Rainbow Krispie Treats

This is a post that is WAY overdue. I made these on a freezing snowy day when I didn't want to go all the way to the grocery store, but I also had a giant rice krispie treat craving. I went to the bodega on the corner to see what kind of fixings they had, and this is the result:

Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking "holy smokes, that must be insanely sweet". And I'm here to tell you, YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW THE HALF OF IT.

So, clearly what we have here are not regular krispies but Fruity Pebbles. That's one thing. BUT, they also did not have plain marshmallows, they had these (not my picture):

Yes, these are strawberry and vanilla marshmallows, just to add that extra little something. I'm normally a Jet-Puffed marshmallow loyalist (Jet-Puffed marshmallow creme being a core ingredient of the family Christmas fudge recipe). And, I had a moment of fear that I would end up like Liz Lemon, who became addicted to off-brand cheez puffs called "Sabor de Soledad" from her corner store. 

Fortunately, no such thing happened, the only result was some very festive looking treats.

 

I followed the normal recipe- the bag of marshmallows, a few tablespoons of butter all melted together, and then 6 cups of cereal. I have two tricks for smushing this stuff into the pan. 1. get your hands wet, and use your hands. 2. get waxed paper as a barrier and push down on top of it until everything is flat. The waxed paper is much better (and more sanitary), provided you actually have waxed paper. Parchment doesn't really work.

These were insanely sweet. There was not one single natural ingredient in the entire thing. And they totally hit the spot on a snow day staying home from work.

Coconut Sorbet and Homemade Magic Shell (Vegan!)

Imagine the magic of a childhood treat... cold refreshing ice cream with a crunchy shell that you have to  crash through with your spoon to take a bite. Ahhhhhh.... Magic Shell! 

Now, somehow my adult self has avoided Magic Shell just because it seemed like there was no way something like that didn't have a million scary and bizarre ingredients. Then thanks to my good friend Pinterest, I found out you can make it yourself, at home, with only 2 simple ingredients.

Honestly, I'm not sure I am prepared to wield that kind of power.

But, now that I know this amazing secret for myself, who am I to keep it from you. So, here it is.

The pin I found for the topping was from the blog AlphaMom, and it looks like there is plenty of other good stuff to be found over there. But, first, I'm going to fill you in on the sorbet itself, because it's pretty amazingly simple as well.

Sorbet- what you need:
2 cans coconut milk (I used 1 whole fat and 1 light)
1/2 c shredded coconut
1/8 c sweetener (sugar or agave)

What to do with it:
Hang onto your hats, this is pretty complicated. Dump all the above ingredients into your trusty ice cream maker. Push "go". When it seems to be pretty well frozen, scoop it out and put it in the freezer in a tupperware. That's it!

"Magic Shell"- what you need:
1 1/4 c chocolate chips (if you want this to be vegan, then do your due diligence on your chip selection)
1/2 c coconut oil

What to do with it:
This is also VERY VERY COMPLICATED. Put the chips and oil together in a bowl in the microwave, and run for 1 minute or so until it's melted. Let it sit a minute then stir until totally combined. It's pretty runny at this point, but when you pour it over the ice cream it'll freeze right up!

This whole thing is kind of genius... basically, it's all capitalizing on the fact that coconut has a really interesting melting point (around 76 degrees). So, it you warm this up just a bit, it's melted, but as soon as it cools, it solidifies. You can keep it in the fridge and then warm it up a bit so you can pour some off to serve.

Overall, the coconut sorbet itself isn't too sweet, which makes it kind of nice and refreshing- plus, it's rich enough from the coconut milk to seem decadent without needing a lot of sugar. And seriously, there is something about whacking the chocolate sauce with the spoon that's just fun, that's all there is too it.

Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna

This is a nice winter meal that was the perfect thing to have baking and smelling delicious while decorating the tree, and then to be enjoyed while admiring the twinkling lights.

I found this recipe over at Four Corners Foodies but made a few minor tweaks.

