Called Out

Ok, I get it.

I haven’t posted much recently. You know it’s bad when fellow bloggers start calling you out on it.  Sorry, Paige.

However, here I am!

And thanks for all the well wishes on the back and sympathy for my pathetic inability to go down a flight of stairs correctly. Handrails are there for a reason, guys. Use them.

Anyway, throughout the rest of the week, my fear of having actually serious injuring myself waned and it seems I’m just a wee bit tender in the lower back region. So I’m comfortable starting up the routine again, but staying off of strength training for a little while longer.

I’m not upset about this. We all know how I feel about using weights. Gross.

By Thursday night, it was decided I could totally go back to my normal morning routine and hit the gym on Friday morning to make friends again with the elliptical.

Friday morning came around. And after four days of sleeping in, why take my chances?  I went for the fifth and swore to make it in today, instead.

I would have felt bad about it, but was instead in an obnoxiously perky mood. Let’s blame overcaffeination that wasn’t necessary because I was extremely well-rested. And the fact that my employer announced we were allowed to wear jeans to work through the end of the holidays.

For an announcement like this to make me literally get up and do a happy dance, it’s clear my life is only average.

Anyway, some of the Chicago Running Girlies decided to congregate with our version of a holiday party (yeah- running is involved), so that is where I’m off to at the moment. Since I wanted to ease back into the working out thing, I sadly decided it would be safer to elliptical my morning away before meeting up with them post-run. Safety first. Blah.

And because you never go to a party empty-handed, I had a mini-marathon baking night with an old coworker last night in preparation.

Snickerdoodles with a white chocolate center and chubby hubby truffles. Excuse the truffles, they need tweaking. However, I don’t even love cinnamon that much and totally went gaga over the snickerdoodles. You should make them. Like yesterday.

We decided to double recipes just to make sure our respective significant others could receive an equal sugar rush. Because the way to a man’s heart is obviously baked goods and steak.

And we all know I don’t know how to make steak.

Happy Saturday, everyone. I cannot think of a way to express my sadness over the current events, but I will say hug everyone a little tighter and treasure the company of those around you. Holiday love. Make it happen.

 

Back In The Day

I am older than my brother by approximately a year and a half.  Which doesn’t mean a lot now. But back when we were kids?

I was THE boss.

When butter and peanut butter are the foundation, you know it’s gonna get good…

He was a pretty decent sport about it, though. He’d let me make the executive decision to play beauty parlor or dress up regularly enough. And to show I wasn’t a heartless dictator, sometimes his teenage mutant ninja turtles would be allowed to save the day when it was time to have adventures with Barbie.

I know. I’m such a giver.

Anyway, little did he know, my power was self-appointed. And little did he know that I really had no idea what I was doing. Like ever.

Probably like most political leaders today. (ZING)

My new mixer! This one hopefully won’t attempt to kill me by having parts of beaters fly all about…

But that didn’t matter. So when I had the brilliant idea to recreate sledding in the middle of summer?

He was down to clown.

So how did we do it, you ask?

Rolling dough into balls… and trying not to eat all the dough…

Well. Our house is on top of a hill. A hill just big enough to have a house on it and that’s it.

Anyway, there’s also a retaining wall built into the hill. It’s hard to explain, but basically imagine a steep hill and a wall at the bottom of it. With a tree was hanging out about 10 feet away from said wall.

I started making the cookies pretty like the traditional peanut butter cookie would be. But then I realized it wouldn’t matter in the end… time efficiency is important!

As a 5-year-old, I was pretty confident in my navigating abilities.

Yes. There was great confidence that I would be able to steer my little red wagon down a hill between two obstacles.

Did I mention I was 5 and also thought I could fly if I closed my eyes and wished it really really hard?

As for the “puppy chow” coating… you know I’m not one to make a dessert without chocolate being involved…

Long story short, the glory of flying down the hill in our little red wagon was a wonderful full 10 seconds before slamming directly into the retaining wall.

