I shared with you last week about my being asked by KLTV Web Producer Ellen Krafve (@tvnewsgoddess on Twitter) if I’d be interested in being the guest on last Friday’s “In The Kitchen” feature on the 5 p.m. news. After initially gasping for breath (I hyperventilate when frightened… 😉 ) I agreed to do it, and then really got excited about it.
It amazes me, when looking back on it now, how much preparation goes into a presentation that lasts less than three minutes. I had no idea.
First, I had to decide what to bake for the segment! I have a number of great cookie recipes, and I wasn’t sure which one to offer to KLTV’s viewers. I asked my Facebook friends to choose among several desserts: lemon sugar cookies, molasses butterscotch chip cookies, and blueberry peach cobbler. The cobbler got the majority of votes, but the peaches I had were mealy, so I decided against that. I went with the Old Fashioned Molasses butterscotch chip cookies with pecans. Then I went one better: I decided to use these cookies to make an ice cream sandwich with Blue Bell vanilla ice cream! Yum! My youngest son tried it out, declared his love for it, and so the decision was made: that’s what I’d bake for KLTV’s awesome viewers.
I started thinking through what I’d like to make my little place on the set in the studio look like. I wanted it to look homey and a little old-fashioned. I decided to use my vintage Fire-King bowls, a little vase of red gerbera daisies, and my red and white dish towels. I was all set.
After running through in my mind how I’d have to work through the recipe to get it completed in less than three minutes, I jotted some notes down on index cards and, the next afternoon, went to the station.
The people who work at KLTV were so incredibly kind and helpful to me, from the receptionist Gina, to the producer, Michael, to the guys who run cameras, to Joe, Mark, and Jennifer in the studio. I had so much fun being there and working with them. They showed me where to set up and told me when it’d be my turn, and got a microphone attached to my apron. The only mishap occurred when, as you’ll see in the video, someone forgot to flip the switch on the power strip, so the stand mixer didn’t work, until Joe saved the day and turned it on. 🙂 (The link to the video and recipe are at the end of this post! Don’t miss it!)
The most unexpected part for me was how quickly those three minutes passed! It really felt more like 30 seconds had gone by, and we were finished. It was kind of an adrenaline rush, to be honest. I liked it.
The next thing that happened was that, when the news was over at 5:30, the kitchen set was swarmed by people wanting cookies. That was the most fun thing, for me. I love to feed people and hear them ooooh and ahhhh when they like what you have made for them. Some just wanted the cookies alone, some made ice cream sandwiches with them, and I got a lot of great feedback on them, both ways! I loved it! That is part of my dream of owning a bakery: the people coming to see you so you can feed them and you can chat with them and watch them enjoy your food. It makes my heart happy!
I look forward to the day when you guys can come visit my bakery and I can feed you! In the meantime, just check out some of the few pics I remembered to take at the studio, and the link to my segment and recipe on KLTV.com!
Unfortunately, I forgot to ask someone to take a picture of me and/or the nicely set up kitchen area when I finished it; however, my friend Todd Hinkie grabbed a screen shot and posted it for me, so you can at least get an idea of how it turned out! 🙂
And here are the cookies!
*****Before you go, make sure you check out the video of the segment: Video of In The Kitchen segment & the cookie recipe! 🙂 And be nice! It was my first time on t.v! *****
In Mama Steph's Kitchen 
mamastephf…Thanks for coming by the station and sharing your recipe with us….if it is anything to you….it was awesome watching the swarm of KLTV staff, after the show was over, acting like vultures, grabbing your cookies and enjoying every one of them…most with the ice cream sandwich idea in tow. We hope to have you again on In The Kitchen sharing another one of your cookie recipes with all of East Texas. You were AWESOME, considering it was your first time on live TV. Certainly…a Natural!!!
Wow, thanks, Mark! I appreciate the vote of confidence! I really did enjoy being with you guys. I felt very welcomed, and had a lot of fun. 🙂
Steph, I agree with Mark — you WERE a natural for TV (and that’s not true for most people). Great medium for you, methinks, since your warm personality come through when we get to SEE your omnipresent smile and fun curly curls bouncing around as you bake. If the peeps at KLTV are as smart as I know they are, you will be back… soon… often. BTW, we are gearing up for a batch of the molasses butterscotch cookies at the Hinkie Home this week (WITH nuts since the kid who’s allergic to ’em is at Pine Cove this week! )
Todd, thanks for your encouragement, friend! And thanks for sharing my posts with your MANY friends! I’ve noticed you’ve done that, and I really appreciate it. Do let me know how you guys like the cookies! With our without vanilla ice cream, they’re pretty great, in my opinion. 🙂
Yes! You were definitely a natural on the set. I enjoyed it so much. 🙂
p.s. this was such an interesting post. I love seeing things behind the curtain!
Thank you , Emily! I appreciate your encouragement. It IS fun to see behind the scenes, isn’t it? I love those kinds of things. 🙂 I hope I get to see you soon, girlfriend!
Hi Steph… I really enjoyed this post and the “behind-the-scenes” look at your time at KLTV. What fun!! I loved reading about your planning to make the set have a homey look. I can enjoy that part of the segment as I watch the clip again on my computer. To be honest, I didn’t really notice those things when the segment aired as I was concentrating on watching you! I know you said it went by really fast, but it went by pretty fast too as a viewer. At the end, I was left wanting more… more time… more Mama Steph!! Show it again!! LOL I was so inspired by the segment that I jumped up Saturday morning and checked my pantry for ingredients. Much to my surprise, I already had everything I needed to make my own batch of those yummy-looking cookies! So, bake I did! Only, I must have made my cookies smaller than yours because I ended up with about 7 dozen! They certainly are delicious, and we’re mowing through them pretty quickly! I posted a picture of them on my facebook wall if you get a chance to look at it. Also, as a side note related to your post about “what we ate in the 70’s” I made the Tuna Noodle Casserole last week with the only changes being that I did leave out the pimentoes and I added the potato chips to the top. Tom loved it and said it was the closest he has tasted to what he remembers his mom’s tasting like. So, that recipe is definitely a keeper for us! I am so enjoying trying out your recipes. Keep ’em coming! And finally, congrats again on your TV segment. I think you did a great job!!
Glinda, you made me very happy when you said you tried not one, but TWO of my recipes! 🙂 I’m glad they worked well for you, my friend! Yes, I make my cookies pretty big. My boys always choose the largest ones, so I just started making them all large! lol Thank you for all the encouragement, too, about my segment on KLTV. You are so kind! It was a fun experience!