Squash filling:
1 butternut squash
1/4c almond milk
pinch nutmeg
pinch cinnamon
salt/pepper
1/8c parmesan cheese

Spinach filling:
1 24oz package frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
2 egg whites
salt/pepper

Bechamel sauce:
4c almond milk (or regular milk)
4 tbsp butter (or butter substance of your choice)
4 tbsp flour
2 pinches nutmeg
pinch cayenne

Misc:
1 package no-bake lasagna noodles (I used Barilla flat noodles)
2/3c bread crumbs
1/3c parmesan
2 tbsp olive oil
optional, about  3/4c mozzarella

The first thing to do is get the squash going- cut it in half, remove seeds, and rub a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper, cinnamon, and nutmeg on it. Bake at 400 until it is very soft, probably about 45 min. Scoop out of the rind into a bowl. Mash the squash, stir in the almond milk and the parmesan. Taste it, it should be very moist and delicious- add more of whatever you think it needs. Remember that the béchamel will also have nutmeg so no need to go overboard on that. I did consider using canned pumpkin in this, and I think that might actually work if you don't want to spend the time roasting. If you do that, I'd recommend the larger sized can, because this was a pretty large amount of squash.

Thaw the spinach and really squeeze all the water out (one way is by putting it in a clean dish towel and squeezing). Mix well with the 2 egg whites and salt/pepper. You could leave the egg whites out, but they do help make it puffier.

Now, this was my first time making béchamel, which was convenient because just that morning we'd watched Top Chef where they had to make the four "mother sauces", of which this is one. At any rate, it turned out to be really easy, and also easy to vegan-ize, if you're into that kind of thing. Melt the butter, stir in the flour, and let it brown a little. In the meantime, heat up the milk so when you add it, it isn't cold. Gradually whisk into the flour mixture and add the nutmeg and cayenne. Bring it to a boil and let it cook for 10 minutes, being sure to stir a lot. Then you can set it aside.

Finally, it's time to assemble. Put a thin layer of sauce, then noodles, then spread with squash and drop spinach all over it. Keep going, I ended up with 3 layers of filling with a layer of noodles on the top. Pour any leftover sauce over the top. Then top with mozzarella, if you like, and then the breadcrumbs and parmesan, finally drizzle the olive oil on top.

This smelled amazing and looked BEAUTIFUL. It is also a really nice and hearty vegetarian main dish. You could make it vegan by making appropriate milk/butter choices, and eliminating the cheese (I'd add extra salt to make up for what is in the parmesan).

I served it with a really simple salad, and it was a delicious dinner!

Roasted Cauliflower and Smoked Gouda Soup... Tastes like Autumn!

The other day, I was in the mood for something hearty and comforting, but still somewhat healthy... thankfully, I have recently become addicted to Pinterest, which you should really check out if you haven't already (let me know if you need an invite! I have more). Some smart person pinned this soup, and I knew I had to make it immediately.

Unfortunately, the original recipe involved a lot of things like egg yolks and heavy cream, so I knew I had some work to do. Here is my version.

-1 onion, chopped

-1 head cauliflower

-1c white wine

-1 clove garlic

-2 bay leaves

-1 tsp Worcestershire sauce (good, but optional)

-1/4tsp cayenne (just a little heat, it is not a spicy soup at all)

-4 oz smoked Gouda (could use cheddar, or other smoked cheese)

-1/2 squeezed lemon

-4c broth of your choice

-1c milk product of your choice (I used unsweetened almond milk)

-salt/pepper

-2 tbsp olive oil

-2 tbsp flour

First things first... the cauliflower. I wanted to roast it. But, it occurred to me that since I was going to blend it, how I cut it was pretty much irrelevant. So, I decided to cut it ~1 inch slices, to make it roast evenly.

The nice part about this is, it just looks so pretty! I misted it with some olive oil and roasted at 400 until it was very soft and looked like this:

It only got prettier! Now I want to find some way to use this technique that doesn't end with a blender.

Next, the soup itself. Brown the chopped onion in the olive oil, then toss in the garlic for a minute or so. Sprinkle in the flour, and stir around to make a paste (this will serve as a thickener. however, while this is already fairly low carb, if you want to make it lower, it will probably be fine to leave it out- just save one of the cups of broth out and add it slowly as you blend the soup at the end to control the texture to make sure it isn't too watery). 

Cook the mixture briefly, then pour in the cup of wine. Cook for a minute, then add the broth, bay leaf, Worcestershire, and cayenne. Roughly break up the cauliflower and add it to the broth. Bring to a boil, then turn down and let simmer for about 10 minutes. (note: if you don't feel up to roasting, you can always just use raw cauliflower at this step, and cook it longer in the broth, until soft. I think roasted tastes better, though). 