As the leader who wanted the best view, I was in front. Because I was in front, I also smacked into the retaining wall. Wagons didn’t have airbags back then.

Dipping the tops of cookies into the peanut butter chocolate coating. The original recipe requires you to dip the ENTIRE cookie into it… but that seemed almost excessive…

No brain damage occurred (shut it, I know what you’re thinking), but boy does the head bleed easily.

My brother was unharmed physically, which further strengthens the argument of why children should not sit in the front passenger seat until the age of 12, however, I think he was a little jarred emotionally as I was screaming and crying about ALL THE BLOOD OMG.

I do feel bad if there was any long term harm done. Sorry, brother.

Anyway… all the blood loss came from a teeny tiny cut in my head, and after a few days, my brother and I were back in cahoots together.

The whole reason I even bothered to tell you this long and drawn out story is that we were like two peas in a pod. No matter what the idea or scheme, I could always count on him as a backup. Whether it be flying down a hill like idiots, or most importantly, stealing as many cookies as possible from the kitchen.

The original recipe calls for way more powdered sugar. But I didn’t really find it necessary, either. The cookies are super rich as-is.

My mom used to make massive batches of puppy chow (muddy buddies- whatever) and leave it out to harden. As soon as she left the kitchen? Game on. In and out of the kitchen we’d go… mouths full of puppy chow.

It’s amazing my brother and I didn’t contract diabetes as children. Because when we weren’t stuffing our faces with freshly made cookies/sweets, we were spooning the dough out of the bowl. Or eating whipped cream out of the container.

Yes that happened and no, we’re not ashamed.

The peanut butter makes them healthy. Protein, don’t ya know…

So there ya go. A double throwback to stories of a more innocent age and cookies that everyone in the world seemed to grow up with.

Those were the days…

For those of you who happen to love puppy chow as much as I do, here’s the recipe. Straight from the Betty Crocker website. Although I did actually make Martha Stewart’s peanut butter cookies on my own. Using the mix just wasn’t going to cut it this time. I couldn’t have eaten spoonfuls of peanut butter that way.

*Shoulder shrug*

And I swear I tried to find a picture of said hill/retaining wall. But alas… there isn’t one. So instead, here’s a picture of me bottle feeding a calf.
Close enough.

Happy weekend!

Friday Facts About The ZOOMA Half

Facts revolving around my upcoming half marathon weekend:

1. My ZOOMA Women’s half marathon is tomorrow. I have not trained adequately for it. My hopes are that the efforts put into the Chicago Half Marathon in September will at least halfway carry over. Or just a smidge.

But in the meantime, I’m packed and super excited!

Sometimes it pays to raid your mom and dad’s house over holidays for all the good stuff.

That’s where I got my old jenga game from middle school, not the wine. I can buy that myself now…

2. I am riding with the lovely Meghan to Wisconsin for said race. We have met once and ran into each other while running on the lakefront once. If I disappear for an extended number of days, you know what happened. SEND HELP.

Just kidding, Meghan. I totally trust you.

But just in case, guys…

3. My parents are meeting up with me in Wisconsin to watch the race and take their first official trip to Wisconsin. I’m going to introduce them to cheese curds the same way I was almost two years ago. With good beer in a bar. This may be disastrous.

4. The state of my nails are atrocious about 90% of the time. However, for the time being, they are rocking the blue. Not ZOOMA blue, but close enough.

I really love that it’s time to break out the dark polish again. Makes me feel so bad ass for no good reason at all.

Even if I’m really awful at giving myself manicures. Points for trying?

5. Some of us girls are staying together to make it a super fun, estrogen-filled weekend. We decided to potluck it out. I made cookies.

You’ll hear more about those later. But feel free to drool. They are delicious. I should know. I had no less than four last night and intend to have one with my second cup of coffee later on.

I have a sugar addiction problem. Send more help.

6. There are no set goals for the race itself. Just to finish. Which is technically a goal, but stop getting so technical on me. This is mostly due to all that hill training I planned to do never happening (shame), the furthest I’ve ran since my last race was 8 miles (shame), and my cold apparently got a second wind and lingered until about two days ago (not my fault).

