Since Tug is not a big fan of things sweet, it can be rather challenging finding a food-related Valentine’s Day gift. (He doesn’t have such difficulties. This morning I was greeted with a gift bag of Reese’s peanut butter cups, three Lindt chocolate bars – chocolate chile, dark chocolate sea salt and white chocolate coconut – and a bag of Lindt white chocolate truffles.) There are the rare occasions when he’ll nibble on a small piece of dark chocolate, or eat a cookie or two, but they are indeed rare occasions. I had thought about making brownies and cutting them into hearts, but he may have eaten one, two if I was lucky. Instead, I made him something I know he really likes: bread. The man is an absolute carbohydrate junkie when it comes to bread.
He was pretty happy with the focaccia I made last month, so that’s what I chose to make him for Valentine’s Day. Baked in a heart-shaped pan of course. And I made dinner.
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| focaccia baked in Wilton's (retired) puffed heart pan |
Since I had all of those peanut butter cups though, I decided to make this recipe from Katie at Making Michael Pollan Proud. When I first read it I nearly drooled on my keyboard. For the most part I followed the recipe. You know I have a problem in that regard. What I did differently was use seven peanut butter cups (because I neurotically don’t like even numbers) and since I only had old-fashioned oats instead of rolled oats, I measured out one cup and gave them a buzz in the food processor then mixed them in with the other dry ingredients. I find old-fashioned oats are just a little bit too toothsome in cookies. The final thing I did differently was after mixing in the dry ingredients I switched to the dough hook attachment to mix in the chocolate chips and chopped peanut butter cups. It worked like a charm to mix them in without crushing them.
After baking and cooling them, I boxed up almost all of them for Tug to take to work tomorrow. These are so good that I have to get them out of the house. Katie suggested that they freeze well so she freezes them to keep from eating them. I have a feeling I would eat these frozen!
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| I couldn't resist pressing the last few scoops of dough into one of my heart-shape cookie cutters. Yes, I am a dork when it comes to Valentine's Day! |
I didn't see a recipe for whatever it was that you made to get out of the house11. It must have been wonderful ! As before , the bread looked wonderful !
ReplyDeleteThey were Double Chocolate Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cup cookies and they are amazing! If you click on "this recipe" below the bread photo it will link to Katie's post where the original recipe is posted. They would be awesome to take on a camping weekend!
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm so glad to hear that you enjoyed the cookies and that you had a good Valentine's Day. I love the heart shaped focaccia too! I'd never thought of baking it in a pan like that!
ReplyDeleteTo say that I enjoyed these cookies is totally an understatement! Every time I turn around I find myself staring at the container they're in. It's a good thing most of the them went to Tug's office.
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