Baking Success!

I have been putting off trying to bake cookies since I got here.  I legitimately couldn't find some ingrediants for a while, but wasn't trying all that hard if I'm honest about it.  I was given some help by a couple of Finns, including my tutor, but still didn't get what I need. 

Finally, I bought some chocolate chips and tortured my husband with the promise of fresh, homemade chocolate chip cookies knowing fully well that I had everything but the baking soda (and therefore couldn't actually make the cookies).  Last week I found the baking soda and today (just minutes ago) I pulled my very first Finnish American Tollhouse Cookies out of the oven...and they turned out just fine!

I was highly skeptical as there is no "all purpose flour" here.  It is specialized according to what you make (bread vs cookies for example) and the bags are all in Finnish, naturally.  I finally picked one (with some help) and moved on to the question of granulated sugar, which came in two different bags.  My Finnish being what it is at this point, I just picked one knowing that at worst it would be finer than I wanted ideally, but it would work just the same.  Salt also came in two packages...I asked a lady in the aisle what the difference was, and we finally came to the point that one was was equivalent to table salt, which is what I was looking for.  Brown sugar was another matter....ranging from fully granulated to not-quite-"packed" (moist)-but-not-quite-granulated;  my tutor assured me that the latter of these choices would bake the same despite the texture diference.  The baking soda and vanilla were the last hold outs.  Vanilla I found in an American specialty store, and baking soda (after a long search) was hidden on a shelf with flavorings and such by the frozen food section.  Go figure.

Anyway, I finally braved the baking experience (asked my husband to convert the oven temp for me) and made the cookies.  Yea!!!  They baked just fine, and taste the same as at home in the States.  I don't know what I've been fearing all this time, but it didn't happen, whatever it was, so I shall dare to bake again.