This is just not going to be “my race”.

But whatever. The weather seems like it’ll pull through, Wisconsin is supposedly quite pretty at this time of year, a lot of great girls are running it, and I get a necklace at the end.

And wine. Lots of wine.

My parents should probably find me at the finish sooner than later.

Did I mention there’s wine?

Where was I?

Oh yeah… so that’s my projected weekend in a nutshell. I hope you all have an equally fun time. Or at least get to drink equal amounts of wine.

Did I mention there’s going to be wine?

Wait… where was I again…?

Behind Closed Doors

Teenage girls are a strange breed.

Pretty sure they scare the crap out of everyone. EVERYONE. Their parents. Their teachers. Their boyfriends. Even their other girl friends.

They. Are. Scary.

Emotional. Irrational. Vicious. Dramatic. Whiney.

Every other day is LIKE OMG THE WORST DAY OF MY LIFE EVER EVER EVER.

Hopefully I’ve mellowed out a bit since then (er… *cough* 8 years ago…), but the fact of the matter is that I was one.

The teen years weren’t my favorite time of my life, even with my ability to cry at the drop of a hat. But it was bearable enough.

I bake a lot. So when a beater flies apart mid-mix, I don’t even think twice about it. I only cross my fingers I’ll be able to finish the mixing process before the other part of it flies away.

My parents may say otherwise. As the eldest of my brother and I, I took it upon myself to break my parents in. Test the waters. Push the limits.

Annoy the crap out of them.

My mom’s biggest complaint?

“Why do you always have to shut your bedroom door? What’s so secret? Why don’t you spend more time in the rest of the house with the family?”

I’ve never used greek yogurt in cookies before. But it was part of the promise of some of the softest cookies of all time. Is this considered healthifying them? I generally shy away from doing such things, but in this instance, curiousity totally killed the cat.

I think she feared the worst. Maybe I was writing a manifesto. Or smoking crack.

Which is extremely ridiculous. Everyone knows you can’t write a manifesto until you’re at least 21. Duh.

And why would the rest of my family want to hang out with me anyway? I was a moody and high strung teenage girl. I wouldn’t have wanted to hang out with me, either.

Maybe, just maybe, it’s time I give her peace of mind.

The other part of the beater had perfect timing and died right at the end. R.I.P. hand mixer. It’s been a great 2 years.

Tell her what I was really doing behind closed doors.

Let the world know my secrets.

Ok. Here we go.

I was talking to my friends about boys on the phone. Trying on cute outfits for the weekend (because I was going to get to stay out until 11:00!). Putting on makeup.

And I was dancing. And lip syncing. To Britney. And Eminem. And Third Eye Blind. Because I don’t discriminate.

All of this in front of the mirror. Like a total dork.

That, my dear mother, is what I was doing.

Not that exciting.

PUFFY!

That doesn’t mean I didn’t sneak a scandelous top out of the house under what I was wearing or in my purse (the gas station was an awesome dressing room).

That doesn’t mean I didn’t scrounge up a few bucks to split a 6-pack of Mike’s Hard Lemonade from time to time with, like, 5 other girls.

That doesn’t mean I didn’t end up on a road trip halfway across the state using entirely gravel roads. (Did you know that was possible? I sure didn’t.)

This stuff is ridiculous. There’s plenty leftover and it’s sad how quickly I’ll go through it.

But as for what went on my room?

Singing and dancing. Strictly singing and dancing.

Disappointing, right?

Anyway…

Oatmeal cookies were a standard in my mom’s rotation of baked goods when I was growing up.

Cookie Butter glaze. This is what takes the cookies from good to great. Enough said.

However, she always used raisins in hers. Which are gross. So I’d only eat the cookie dough because the raisins were easy to pick out.

But now that I’m grown up, and sing and dance with no shame wherever I damn well please, I can make oatmeal cookiest without the raisins.