Now, the fun part! Turn off the heat, remove the bay leaf, and get out the immersion blender (you can also use a regular blender or food processor, if you'd like). Blend the soup mixture until it's as smooth as you can get it. Then add the grated cheese- don't boil after you add the cheese, but keep it warm so it melts. As the last step, add the lemon juice, and salt and pepper.

It's amazing how hearty this feels, given that it's almost entirely cauliflower and broth, and there is less than an ounce of cheese per serving. But, it was just delicious!

(Side note- the salad you see there is a really nice light fennel citrus salad we learned to make at a cooking class (our first cooking class ever). If you're looking for a good class and live in LA, San Diego, Portland, or Seattle or I want to give a shout out to Hipcooks- we had so much fun at our class last weekend!)

Sore Throat Soother: Cucumber Smoothie

Well, I haven't been posting much. The main problem is that my tried and true little camera bit the dust. In fact, if anyone has any idea what makes a camera do THIS by all means let me know (that was going to be a post on delicious roasted tomato fennel soup. oh well):

As a result I have been taking a lot of pictures with my phone (such as the French Lentils picture, which isn't all that bad). I have to, of course, get them OFF my phone, so more posts will be coming shortly.

In addition to being camera-less, this week I am also miserably sick with strep throat, which I haven't had for years. I forgot how awful it is. While trying to find an antibiotic that will take this thing down, I am in dire need of cold cool things to sooth my poor little tonsils. In addition to a lot of regular yogurt based smoothies, this morning I came up with this, which is actually a wonderful thing if you just need something cool and hydrating and don't feel like taking in millions of liquid calories.

No, unfortunately for all of us, its not a margarita. What it is, is a cucumber slushy. I thought of it because I love cold water with slices of cucumber floating in it, something about the flavor is so subtle yet so refreshing. And this is the perfect thing for a sad little sore throat:

-about 3 cups of cold water
-1/2 -3/4 of a regular cucumber, peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks
-7-8 ice cubes

put it in a blender. blend it. drink it. its about as easy as it gets! It sounds strange, but I think in this scenario it really fits the bill if you just want a cooler easier way to get some water in. Next time you need it, try it! (it would also be good with a squeeze of lemon, which I don't have)

Pancake Time!

You know, sometimes you just want pancakes.

These pancakes are easy, pretty guilt-free, and yummy- what else can you ask for? It also makes a perfect sized batch, and doesn't require boxes of mix or any of that extra stuff that I never seem to have around at the exact moment I'm craving these.


The stuff:
1/4c oatmeal (NOT steel cut oats)
1/4c cornmeal
1/2c nonfat yogurt
1 egg white (or one egg)
1/2tsp baking powder
1/4tsp baking soda
cinnamon

optional:
blueberries (just dump the frozen ones in there, still frozen)
half a banana
chopped nuts
vanilla
anything else you can imagine

What to do with it:
Basically, mix everything up in a bowl. Heat up a skillet/griddle, with some butter-like substance (I use Earth balance). I divide it up into 4 pancakes, because they fit on my griddle, but these are substantial! Cook on a fairly low temperature- when bubbles appear in the middle of the pancakes, flip. Cook until they're brown and done.

I topped them with Cranberry-apple butter from Trader Joes, because I freaking love that stuff. But, you could also use syrup, jam, microwaved frozen fruit which becomes kind of juicy, peanut butter, or whatever else it is you like on your 'cakes. One note- this doesn't make tons, but it is easily pancakes for 2- the pancakes in the picture are from an (approximately) 3/4 batch, and it was still a lot. But, you could easily freeze any extra ones if you wanted. Or, just eat a lot of pancakes, they're not that bad for you anyways!

These are really good- they kind of have a multi-grain like vibe to them, and especially if you load them up with delicious fruits and things, they're much more filling and substantial than plain pancakes... try them, they're good!

Chicken/Rice/Butternut/Spinach... ROUND TWO!

Ok, so I last posted about a yummy tower of brown rice, butternut squash puree, a chicken/pepper/onion mixture, and spinach. I had leftovers, and wanted to eat them, but... making the whole tower all over again and heating up all the parts just seemed like too much work. Plus, it was cold out. Plus, I wanted soup.

So, enter round two... soup!

Basically, I took some chicken broth, tossed in the puree, the chicken mixture, a few spoonfuls of rice, and some more of the spinach (along with some red pepper flakes and smoked paprika to kick things up a notch) and let it simmer. It was sooo goood!

The lesson here is, think outside the box a bit with this whole leftovers thing. Getting to have all the flavors in a whole new format can really revive them!

