cast menagerie

i scored this absolutely beautiful cast-iron cookie mold at a back-woods thrift store -- months ago -- and i have been trying to use it (successfully) ever since.


ugh. this has been a project.
it had some funky spots when i got it. so i scrubbed it. and then i tried to season it, and i made a test batch of cookies and they DID NOT come out of the mold -- i had to scrape them out.
so i reaseasoned it. and reaseasoned it.
and then i reaseasoned it again. (and i wasted a batch or two of cookies in the processes.)


i thought about giving up -- but look at those animals! they are fantastic! a walrus! and look at that pig, and the weird sad bison! those animals had to be worth the effort.
well, this time i've almost got it right...
the cookies came out, but 1 -- they taste like the oil i used to season the mold (vegetable oil -- yuck!) and 2 -- they don't look as good as i wanted them to.


so - there will be a next time, and i will post when that happens. when it does, i think i am going to use a chocolate dough, and i am going to press it more firmly into the mold -- to eliminate the air-bubble effect and to make the relief detail a little more apparent. oh, and i am going to use butter on the mold, instead of the oil.