And maybe even add some cookie butter icing. Because I’m feeling spunky.

The recipe I used for the Biscoff-Glazed Soft Oatmeal Cookies was from Bake at 350 and I will have to say she wasn’t kidding- these really are the softest cookies ever!

Look at the glaze… flippin’ everywhere…. sigh…

Maybe next time I’ll throw in some chocolate chips. Because I felt very strange not using any chocolate at all. Especially considering I rarely call it a dessert unless chocolate is involved.

Anyway. Now that you all know my secrets, I must sign off and get a few things done. Like buy a new hand mixer.

Plus I feel my mother may be calling soon about that mentioned road trip. So I should free up some of my schedule.

Oops.

But before I go….

Yeah. I’m just super mean sometimes.

Happy Hump Day!

When A Tuesday Goes Decently Well

It does happen from time to time.

Even though I generally dislike Tuesdays, once in a blue moon, one is surely bound to fall through the cracks.

I’ve started sneaking in interval running on Tuesdays. Because a) I want to get faster and b) why not do a workout I hate on a day I also hate? It’s logical.

But the thing I’ve noticed… I don’t mind the interval running.

It goes by fast enough. 8 5-minute circuits.

1 minute walking
3 minutes running (notice I say running- not jogging)
1 minute sprinting

My sprints have been under the 7:20-minute mile range, which is fantastic for me, but I have the urge to find out what it’s like to do them at sub-7. I’m excited to work up to this. Just not too quickly. I don’t want curiosity to kill the cat.

Or, in this case, give it a nasty stress fracture.

After a rain-free commute (not the case the last few work days), I was surprised by a package waiting on my desk. Delivery from my old office!

The chef in my old office building had extras from a catering event (hence the blur on the tummy), so they forwarded a few my way!

Gingerbread in August is a little strange, but I don’t ever question free food. Especially free food with sugar.

And it went well with my coffee.

The coffee I bring from home, to be specific. Because the coffee at my new place is so strong, it’s one step away from being consumed with a spoon. No thank you.

And even though I am somewhat cheap with what I buy for myself, it’s ok. Because sometimes, when the boss goes away to Hawaii, he comes back with the good stuff.

Kona coffee is so delicious. Strong. But delicious.

So yes, my boss got a few weeks of fun in the sun. And I got excited about the coffee.

It’s the little things in life. I have to keep reminding myself of that…

The cookie and coffee may have attributed to the additional energy I had, once again, when getting home after a long day.

So thank goodness my roommate and I were on the same page.

We get along really well as roommates. We respect each other’s space. We sometimes have “family dinner”. We both have a quirky sense of humor. And we both have an appreciation of the finer things in life. Like what reality shows are acceptable enough to be DVR-worthy. And always have a stash of cheap beer on hand.

However, our workout personalities could not be more different.

I am the self-proclaimed queen of cardio at 5:00 in the morning. She prefers being a weight room warrior at a later time in the day.

However, she’s recently expressed an interest in running.

Her reasoning? “There’s no reason why I can’t.”

Fair enough.

So we’ve been running on occasion. Like last night. We have an exact mile measured out. And we did it. Easy peasy.

It’s kind of nice we can do this every once in a while. A new way to get in some roommate bonding. Which is for the best. Teen Mom is almost over. What will we do then???

Snackage

“What is it?”
“Stick your finger in it.”
“What?”
“Just try it. You’ll thank me later.”

Cookie butter, guys. Talking about cookie butter…

The roomie had no idea what it was. I was happy to introduce her. Pretty sure she’s now mad about it. And upset I used almost all of it in cookies that are no longer around.

So. Like I said- cookie butter.

This is only the second occasion I’ve bought this stuff. First time was around the time when my friend Laura came to visit over New Years. As quickly as the two of us went through it, I thought it’d be safer to only have around the house every once in a while.

That seems to be my policy when it comes to a lot of things.

Sunflower seed butter. Guacamole. BBQ chips. Twizzlers. Cookies.

I like to eat.

