Peanut Butter Cookies for a sunny day

Greetings all! This weekend I told you I would be baking. But it almost didn’t happen. Firstly, I decided a lie-in on Saturday would be good. It was indeed. Secondly, the weather was not the same beast as depicted in the Calvin and Hobbes cartoon, shared on Friday. In fact, it was quite different with not a cloud in the sky:

As a direct consequence of the aforementioned lie-in, fewer hours in the day remained for me to take advantage of the weather. There was a risk that baking would not get a look in. But it did.

The ingredients and method were really quick, simple and gluten-free to boot. I followed a recipe I pinned here, but reduced the amount of sugar included because I prefer things to be less sweet.

While preheating the oven to 180°C, I mixed together one egg, half a cup of sugar (I used granulated brown cane sugar), one cup of peanut butter and one teaspoon of vanilla extract. I initially disliked the mixture a lot. It was gooey, sugary and didn’t look like it would amount to much. But as I mixed it, my biceps ached and the goo became a delicious smelling crumby golden ball:

The mixture was then easily rolled into small walnut -sized balls as suggested in the original recipe. I got 23 out of these quantities. To create the cute pattern on top, I simple pressed down gently with a fork to form a criss-cross pattern. I found the peanut butter oils were sufficient to prevent the fork from sticking to the batter if done carefully.

The cookies only need 12 minutes in the oven to achieve a lovely crumbly texture with a very slightly chewy middle. They are very soft when they first come out of the oven, so I transferred them immediately onto a cooling rack  by pulling the non-stick baking sheet with cookies on top and sliding it over. I then sprinkled a teaspoon’s worth of extra sugar on top for a little extra crunch.

These cookies are great if you want something easy and quick. I can imagine they’d be great on a hot summer’s day, when you don’t want to spend long in a hot kitchen. I can’t say I actually know what that feels like though. Spring sunshine with a chilly breeze blowing will have to do me for now 😉 I hope you give the cookies a try and enjoy them too!

Another great thing about these is, that they are at once salty and sweet. A great combination. Their peanutty richness also means that you don’t need to eat many with your cup of tea. I’ve still got over half left. That’s win-win-win in my book! If you made some now, we could meet for a virtual tea and cookies meet-up 😉

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Ha-ha-happy Friday :)

What a week. The weather has been like this. I need some light relief. Thought I’d share a lovely compliment I received via a spambot or person, who obviously has a better command of English than me. I am still trying to work out what this comment is supposed to be about…

Oh on the subject of language, I once visited a church in Norwich on my travels, and was asked by a friendly member of the congregation whether my accent was from Australia. It was a little awkward when I had to say no, I was just from down south 😛 I put it down to the cosmopolitan City that I live in, plus influences from friends. After all, I have been known to slip into a Malaysian or Nigerian accent without being aware of it much to the amusement of the company I was in. The latter actually happened first at work!

Anyway, enough about work, the weekend is here! I’m going to try making these easy peasy looking cookies for teatime tomorrow and having a little giggle over this clip about people changing the way they speak. And maybe I’ll be doing a little of this too:

Calvin & Hobbes, Spring | from Daily Calvin & Hobbes on Facebook

Do you find that the way you speak changes in different environments? Do you enjoy listening to and/or speaking different languages? What are your plans for the weekend? And dare I ask… what season would you say is in your part of the world at the moment?

Wonderful Spring

I’ve been filled with wonder that spring has sprung. I spent some time bird watching from the window today and wondering why it is that the smallest of birds love to sit fully exposed to the buffeting of strong winds at the very top of the longest thin tree branch that points skywards. I’d be more likely to hide somewhere among the budding branches down below, where there is more shelter. That seems to be what I’ve been doing in the past few weeks when I’ve gone missing on the blogging scene.

Thank you so much for your wonderful comments and for continuing to visit, even though I seemed to have passed out for lack of fish and chips. They were real encouragements and it cheered me up no end that such an affinity developed over my favourite deep friend dish! Since that last post, I have eaten fish and chips twice (the last time was two nights ago). I now feel reasonably fortified and would like to return. Perhaps, I might even gingerly hop higher up the tree and feel the breeze… who knows, I might eventually take flight!

For today, I intend to pay back a debt. I owe you a Wonder Wool update. Way back in winter, I posted a little sneak preview to see if you could guess what I was knitting. I was making my foray into baby knitting for a friend. She has since safely received both the hat for her and the knit for baby (as well as delivering an adorable baby girl) so I can reveal what I was knitting for the first baby project I set myself:

I intend to do more – I was hooked! They knit up relatively quickly and I learned some new techniques. It’s a Patons newborn pattern involving knitting two rows into each other to form the pretty scalloped edge.

Knitting something for this brand new little person, gave me time to think about the fragility of life. How one person can bring so much joy or devastation to the world. How every small action we take or every word we speak, can have a huge impact on someone else for good and bad. This post from a couple of sisters I love to read, was at the same time thought provoking and challenging along those thought-lines. I thought I’d share it – cherish this moment!

Once again, I thank you for your kind words, even though I have been so slow to respond. Thank you friends! I pray that you have strength in your wings for whatever you are facing today x