The Mother Lode

I think we all know that I'm a sucker for a deal on spices. This is mainly because if you're going to cook on a budget, you're going to need to take action to keep things interesting... very cheap ingredients (lentils, beans, grains, and so on) can take on a huge range of flavors if you do things right.

Well, this weekend... I hit the mother lode. A friend and I went to an area of town full of every kind of Indian store you can think of- clothes, food, groceries, everything. (this, by the way, is why I love L.A... I spent the morning there, then went to little Ethiopia for dinner, then I came home to my place, which is in little Brazil). ANYHOW. Check this out... I think I may never need to buy cumin, ever, for the rest of my life. This beat the ethnic section of my regular grocery store, which I had previously been all excited about, hands down- $1.80 for half a POUND of cumin? Holy smokes!

I got a couple of things I'm particularly psyched about...

1. cardamom pods
Why am I all excited about this? Mainly because I find cardamom fascinating- my family is Scandinavian, and growing up, I completely associated the taste with desserts made by my Grandmother (in addition, it is an ingredient in Glogg, which is the spiced wine you'll find on the stove of everyone I'm related to during the holidays). Only as an adult did I learn that its a huge component of Eastern cooking as well- I had this very surreal experience at the home of a friend, when her Mom used it in a rice dish- it took me half the meal to figure out what the strangely familiar flavor was. And only 10 minutes ago when I googled it, did I learn that together the Near East and Scandinavia consume half the worlds cardamom. I really like the idea of these two completely diverse regions and cultures independently landing on a same favorite spice. Plus, apparently its related to ginger, and, I do love ginger.

2. Garam masala in seed form:
I didn't even know you could get this. I always have garam masala on hand, but its usually a mysterious powder. Now, the mystery is unveiled and I can see all the raw components (of course, I have to figure out how to grind it up, but thats another adventure).

3. Moong beans
One of my favorite things is to buy ingredients I've never used before, and just figure out what to do with them once I'm home. Thats not totally the case with these beans because I'd heard you could use them for daal. But, I've definitely never cooked them myself, and just spent part of the evening looking around for recipes. A pot of daal is currently bubbling on the stove, destined to be my lunch tomorrow if it works out. If its edible, you'll be seeing it soon! (it smells good, so my hopes are high).

Peppermint Krispies, Oh My Goodness

We all know rice krispie treats are pretty much the pinnacle of awesomeness, in terms of things-that-can-happen-to-cereal. And, normally, I'm a big fan of the traditional treats. HOWEVER. This rendition of the treats is so delicious, and so holiday appropriate, you're going to need to go out and make it immediately. See below.

I wanted to make peppermint krispies, but just wasn't sure they'd work. It was important that at least some of them turn out, because I had to take them to work, because at work we have a longstanding tradition that on your birthday, the "Birthday Pirate" comes through the lab and leaves treats next to the coffee machine. He also miraculously knows the email address for the list serve and sends a pirate themed announcement of the treats. So, it was my turn to be the pirates secret helper (he's a terrible baker, really), and I couldn't make the pirate look bad. Therefore, I did the recipe in halves, but if I could go back in time (even pirates can't do that) I'd just do them all peppermint. Nevertheless, I will give you the full and accurate rendition...

Half-batch #1: Peppermint Krispies
-half a cube of butter (yeah, sorry, it makes them delicious)
-3 candycanes, crushed however you can figure out to crush them (I smushed them with a glass)
-half a bag of marshmallows
-3 cups rice krispies (I used generic krispies, because really, they're identical)

Melt the butter, and when its about half melted, throw in half the candy cane pieces. These are going to totally melt. If they look like a clumpy mess, don't panic- it'll all work out when the marshmallows go in. When the butter is melted, dump in the marshmallows. Stir pretty much constantly, until they are all just melted and its all smooth. Turn off the heat, and dump in the 3c krispies. Now, with the krispies, put in the remaining candy cane (these pieces won't melt and will look cute). Pour it all into a greased glass pan, and press down with waxed paper if you need to. Prepare to be amazed. Yum. Seriously amazing.

Half Batch #2- Chocolate Krispies
These were the back up batch, and they were great on their own, and also in combination with the peppermint. Basically, make the entire recipe above, minus the candy cane. After the krispies are about half stirred in, pour in some chocolate chips. They're going to kind of melt, and make swirls of chocolate through the bars (it shouldn't be uniform, this is part of the charm. otherwise you might as well have used cocoa krispies, which are scary and wrong). Put in pan, as above. These need to cool a bit longer than normal bars, because the chocolate needs to get hard. If you're in a time emergency, you can stick them in the freezer for a bit. These are also delicious, and totally worth making. But, make the peppermint ones, too :).