But when visitors come through, it only makes sense to have stuff around the house for them to snack on.

The base of any good cookie- butter and sugar. Can I hear an Amen?

Turns out even then you should probably be overly prepared. Cookies… frozen pizza… deli… chips… it was all fair game after we got back from being out and about on Saturday night.

So along with a trip to Target to stock up on man food essentials, I busted out the big guns. Or the big mixing spoon. Whichever works better in your situation.

My one issue with this recipe- there was too much flour for my taste. And my mixing abilities. So either be prepared to scale back on the flour or mix up more butter/sugar/egg mixture to compensate. It was a time killer.

Once again, I looked to Picky Palate for inspiration. And once again, I wasn’t let down and went for a lil’ adaption on her Biscoff Stuffed White Chocolate Chip Cookies.

The only difference (other than eliminating some of the four cups of flour she suggests)? I’ve enjoyed the sweet and salty combo as of late, and since cookie butter is quite sweet in comparison to regular peanut butter, I threw in some crushed pretzels for good measure.

The pretzels were seriously the best idea ever. Throw in at least a cup of pretzels. Maybe a little more if you like the extra crunch, too...

Because if there is one snack that is available 100% of the time, it’s a massive jar of pretzels.

Cereal and pretzels. It makes the world go 'round. This is also the pantry where we keep all the wine. Yes. It is the pantry of no return.

Target knows where it’s at. Bulk food meant for the family. But bought for one.

Anyway, other than the pretzels, I followed the recipe exactly.

A dollop of cookie butter in each little "divet" you press into the bottom half. If the cookie butter leaks out of the side, you're doing something right.

And made sure not to overcook the cookies. Soft and chewy is more my preference.

These made my entire house smell like sugar. Glorious. But bad for sleeping.

Definitely do not skimp on the cookie butter. It won’t be overwhelming- promise. Instead, it adds just a soft layer in the middle that will keep people guessing as to what it is.

They say you can’t re-invent the wheel.

Just so you know, these also travel extremely well. I sent some to my lovely friend Mary for her birthday. Just make sure you have them in a sealed container of some sort and maybe even a piece of bread to keep them soft.

They’re right. You can’t. But you can have a lot of fun making it bigger and better. Just ask the dude who made those spinning hubcap thingies (the proper term, obviously).

These cookies are no different. As the recipe originally goes, they’re super sweet and delicious. But the pretzels? They’re the spinning hub cap thingie. Not necessary but obnoxiously awesome.

*Oh and because you guys asked, that burger from yesterday’s post? I got a little over half way through it at the restaurant. Finished the rest 4 hours later before we went out for drinks. BAM.

A Little Love?

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!

In all honesty, I’m not a huge fan. Never really made much of a celebration of it. Even when I had a boyfriend, we always ended up just meeting up with friends at a party or bar after dinner. We couldn’t even spend more than 2 whole hours by ourselves. Looking back, this should maybe have served as a warning sign…

And I’m a girl who enjoys flowers more on days when they’re not expected. I’m reminded of the days way back in high school when girls literally threw tantrums because their arrangement wasn’t delivered at the right time. Or only had 6 roses vs 12.

Seriously?

One year, the day was spent traveling in a car with 3 full-grown dudes on our way home after a long weekend in St. Louis. Fine dining happened at Taco Bell that night.

I even broke up with a guy on Valentine’s Day once.

Probably not my finest moment.

What? He started it…

Let’s get back on topic.

Valentine’s Day?

I could care less.

However, the one reason I will still observe it from year to year is that it’s a holiday where overdosing on chocolate is totally acceptable. And encouraged.

That, my friends, is something I can get down with.

Chocolate.

Yesssss…..

Plus, this gives me an excuse to bake things.

I accept the drug in any and all forms.

I actually wanted to make the cookies last week. But with a case of the sniffles, I decided to wait a few more days in order to not give away germs along with dessert.

Thoughtful. I know.

As usual, I was stalking Picky Palate and all the drool-worthy food she posts about when I stumbled upon double chocolate covered pretzel peanut butter cookies.

