Renegades One Shots (Nodrian, Osby, and Random)

Adventures in Baking (Osby)

Short Author's Note: If you haven't read the sneak peek of Supernova yet (you totally should), there is a part, and this is NOT a spoiler in any way, Oscar makes Ruby's favorite cookies. He offers it to the whole team, but we all knew it was for Ruby because he went so far as ASK RUBY'S MOM FOR THE RECIPE! That, my friends, it dedication. Anyway, something tells me that Oscar had a few trials before he got to the final batch, which were still a little rough, since the edges were burnt and the insides were gooey, so I thought I'd write about his experience making the cookies.  I had to use a guide for the recipe since I have never baked these specific cookies. I will put the link to the recipe at the end of the chapter.

Without further adieu... 

"First, I need to gather the ingredients. I can mix them together later."

"Ok, so Ruby's mom said... two sticks of salted butter. Do we even... Nope. Just unsalted. I'm not sure if unsalted is ok... but I really don't want to mess this up. They're for Ruby... Mom! MOM!"

No answer.

"Oh, that's right! She's at a meeting..." Oscar said.

He grabbed two sticks of unsalted butter. "Why does my mom have to be on a low salt diet," Oscar cried.

"I guess I'll just add table salt to it, then." 

He shook the pig shaped salt shaker once.

"Doesn't look like enough... I'll just add a few more shakes..."

After eight shakes, he was satisfied.

"Ok, next, granulated sugar. Ok, she said powdered sugar works, too."

Oscar rummaged through the pantry.

"These aren't labeled..." 

"Well, this looks like powdered sugar, right?"

It was flour.

It. Was. Flour.

The labels were on the bottom of the containers they were held in, where Oscar did not see them.

"So, one third of a cup. Ok, easy enough."

Oscar got out a drinking glass and filled it one-third with flour, that he thought was sugar. 

"Ruby's going to love these," Oscar said, getting the lemons he bought earlier that week out of the refrigerator.

He quickly used a cheese grater on the rind to make lemon zest. He measured out the appropriate amount.

"Almond extract... I really should have gone over the ingredients list before I went shopping. Mom has the car, so I can't leave... Oh, cool, we have real almonds. The only thing better than almond extract is actual almonds!"

Not when you're baking, Oscar.

He pounded the almonds with a cup and then put them in a bowl.

 "Ok, next, we have vanilla. Well, I know we have vanilla," Oscar said.

He shuffled some things in his pantry around and grabbed the vanilla extract, measuring it out and pouring it in the same bowl as the almonds. 

"One fourth teaspoon of salt." Oscar said, measuring out more salt. "I hope this doesn't affect the unsalted butter in a bad way."

"Shredded coconut. Now that wasn't my fault. The store didn't carry it."  Oscar said, grabbing some coconut oil. "I hope this will work." 

"Ok, two cups of flour," Oscar said.

"This looks like flour," He said, grabbing the container of baking soda. 

"Ok, now, I can start the actual mixing. Cream butter and sugar. But  the recipe doesn't call for cream. Maybe Ruby's mom forgot that ingredient," Oscar said, getting some coffee cream out of the fridge.

"Luckily, my coffee-addict mom always has some in the fridge." 

He put it on the counter.

"The question is how much..." He said.

He shrugged and poured some in the bowl. 

"I'm sure it doesn't matter." 

Oh, Oscar.

He mixed the substances.

"Ok, now we add the lemon zest, almonds, vanilla, and salt. Then, we mix in the flour and coconut, a half a cup at a time."

Oscar carefully poured in the flour and coconut oil, slowly and only a bit at a time.

He ended up with a creamy mixture.

"You'd think it'd be thicker than this. Did I do something wrong?"

He put his finger in the mixture.

"Well, as long as it tastes good," He said, licking his finger. 

"Ack! This is terrible! So salty! So... Bland! Mom!"

"Oh, crap, that's right. Still not home."

He looked over the ingredients again, shaking his head. 

He got his phone out, and dialed Ruby's mom's number.

"Hey, Mrs. Tucker, um, it's Oscar. Is unsalted butter ok for the cookies?"

So, I had a lot of fun writing this. I'm a better cook than a baker but I still know baking terminology. Most non-bakers don't, though. I'm not trying to say Oscar is stupid, because he's not. He's just not an experienced baker. I thought it would be fun writing about his first time trying to bake, so here it is. I tried to make it as funny as I could and I think it turned out alright.

As promised, here's the link. Thank you, Heather.

https://myoverflowingcup.com/lemon-coconut-shortbread-cookies-with-variations/

I hope you enjoy!

Thank you to the person and/or people who voted for my story. I appreciate it, especially now that I know at least one person enjoys it.

As always, you can leave writing prompts. I would love ideas.

And please keep voting! It really makes my day!