Six Week Project: Day Twenty Six

Dinner isn't always a big production in my house, and I think you're realizing this as my blog posts begin to include more and more days at one time. I think about food as much as men are purported to think about sex. Seriously, I do. I think about everything that goes into my mouth and what kinds of benefits my body will get from it. That's why, when I do cook, it's thoughtful and typically (I must say) pretty damn good. However, several nights a week I eat left-overs, or I don't eat what everyone else would consider "dinner"- sometimes a bowl of cereal, sometimes a peanut butter sandwich. Tonight I worked from 11:30 this morning until 9:30 tonight. Therefore dinner was a container of Thai Peanut Tofu Salad from the Farmacy in Athens, and a bag full of fresh snap peas from Duff Farms and a carrot from the Athens Farmer's Market, peeled with the greens still attached. I had to chuckle to myself when I packed this "dinner," because the people I work with always accuse me of eating rabbit food. If they could see me with this green topped carrot, they'd never let me hear the end of it.

However, since I managed to get the morning off given my extra-long day and evening shift, I took advantage of a chilly spring morning, and some random containers of "almost gone" peanut butter and made one of my new signatures: Queen Honeybea's PB+CC=Love Cookies. I decided to share this recipe with you, in lieu of a dinner post, because they're really, really delicious. Enjoy! And always remember to buy local and eat well.



Queen Honeybea's PB+CC=Love Cookies
Makes 1 Dozen Extra-Large Cookies, or 3 Dozen Average Size Cookies

1/2 cup All-Natural Soy Margarine, softened
1 1/2 cups peanut butter (I used some fresh ground organic, some organic unsweetened from Whole Foods and some Jiff Natural)
1/2 cup organic, unrefined sugar (evaporated cane juice)
1/4 cup local, pure maple syrup
1 local, free-range egg
2 tsps. pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups organic whole-wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup organic, semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped honey roasted peanuts
Extra organic, unrefined sugar for rolling

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease two baking sheets. Set aside.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the margarine and peanut butter and beat until combined and smooth. Add the sugar and maple syrup and beat again until combined and smooth. Add the egg and vanilla, beating until well incorporated and fluffy, about 2 or 3 minutes.

3. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Add to the peanut butter mixture, beating on low speed until a soft dough is formed. Add the chocolate chips and the honey roasted peanuts and fold until they are evenly distributed in the dough.

4. With a large dipper (or the size equivalent of two heaping tablespoons), scoop out one dozen balls of dough. Roll each ball in organic, unrefined sugar and place evenly spaced on each baking sheet. Flatten lightly with the bottom of glass, until the cookies are about 3/4 in thick.



5. Bake for 15-18 minutes, until they're nicely browned but not over done. Remove to a wire rack and cool completely.

(If you make smaller cookies, with a smaller dipper, they'll probably need to bake less time, about 10 minutes.)