Say that 10 times fast.

I've been off the peanut butter kick for a while. This is my first reconnection with it in over a month. It's safe to say- I missed you!

I love the long names of all her cookies. It only goes to show how many lovely things you can put into one dessert if you really try hard enough.

M&M's, white chocolate and pretzels. A lovely combo of sweet and salty. Which could be a metaphor for a relationship if you'd like it to be...

Obviously, I switched in M&M’s for half of the white chocolate chips the original recipe called for. Because why not add one more devilish thing?

Peanut butter. Chocolate. Candy. Pretzels. White chocolate.

All my vices working together in perfect harmony.

The batter was delicious, too. Yes, I tried it. And yes, I live dangerously.

It’s beautiful.

Notes? The cookie is like a brownie. It’s super rich. And may give you a tummy ache if more than 4 are consumed in a sitting.

Or at least I assume it would. Because it’s not like I would have done that… or anything…

The only shot I got before packaging and shipping (most of) them off.

These are one reason why I run as much as I do.

Worth it.

So go make these for your loved ones. Because even if I’m not the biggest romantic in the world (or at all), I still like to let friends and fam know they’re special.

Or just go ahead and treat yo’self.

You probably deserve it.

Portion Control

It’s something I think 95% of us have issues with from time to time.

And I salute the other 5% of you.

Because if something is that good, rarely do I ever want to stop.

You can never have too much of a good thing… right?Yeah you can.

Like on Saturday. Miller Lite is a good thing.

12 hours of bar hopping where it’s the sponsor of the pub crawl?

Not a good thing.

It’s safe to assume it was part of the reason I spent most of my Sunday being lazy and not moving from my couch.However, I did move a few times.

Not only to start up the crock pot, but also to grab one or two of these cookies from the mind of Cookies and Cups (Yes, I am introducing yet another baking blog and you’re going to like it).

Several trips to crab cookies, actually.

This chubby hubby cookie bar recipe has been on the top of my “to make” list since… I dunno… forever. So when it came time for the latest of the Blogger Sweet Swaps, I was already prepared.

Too prepared. I made a double batch. Just in case. Ya know?

But to answer the question in your head- yes, I always have a massive jar of pretzels around. $4. Target. BAM.

This was unneccessary. A recipe and a half would have been fine. Or even just a normal-sized recipe. I could have easily just had one or two and sent the rest on.

Nope. I said “let’s double this shiz”.Little did I realize this would require me to unwrap a bag and a half of Reese’s mini peanut butter cups. Next time I’ll think to get the regular-sized ones. Less work…

Oh crap. I just remembered I still have that other half of a bag in the pantry. Um…

Anyway…

Sure, my work friends were happy. As was my roommate.  Hopefully my Sweet Swap partner, Jessica, is, too.  The sweet/salty combo is fantastic. Adding pretzels or some sort of “crunch” should now be a standard for any baking venture I have. And the caramel- oh my geez.

It’s like a puddle of caramel, people. A big and amazing puddle.

If you’re scared of knives like I am, you can also bribe your roommate to cut the squares for you. Or at least still be in the same room in case you lose a limb in the process.These cookie bars are now in the top 5 favorites of things I’ve ever baked. It’s a bold statement, but is very true. Mostly because I’m a sucker for anything cookie-based. I’m a girl of simple taste when it comes to sweets. Boys take note.But my poor stomach. It couldn’t keep up with my sweet tooth. As much as it wanted to. Because these are hefty cookies, my friends (cut them small- trust me). And after the 10th or 12th one?

Ow.

Portion control.

I need a better grasp on what this concept is.

I also need to realize there is no real reason to ever double a recipe of anything.

Lesson of the day…

Sweet Surprise

You hear about it pretty much every week. Tuesdays just send me into a “blah” state of mind. Maybe one day I’ll do a rap about this state of mind like Jay Z.

But that would require me to actually be good with words. And this here blog and my random musings are a far cry from anything remotely genius (call it like I see it).