I've had a long internal debate about whether, really, the next logical step is to do peppermint-chocolate krispie treats. It would be over the top, but its just a question of whether its in a good way or not... if you try, by all means let me know!

Pumpkin White Chocolate Chip Cookies

OK, I made some cookies. They're not going to win any beauty contests but they have two big things in their favor. They are : 1. almost ridiculously easy and 2. very tasty.


Here's what you need (really, this is all):
1 box spice cake mix
1 can pumpkin
1 bag white chocolate chips
a little cinnamon sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Dump the pumpkin and cake mix in a bowl and mix. Add white chocolate chips until the cookie:chip ratio looks like how you would want it. (feel free to taste! no eggs = no salmonella from raw dough!).

Spoon the batter out on a cookie sheet, and then take the bottom of a glass, run it under the faucet, and then dip it in a bowl of cinnamon sugar. Use it to flatten the cookies out a bit.

Bake about 10 minutes, or until they look done.

I took these to a party, and they were a hit!

(ps. did you know there is a canned pumpkin shortage? Apparently there was a combo of a lot of rain and a small harvest, and some places are out of pumpkin (OUT OF PUMPKIN. the horror, the horror). Anyhow, if you see some, snap it up).

Wheat Berries Round III: Butternut Squash, Walnuts, Gorgonzola, mmmmm....

Well, I told you you were done with Wheat Berries, but clearly I lied.

I have to post this, because I just made it for dinner AGAIN, and I LOVE IT. It is heavily inspired by the previous 'Balsamic Gorgonzola Deliciousness' recipe, but that was more summery, with crispy apples and fennel, and this is more wintery.



The stuff:
--Butternut squash (I told you that was my new food kick!), cubed and roasted
--wheatberries, about a cup and a half or 2 cups, cooked
--toasted walnuts
--crumbled gorgonzola
--carmelized onions
--balsamic vinegar
--olive oil
--salt & pepper

Now basically, the reason that this is so awesome and delicious and easy, is that you just mix together that list of stuff, taste to make sure you like the proportions, and gobble up. (and trust me, you will gobble). But, some of that stuff is kind of time consuming, so now I'm going to share the system I arrived at for making it weeknight-friendly.

Wheatberries- now, I have mentioned these previously, and they take a LONG TIME to cook. As in, over an hour. Anything cooking for over an hour is not weeknight friendly at all. Knowing full well that I'm obsessed with these things, obviously I had to take action. So, a while ago, I bought a big bag of these little lovelies from Whole Foods, filled up my biggest pot with water, and then let them boil and boil until they were edible (1-1.5 hours). After they were cooked, I scooped them up in 1 or 2 cup increments, dumped them into individual ziplock baggies, and stuck them in the freezer- voila! microwave, and you have instant wheatberries!

Butternut squash- these little bags from trades joes are awesome. Just buy, open, toss with a little olive oil, and put in the oven at 400 until nice and soft and browned (stir as needed). Obviously its always fine to buy a whole squash, seed, peel, and cube it, but thats a lot of work.

Onions- carmelizing onions takes a while, but luckily you have to roast the squash so you have time, because just frying them would not be as delicious. Basically, stick the squash in, and then quickly slice about half an onion, and put it on LOW LOW HEAT with some butter or olive oil. cook them slowly and let them become delicious and sweet and brown (since they're on low, you can just leave them, and go over and stir occasionally).

Roasted walnuts- buy them pre-chopped, and store in the freezer. pull out a handful, put on a cookie sheet, and let them heat up while you stir up all the other ingredients

Gorgonzola- you can buy this crumbled. it is more expensive, but its in a nice sealed container, and is pretty easy to deal with, and is very week-night friendly.

The skinny:
So, here is your system- walk in the door. Toss the squash in the oven and the onions in the pan, remove walnuts and berries from freezer. For the next 30 min or so, do whatever you do when you come home, occasionally going in the kitchen and stirring the onions and squash. When its almost ready, just pop the wheatberries in the microwave and the walnuts in the hot oven. Pull it all out, dump in a big bowl, pour some olive oil, balsamic, salt, and (lots of) pepper, stir in copious amounts of cheese, and you're good to go! So warm and savory and delicious!!

