be happy with it as he hates waste. Mum and I test each other to see if we can pick up on ingredients, spices or herbs that dad or my sister would miss when they wolf things down.
Claire says
Oh also, single lady cookie looks great – well done on all the work you put in! Do you like chilli? If so next time you’re making chocolate fudge babies add a small pinch of ground chilli to the mix, give it a whizz in the blender, taste test and adjust the amount of chilli if you like it hotter (I added 1/4 tsp). I made them yesterday and they were oh-so-yummy! 😀
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
I’m going to try it!
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
I wouldn’t, but that’s just ’cause my veganism is above all an ethical thing, not just a healthy diet.
Did you hear about the chef in NY who made breast milk cheese???
melissa @ the delicate place says
haha oh dads…they are bottomless pits! i would’ve eaten the rejects 😉
Jess@atasteofconfidence says
I won’t eat anything, but I have a hard time picking up on spices after everything is cooked and mixed together:)
abby says
my tastebuds are very sensitive. i was brushing my teeth and noted licorice in tom’s peppermint toothpaste. i asked my husband if he noticed it and he didn’t. sure enough, the last ingredient is licorice root extract. i am also really sensitive to texture. needless to say, i am a really picky eater.
Mary @ Bites and Bliss says
Hey, having someone around the house who will eat anything is a good thing!! That way no baked goods- failures or not- will go to waste 😛
I have sensitive taste buds but I’ll try anything. My boyfriend’s kind of like a vacuum cleaner, though..so I never really have to worry about him not liking anything I’ll cook lmho
Alisa Cooks says
My husband will eat anything sweet sitting out, but the funny thing is, I would call him more of a super-taster. I think he is still just a guy who will eat anything slightly unhealthy though!
I’m somewhere in between you and your dad. I am not a picky eater at all and love most real food, but can often taste different spices, things are often “too sweet” for me (but not like you!), and I can taste when something is processed. They just taste weird. And seriously, how can people not notice the taste of sugar alternatives??
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
Ick, sugar alternatives… I’m with you! I do not understand how splenda has become a high-selling item. I can taste it right away. It’s just so… chemical, ya know?
Sarah B @ Bake + Bike says
Ha, that’s such a dad thing! My dad is definitely known as somewhat of a garbage disposal in our household. But he’s also very picky when it comes to certain things….it’s confusing.
I love these single-lady recipes! Even if it gets Beyonce stuck in my head every time….heh.
VEGirl says
Me taste spuds are very sensitive– to sweetness, salt, vinegar, etc. I have trained my family to not salt anything otherwise I don’t really like the food :(. The subtle tastes of flours are very obvious to me as well.
I’ll say: “oh man, there’s a bitter taste is this tester cookie!” And my family is like: “wha??” Although my mom has a sensitive palette to some things!
BroccoliHut says
Haha, some people might call us picky, but I prefer to be labeled a “super-taster.”
Amber Shea @Almost Vegan says
On the bright side, at least making single-serving test batches doesn’t produce nearly as much waste as baking even a half dozen at a time!
My taste buds have become more and more sensitive as my diet has grown more raw. Unfortunately, I’m the MOST sensitive to flavors I hate! Like orange, yuck. I can detect the tiniest speck of orange zest in an otherwise tasty dessert.
PS – next time you have too-dry cookies, instead of throwing them away (or giving them to a garbage-disposal dad, haha), you could grind them up to a powder, add some liquefied coconut oil, and press it into a pan for a cookie-pie crust!
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
Woah, yummiest idea EVER!!!
Ellen @ Undercover Runner Eats says
HAPPY CHOCOLATE-COVERED ANYTHING DAY!
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
Awww lol I didn’t even know! I’m such a lousy choc-o-holic!
Gabriela @ Fro-Yo Lover says
Awwww – your Dad looks so cute!
Loved the “ex-boyfriend” therm… I think I’ll just start using it 🙂
Anne @ Food Loving Polar Bear says
You non-cookie lunch looks really good, I love all the things on your plate 🙂
I eat almost anything, I think I have similar tastebuds with your dad 😀
Kelsey @ Snacking Squirrel says
btw ur dad is ADORABLE! haha love that face 🙂
Trooppetrie says
one time i sent my dad Christmas ornaments made out of apple sauce and cinnamon and even explained. Months later we were talking about me sending him cookies. he loves my baking. He said honey the ones at Christmas were really hard and not good. I said DAD they had ribbon running through them. Poor dad
angelala says
Your dad looks like george bush!
kathleen says
My dad will eat anything at all! You say your dad has no tastebuds- my dad has been hospitalized 5 times from food poisoning, because he can`t tell if a food is plainly rotten, and he just decided that fuzzy stuffy really does equal bad. He seems to think of rotten food as misunderstood! But my sister can taste the tiniest bit of anything- we joke that she could be a superhero with her super powers of taste! I am firmly in the middle. I eat food, but it only tastes good if the food and atmosphere are good. I eat equally with eyes and taste.
trajayjay says
Ehhh, I’m not so picky as to what I eat. If it doesn’t taste absolutely dry and bitter, like kale, I’ll be fine with it.
MLR says
youre lunch looks soo good!
How did u make the bulgar?
What did u sautee the onions and peppers with?