Anyway, until I figure out how to keep the “blah” from happening, there are ways to remedy the sitch. Or at least make it seem a little better. Almost like another version of my Overhaul Days.

Or, in this case, maybe the exact opposite of it?

Sometimes you just do what you’ve gotta do. Holla’.

Anyway, I love getting stuff in the mail. Especially when it comes in boxes from fellow bloggers- because you know it’s gonna be good.

And Leanne over at Skinny Architect did not disappoint.Not one bit. She actually impressed me and could possibly be the cause of a sudden onset of diabetes.

We were partnered up in the latest installment of the Blogger Sweet Swap and she chose to make “Lazy Man Cookies” and “Lazy Lady Cookies”. She said she experimented a little with the original recipe to get the “Lady” version. Makes sense- us ladies are always unpredictable and never follow the rules. Am I right or am I right???

But back to the cookies- or heaven in a pan as I like to refer to them. Whichev. It’s like she knew what all my favorite things were and dumped them in a pan before baking them to perfection.Yeah- listen to how happy I am. It’s probably the sweetened condensed milk. That stuff makes me do crazy things.

Thank you, Leanna, you helped to make my Tuesday that much more bearable.

And now, the question of the day because I feel like it:

What’s the best thing you’ve gotten in the mail recently?

I’ll tell you one thing I received that does NOT fit in that category. A red light violation ticket that showed up in the mailbox this week.

I plead the fifth.

Trickster Cookies

Tonight I’m helping with stuffing packets for the race my friend has spent the last 6 months of her life organizing. There’s going to be a little crowd of us, so Annie made the request for me to bring a lil’ somethin’ somethin’ for people to snack on.

Sigh… well I GUESS if you really want me to bake…

Obviously it had to be something cute. Like these cinnamon roll sugar cookies…  Yeah. Aren’t they obnoxiously adorable? They appear to be teeny cinnamon buns.

But I’m still that baker who’s scared of using active yeast in a recipe. So until then, I’ll just “cookie-fy” or “cupcake-ify” anything.

These came from the mind of Picky Palate- as do quite a few of the things I’ve attempted. Never has she disappointed me. And I have high standards when it comes to sugar and butter. So that’s saying something.

Normally, I use my grandma’s recipe for sugar cookies. It’s an oldie but a goodie. However, this time around, I used the posted recipe. Just in case. And I think it worked out well- the cookies are less sweet than most sugar cookies I’ve tried. But because you add a little more sugar and butter through the filling and icing, it balances quite nicely.Did I say a little?

I meant a lot.

Paula Deen’s heart probably stopped for a second as this was happening.

The recipe calls for light brown sugar. I only had dark.*Shoulder shrug*

I was also a little more liberal with the cinnamon. Because I do what I want.

Oh and say hello to my piece-o-crap phone!

Heeeeey phone heeeey!  Ugh. It’s slow. It doesn’t accept all messages. And the roller ball thingie keeps popping out. Just die already!

Woah… random tangent…

Be careful to roll it tight so they won’t fall apart as you cut them….And admire my new nail polish color. That is chipping really badly. Whoops.Slice carefully. The cookies had a tendency to unroll if not handled carefully. I tried to smooth the ends of the cookies as much as possible so they wouldn’t separate mid-bake.

The entire apartment smelled like cinnamon rolls.But they’re not.

I’m such a trickster!The icing wasn’t the cream cheese recipe she posted with the cookie recipe. Because I didn’t have enough cream cheese on hand and was too cheap to buy more. So I went with a good ol’ fashioned mix of butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk to taste.

The roommate gave the thumbs up. Which was good. I mean… I ate a couple. But at that point, I was sporting quite the sugar buzz and most likely would have had a hard time critiquing the final product.

If we’re being honest.

Fine, it was three.

Is it bad this was about a half hour before bed and had no issues falling asleep?

It’s probably time to cut back a little on the sugar consumption.

I’ll write it on my list of things to do. Right under “win the lotto”.

See? Progress!