Cookie recipe turns car into oven

Even on a hot day, it doesn't take much to get my mind running in other directions.

A few weeks ago, while driving around and wishing my air conditioning would kick in faster, I heard something on the radio for, "dashboard cookies." I instantly listened for more details, as you could throw the word, "cookies," with any other word and get my attention.

I bet you're the same way, too. Surgery cookies ... see? Now you're thinking, "Surgery doesn't sound so bad; there are cookies somewhere in the mix. Do I get the cookies before the surgery? After? Do they just put cookie dough in the IV? Hope there aren't any raisins."

But back to the dashboard. When it's a hot day, your car becomes an example of the greenhouse effect. Radiated heat goes in the car, but it doesn't come out. Steering wheels turn hot. Seatbelts become touchy things to operate. Storing things you normally wouldn't think twice about become no-nos. You haven't experienced a hot car until the deodorant in your gym bag melts.

Those are the negatives. The positive is that your car becomes a really large Easy-Bake Oven — bad for complicated meals but great for sustained low-temperature cooking.

I finally put the recipe to test on Sunday afternoon, On Saturday, I had purchased premade cookie dough as part of a small grocery store run, and I scheduled a block of time that I wouldn't need my car due to inside errands.

Come noon Sunday, I laid some parchment paper on the dashboard and arranged a package of cookie dough throughout. The cooking time was listed at three hours, so I got cooling racks set for 3 p.m.. I checked every hour or so just to make sure nothing had gone horribly wrong, and nothing did. By the time I went to have coffee with a friend around 3:30, I was able to bring two dozen cookies that weren't evenly shaped thanks to the contours of a dashboard, but were certainly serviceable snacks.

Once I told friends about these, I found out I was far from alone. Vincent Rodriguez, a self-professed weather enthusiast and actual student of meteorology, said he's spent an afternoon or two on internships with television meteorologists who would utilize a hot day by cooking a batch of cinnamon rolls on the dashboard. You're instantly the hero of the office with afternoon snacks, and who needs to buy a car air freshener when you're cooking cinnamon rolls in there?

The good news for the next hot day — which I believe is scheduled for Wednesday ... or Thursday, Friday, Saturday and so on if I get busy Wednesday — is that I was smart on my grocery store run. The cookie dough was two for $5, which means I've got a package left for a second cookie run. I'm going to experiment with the back window panel of my car this time around. I just slapped a fresh coat of Armor All on the dashboard, and while I'm sure the parchment paper would protect the cookies, I also want to take advantage of a flat surface in the back.

The heat may be here for a while, but I think I'm a little better equipped to handle it this time around. Provided I also get a gallon of milk, that is, and not leave it in the car.

Kevin Wilson is a columnist for Clovis Media Inc. He can be contacted at 763-3431, ext. 313, or by email:

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