Unplanned Perfection in a Chocolate Nightmare Cookie

I always bang my head on my desk, or wall or steering wheel whenever I hear someone say they can’t wait until they “get perfect” at photography.  Or painting, sketching, whatever.  What is that supposed to mean really??  Is there such a thing as perfection in art?  The last time I heard this, the artist was referring to creating a flawless sketch of an object without considering perception or any other artistic allowances. [facepalm]

When I was little, I was green with envy at my friend Shannon’s ability to paint a flawless portrait of anyone or anything she chose.  She daintily would paint for hours making her piece nearly sing out loud with beauty and I was blown away.  We were about 14 and I looked at my sad sketch book and always hid it underneath my other books so she would never see how pathetic I was.

I found out awhile later that she only painted because her sister was a phenomenal artist and she wanted to be just like her.  Her sister painted a wolf, so did she.  A different one of course in a different pose but it was very similar and apparent that she idolized her big sister.  That’s admirable.  Talking with her, she didn’t seem very passionate or inspired by it she just did it and she had a natural talent.  As for me, I had an image in my head inspired by something I saw and it was all I could think about until I sketched it on paper.

Was she really good?  Was my adoration of her justified even though her heart was not in it?  I really can’t say.  That’s the thing about art, there is no perfect.  No right or wrong.

The whole purpose behind art is to get inspiration going and to get people talking and thinking, not to start copying each other.

My stance on this was tested when I tried to recreate a cookie that I love so much.  (Almost more than I love my current jean size…)

I made the cookie tossing ingredients in, mixing, whirling, tasting, spitting out…and the stupid things didn’t turn out like I thought they should.

Usually they flatten out to a nice crisp outside and a chewy gooey center that makes me want to give up raw vegetables altogether and ONLY eat this cookie in their place.  I could eat these things like chips.

These cookies I made taste great, they’re so gooey and chewy but they are not exactly what I meant for them to be.  I guess this is my lesson.  [sigh]  I thought about scrapping this and not sharing it with you today but I thought this would be a good lesson for me and perhaps it speaks to you too?

Look into her eyes and you will see her inner wolf.

I’ve been taking more photographs (of NON food items, can you believe it?!), painting and even sketching again!  I can think of three people in the room with me right now that have caught this contagious creative bug.  There has been more drawing, painting and photography surrounding me than ever before.  I get texts, calls and emails from people who are actually inspired to cook and bake because of something I passed on.

It doesn’t start with me, I just keep sharing it and a continuous artistic inspiration lives on.  We learn so much about ourselves and the people we interact with when we share our creations.

NEVER EVER NOT EVEN ONCE should you ever scrap an idea because of a reaction you get or because it didn’t turn out “perfect”.  What are you measuring yourself to?  Don’t answer that, it’s up to you.  But don’t you dare hesitate to email me, Facebook me or tweet me if you need a little boost.  Send me pics or descriptions and I’ll totally root for you.  Remember that.

And in turn, when you see a piece that someone has taken the risk to share with you don’t say,”I wonder why they did that!”  Instead maybe you should say,”I wonder why they did that?”  Think.  Talk.  Get up and do something about it.

Any thoughts?  Do you have any art you would like to share with me?  Email me at yourstrulyewalani at gmail dot com.

By the way, here is the recipe for these cookies.

Chocolate Nightmare Cookies

Adapted from Yannick’s cookie which he calls “Collapsadies”

1/2 stick of butter

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 room temp egg

1 tsp vanilla

pinch of salt, preferably alaea Hawaiian sea salt

1 tbsp instant coffee powder

1/8 cup Nutella

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 1/4 cup flour

1.75 ounces chopped dark chocolate

1/2 dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 and get out 2 cookie sheets.  Cream together butter and sugars until so light and fluffy.  Add egg, vanilla, salt, instant coffee and mix until completely combined.  Add Nutella and continue to mix until smooth and creamy like a frosting.  Add in baking powder, baking soda and flour.  Mix until just combined.  Add chocolate chunks and chips (if extra fall in it’s going to be ok) and fold in.  Scoop about 2 heaping tablespoons into cookie sheet with 6 cookies per sheet.  Bake for about 8 minutes when cookies are barely cooked on the outside and the center is still very soft and gooey.  Let them cool on the cookie sheet for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.  Then repeat.  Amount of cookies will vary according to the size you make, but my batch made 18 cookies.

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