Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Peanut Butter Cookies

Yesterday morning my oldest daughter declared that she was looking for a good lawyer and was going to divorce me. Initially I found the whole thing hysterical, but as the day wore on it became less funny.  Our family has been through a series of traumas and I thought perhaps this was at the root of her divorce decree.  I decided a TV Mom moment was in order.  A clean house, chicken and dumplings simmering on the stove and homemade peanut butter cookies in the oven...very TV mom-ish.  By the time she got off the bus I thought the house smelled amazing.  It looked pretty sparkly, too. My job as a TV Mom was done.  She was sure to apologize and un-divorce me now, right???

Wrong.  A teenager is a teenager.  At precisely 3:15, She Who Must Not Be Named walked through the door, threw her bookbag on the floor and said, "Ewwww.  What's that smell???" 
Mental scream.  Next time I'm just gonna ground her.  The cookies were yummy, though, so I thought I'd share.  I found the recipe in the Flat Belly Diet Family Cookbook on page 259. 









Don't those look yummy???  Yup.  I thought so, too.  They're made with all natural peanut butter and have absolutely ZERO flour in them.  Not one pinch.  Sold.  Not only is refined white flour bad for you, it's also a pain in the ass to measure and mix in.  I don't know about you, but when I use flour, my entire kitchen becomes a mess.  Flour all over the floor, flour all over the counters and flour all over me.  It's disastrous.  Yay for no flour.  I set my oven to 350 and got down to business.

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup natural peanut butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Combine the peanut butter, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.  Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until smooth.
3. Shape the dough into 24 balls and arrange on 2 cookie sheets.  Gently press a crisscross pattern into the top of each cookie with the tines of a fork.
4. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until lightly browned on the bottom.

Serving size: 3 cookies.
Calories: 315.
Serve them with a glass of milk...that will add 80 calories but makes the entire cookie eating experience complete.


Yum, yum, YUM!!!!
My cookies looked NOTHING like the cookies in the cookbook (I think they were a little over-done.  Maybe decrease the cooking time to 8 minutes...) but they sure did taste good.  The recipe made 24 cookies.  This morning there were only 4 left.  She Who Must Not Be Named even had one for breakfast.  Maybe she'll stick around after all.


4 comments:

  1. On the bright side, if she doesn't stick around it just means more cookies for you! JK!!!

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  3. Okay, the cookies look a little on the dark side but so is your relationship with your daughter. However, we all know it is what is on the inside that counts. Those cookies and your relationship are made of good things and baked with love. As you very well know your child is not now, but may later be your friend. Quite honestly she doesn't need you as a friend, she has those. She needs you as her mom. If that means bad days in full battle regalia then so be it. She is not a normal person yet and neither were you or I during our teenage years. We don't become normal until we are on our own out of the nest and surviving by our wits. Which, by the way are partially developed based on what we learn from our parents. She loves you she may not know it now but she loves you. We are like butterflies. When she was younger she was a pretty caterpillar. She is a teenager and now a chrysalis. Soon she will break out of her cocoon and be a very beautiful butterfly just like her mother. Your job now is to be the best example of a butterfly you can be. So soar in the knowledge that one day you will not be flying alone but with three very beautiful butterflies to keep you company. You are blessed and you are loved.

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  4. Crying...Tim, that was beautiful. YOU are beautiful. Please know that I thank God every day for you and Trish. You are the very definition of "family."

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