Butternut Squash Pasta

You can probably tell I tend to go on food kicks (like the great wheatberry kick of a few weeks ago which, frankly, you don't even know the full extent of because I still have wheatberry recipes in my backlog). Since its winter, the latest thing has been roasted butternut squash. There are a couple of reasons why this is so great: 1. you can eat it all kids of ways (soup, side dish, etc) 2. if you buy an actual squash, you can roast the seeds and its like a little mini batch of pumpkin seeds. and pumpkin seeds are awesome.

So, obviously, when I saw this recipe for Butternut Parmesan Pasta, how could I resist?


--1 butternut squash weighing about 1 pound OR a little bag of butternut squash cubes from Trader joes
--6 ounces of bow-tie pasta (I used whole wheat)
--2 t of olive oil (if no bacon)
--2 shallots, chopped
--1/3 cup of packed, freshly grated Parmesan cheese
--1/2 cup of chicken stock
--1/8 teaspoon of grated nutmeg
--3 slices thick cut uncured apple bacon from Trader Joes (optional; without this, use olive oil)
--Salt and pepper to taste
--Water as needed to thin the sauce

0. boil pasta according to instructions
1. Separately, roast the butternut squash if you have time, if not and you're using the little bag, thoroughly cook in microwave according to instructions
2. chop the bacon, and brown. add chopped shallots, brown.
3. put in squash, mash up. add chicken stock, and thoroughly mix to thin a bit.
4. add salt, pepper, nutmeg, and cheese. mix until smooth.
5. Divide pasta in two, top with squash mixture.

This is really good, its definitely comfort food and is a bit like grownup mac and cheese. I think though, that I'm going to backtrack to the original recipe a little more when I make it. The original involved heavy cream, which seemed a bit much and I replaced with broth. I think it needed that creaminess though- at least some milk. I'd also consider replacing the parm with a softer creamier cheese (someone in the comments to that original recipe suggested Gruyere). I also may have undercooked my squash, and in this scenario I think if anything you want to err on the side of overcooking since you want it to mash smoothly. At any rate, I'm totally trying this again!

Comfort Food: Squash Soup

I've had a crazy week, so last night on the way home I decided the perfect dinner after a series of long long days would be blended curry squash soup.

In my head, I called it comfort food. But, that got me thinking about what that phrase really means- the last comfort food post I had was on peanut butter cookies I remember making as a kid, which seems more like canonical comfort food- its from my childhood, its sugary and fatty and delicious, and its definitely a treat. This soup is not like anything my mother ever made me, its not fatty or unhealthy or even particularly treatlike, but its one of my go-to recipes whenever I want something yummy that takes just enough work to make you feel like you cooked, but not so much you can't muster the energy when you're tired. Maybe as an adult, thats one form of this kind of comfort... learning how to put in just enough effort, in just the right direction, on your own behalf to make yourself feel better.

At any rate, whatever it is... here's the soup!
Basically, there are millions of versions of it, everyone I know has their own. Mine starts with a coarsely diced onion, coarsely diced granny smith apple, a whole bunch of ginger, some curry powder, salt, cayenne, and a dash of cinnamon. Brown it all in some oil.

Then... the squash. Butternut, acorn, just something yellow. Usually I throw in a sweet potato, too (but today I forgot).

After chopping up the squash, cover with water, and boil until soft. Once its soft, throw it in the blender and mash it up- I like to only blend it just enough, it tastes good just a bit chunky.

And after that all thats left to do is... enjoy!

Comfort Food: Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Well, for a number of reasons this has been a rough couple weeks (hence a series of self-directed treats, i.e. the freesias) and as of tonight, I have reached a new phase of wallowing, what phase, you ask? The chocolate phase.

But, what is chocolate without a friend though? Not much. Sounds like time to call in the peanut butter. I decided warm, gooey peanuty chocolatey cookies sounded pretty ideal, and after perusing the webernets, got reminded of these really easy cookies that we used to make when I was a kid. The ingredient list is long and complicated, so get a pen... you will need (brace yourself):

1 egg
1 cup PB
1 cup sugar
yep. thats it.

But, there's no chocolate in there. Big Trouble. So, I looked around and found some ideas for modifications, and so now mine also include...
chocolate chips (maybe half a bag?)
about a teaspoon of baking soda
a handful of flour


I baked them for about 10 minutes or so, and then got to enjoy this super yummy snack... mmm....