The warm, mouthwatering aroma of chocolate chip cookies and double chocolate brownies fill the air. “So, the cookies should be done in about 10 minutes and the brownies in about 35.” said Amber. I put my heavy duty rubber enhanced oven mitt on for when the cookies would come out. “Now, you're also gonna wanna lay out some cooling racks and some wax paper. Amy, c'mon, if you wanna learn how to make cookies perfectly then you're gonna have to get a move on or you're gonna burn'em!” she said with obvious frustration.<br /> I bit my lip as I hurried around the kitchen, gathering everything she told me to get. Alas it is time to get the cookies out. I open the oven to a rush of hot air like the heat waves coming off of a volcano. Nervously I slam the two pans down on the cooling racks. Looking down at them I feel pure joy like that of a young kitten on a spring day. They beamed up at me, perfect and round.<br /> There is a certain rule to making cookies, and brownies, and every other dessert. You need to make them all the same size, otherwise the nutritional information isn't the same for each one. Different desserts take different amounts of baking time. The varying factors include how many eggs are in the dessert, how big the dessert is, how much water is in it, and even the shade of the pan.<br /> For instance, a cookie takes about 7-10 minutes to bake fully. My sister always says to take them out when they still have a bit of an unfinished look to them, because cookies are still baking when you take them out of the oven because they are so thin and small. Brownies, are another story. They are the opposite of cookies. Cookies take a while to mix up, brownies mix up very quickly. Cookies are finished baking before you have the mess cleaned up, but by the time brownies are done you have the cooling racks waiting and all the dirty bowls in the sink.<br /> “Alright, go check the brownies and see if they are done, stick this toothpick in them, and if it comes out clean then they're done.” Amber says, jabbing the pointy little wooden stick at me. I put my mitt back on, ever cautious of how hot the oven is. I reach in and grab the pan with my mitt equipped left hand, sticking the toothpick in the deep brown ooey-gooey goodness that is brownies. Clean.<br /> I wipe my brow as I set the brownies down. “I guess I should remove the cookies now, huh?” I say. She nods. Carefully, I remove the cookies from the pan onto some wax paper. Impatient when I get to the last one, I rush it over to the paper and drop it. “Look what you did! Every cookie has to be loved, you can't rush at the end just because.” Says Amber.<br /> When you bake something, make it from scratch and everything and work hard to make them right, they're like your little babies. You have to take care of them. Then, when they grow up in the oven you feel a sense of pride. You made that, and when you cut them and if you put icing and sprinkles on it, they're adults. With their own life and everything. That is until someone walks by and mercilessly eats one of your little babies. However, you just have to imagine it like that was your baby's dreams, to be eaten.<br /> The point is, you have to take pride in your work. Especially in baking. You have to try hard, think logically, and use your skills. You can't be lazy.<br /> “Well, I think you have become a semi-professional baker, Amy! You did good.” Amber says with a smile. Success. That's what Amber has just taught me. All of her baking logic, and some of her perfectionist tendencies too, have been locked and stored in my brain.</p> </div> <div class="actions"> <button type="button" class="btn btn-inline btn-action" onclick="window.print()"><i class="fa fa-print"></i> Print</button> </div> </div> <div class="col-sm-4"> <div class="img-content"><img src="http://cdn.teenink.com/art/June08/Friends72.jpg" class="img-responsive"></div> <div class="img-copyright">© Austin K., Studio City, CA</div> <br /> <div class="actions"> </div> </div> <div class="col-sm-12"> <div class="actions"> <label class="content-label">Share</label> <div class="row row-p-5"> <div class="col-sm-4 p-b"> <div class="row row-p-5"> <div class="col-xs-4"> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http://ns547769.ip-66-70-178.net/fiction/realistic_fiction/article/900453/Baking-Day" class="btn btn-facebook btn-share" onclick="window.open(this.href, 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