TWD: Cottage Cheese Pufflets

I hate.. hate… HATE when a recipe gets the best of me. It’s a control thing, I freely admit it. But after 3 valiant attempts I must grudgingly, and rather apologetically confess that this deceptively simple dessert beat me bad.

The first time I attempted it, the dough was an utter disaster. Via several google searches I learnt that this problem seems to be a common one for bakers in hot, humid climates. Well, anyone who’s been in Trinidad over the last 2 weeks knows exactly how HOT it has been here. Making these the dough refused to co-operate and with a kitchen in the high 30 degrees I guess I can not blame it. No matter how many times I put it to ‘chill’, it would slither away within a minute of being taken back out. And the final results? Barely edible ‘pancakes’ that had to be thrown out 🙁

Several days I decided to give things another go. Armed with this modification that Nabeela of Trial and Error had come up with, I re-entered the kitchen (this time at night so that things would be cooler). This time the pufflets kept their shape, but weren’t flaky like the ones I had seen from other bloggers. They also tasted a little underdone.

Third time’s the charm? Slightly more optimistic on the third go round I decided to chill the pufflets for 15 minutes before putting them into the oven. That seemed to do the trick.

This third batch rose wonderfully and were golden. Then I took a bite… and I hated them 🙁 Even when I complain in the past about recipes it’s rare that I can’t actually eat the final results. But these just tasted all wrong to me. Maybe it was the cottage cheese I used but there was a tanginess to the dough that I just found very off-putting. J didn’t mind them at all and bagged them to take home with him. Leaving me feeling very drained and despondent.

I still can’t figure out where I went wrong? Others reviews were so effusive! Guess you can’t win ’em all 🙁