Cooking with Kelly: Carside cookies

It was projected to be 109 degrees Fahrenheit today in Tucson. I've heard the expression "It's so hot, you could fry an egg on the sidewalk," but I'm not a big fan of eggs. Chocolate chip cookies, though, is another story. Harnessing the power of the sun, I attempted to make cookies on the dashboard of my car.

"Attempted" is the key here. I figured it would get up to 200 degrees in my car if I let it sit in the sun with the windows up. I "preheated" my car all afternoon, then placed a sheet of tinfoil on the dash with evenly-spaced cookie dough balls. This was the packaged kind, so all the work was done for me.

Nearly an hour and a half later, the butter was running out of the batter and the cookies were not set. It simply was not hot enough.

I will attempt again later in the week as the thermometer reaches 110. I will also be enlisting the help of a co-worker's thermometer to make sure my car reaches optimal temperature. I have faith this will work -- people use solar cooking all the time with fabulous, energy-efficient results.