Hug a Little Tighter and Bake!

The only word to describe the past week is horrifying. I’ve listened, cried, and tried to make sense of everything, but there’s no making sense of murder. We all have to move forward and do our best to create change so we see fewer and fewer moments like this. Call or write your representatives and tell them what you want, then use your vote.

For now, hug your family tighter, tell them you love them, and appreciate every moment you have together.

I don’t know about you, but when times get tough, I retreat to my favorite place, the kitchen, for cooking, or baking therapy. I highly recommend it and it’s easier on the liver than drinking.

I tried a good, fast chocolate chip skillet cookie recipe my friend Dawn sent that was perfect. Dawn is not only beautiful, she’s a fabulous cook, baker and artist. (If I didn’t love her I’d probably hate her.) Check out her gorgeous, nature prints at Heliographics.com. The tropical prints are especially lovely in a summer home, or beach house, and she does others like this beautiful fern print that looks great anywhere.

But back to cookies. This skillet chocolate chip recipe is so easy, you can slap it together fast for that last minute barbecue your neighbors decided to have. Trust me, everyone will love you for it. These cookies are pure deliciousness. Bite into them warm and get the melted chocolate chips with the buttery, perfectly dense chew of the cookie. And this batter doesn’t have to be refrigerated overnight!

I also tried a recipe a friend at work was raving about. He said his wife makes scrumptious Peanut Butter Fingers and he looked so full of love when he talked about her, I thought, Man! I have to make these! Clearly, they make people adore you.

I made them with Kirkland Organic Creamy Peanut Butter from Costco. They were delicious. The peanut butter and oatmeal bottom layer is the perfect combo of sweet, salty, and slightly crunchy. It’s even more delicious with chopped peanuts. I was told this was a recipe from the 60s, when choosy mothers chose Jif.

However, when I went to the store, Jif was being recalled for potential salmonella, so this choosy mother decided my Costco brand natural peanut butter was fine.

I made a few small changes, but I have to give credit to Lauren Hancher, who kindly shared her family’s recipe with me. I added a few twists of the salt shaker to the crust and the icing. I used 3/4 cup more chocolate chips because one cup didn’t look like quite enough. And since I used the Kirkland Organic Peanut Butter, I substituted whipping cream instead of milk, for the icing, and the color was a creamy, golden brown. This recipe is absolutely delicious. The crumble and crunch of the bottom oatmeal, peanut butter layer nestled against the smooth chocolate layer and topped with swirled peanut butter icing means you will not be able to stop at one. I’m just warning you.

If you have any recipes you think are awesome (because I only blog about awesome recipes), please write to me and fill me in. If I go insane over it, I will happily feature your recipe in my blog and give you all the credit.

So, here are both recipes. I hope they take your mind off things for a while and you’re able to enjoy a beautiful beginning to summer this Memorial Day weekend with family and friends. I’m going to take some flowers to my dad, my favorite veteran, and give extra thanks and extra hugs to family and friends.

Rachesl Brathen sums life up pretty perfectly in these few words. “To love and let go, love and let go, love and let go…it’s the single most important thing we can learn in this lifetime.”
― Rachel Brathen

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Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie

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Peanut Butter Fingers from Lauren Hancher’s Kitchen

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