Friday Foodie Fun

And at this point I would LOVE nothing more than to commit that every Friday shall be some sort of Foodie Fun lovin' times and I'll post faithfully EVERY SINGLE FRIDAY.

But I've learned from experience that I will do nothing but set myself up for failure if I do this, so I am posting for today and we shall see what happens.

And, although this has absolutely nothing to do with food, I'm sitting and typing and waiting for THE BIG SNOW that, according to the weather folks, will be STARTING AT 10:00 a.m. SHARP!

Nothing yet.

So, this afternoon I'm thinking either nap or shoveling. Could go either way, really. Big benefits from both, so not really sure which one I'm hoping for.

But, (as usual) I digress.

Speaking of digressing, I'm having all these post-blog naming regrets. Regrets mights be a bit of a strong word, maybe musings would be better. Because how much fun would these blog names be???

"Much ablog about nothing" (and frankly, probably the most aptly named considering about 80% of my posts.)

"Momma's got a new blog!"

"Running while baking"

"To chocolate or not to chocolate"

Alright, back to the task at hand.

(Focus, focus, focus....)

There's another great idea...FOCUS FRIDAYS!

THAT'S IT...FOR REAL, HERE GOES....

One of my close friends turns the big 4-0 this weekend. Her favorite cookie is the Peanut Butter Blossom. (Here is where I would link, if Blogger would only be my BFF again, but since we have a very tenuous-sometimes-you-can-sit-at-my-lunch-table-but-only-some-days type relationship) we all know that is not going to happen. It's very much a "Mindy in the corner eating lunch by herself" kind of day. Which, come to think of it, doesn't sound all bad......

So, I bought one those giant Hershey Kisses....

And set out to make one ginormous, great big 'ol Peanut Butter Cookie....




At this point, I set the dough in the fridge and let it chill for several hours.

ALL the dough, save for just enough to make these for my 4 favorite people....

(In case you were wondering, although I enjoy these cookies I would much rather splurge on frosting or cookie dough, so I did that instead which is why there are not 5;)

After several hours, I prepared a cookie sheet with foil and Pam spray, took the bowl out of the fridge and let it sit out on the counter for about 15 minutes so it would be easier to handle.

I patted it down into a circular shape and sprinkled some of the extra sugar on top for that "crackled" look.

About half-way through, I patted down the cookie just a bit more so it would bake evenly.

Now, for the really fun part.....


After pulling the cookie from the oven, I let it sit about 15 minutes.
Important note: I baked the cookie at 325 for about 22 minutes. I started with 15, then checked it at 5 and then 2 minute intervals. This recipe, whether small or large, will brown the bottom of the cookies much sooner than the top, so keep an eye on them!"

I had some cream cheese frosting in the fridge, so I took a little from that stash and added some peanut butter, Hershey's syrup, and a little bit of unsweetened cocoa to make the icing dark enough to see....


I had also made these earlier in the day for a friend who's husband just had surgery.

(Will do a separate recipe post on those...they were YUUUUUUMMY!)
So, in the spirit of all things bakey-familish, I saved out cookies for my family from that batch too. These included Heath bits, which, during this past holiday season, my husband discovered were one of his very favorite new flavors for baked items.

If you recall, peanut butter and chocolate are not his most favorite combo, though he has been known to eat from that food group somewhat regularly. But almost always with some sort of comment on how, even though it's really a good cookie/cake/pie, etc. he would much prefer Milky Way, chocolate chip, etc.

(I addressed this at the end of my March 30, 2011 post if you haven't fallen asleep reading this one yet.)

Soooooo, after one of our favorite family dinners and the cookies for dessert, I asked my husband what he though of the chocolate/Heath/caramel/frosting type concoction.

The man that I have known for 15 years and 4 days looked at me, then looked into the dining room where the gargantuan PEANUT BUTTER BLOSSOM COOKIE lay and said...

"They were good, but what I'd really like is to cut into a slice of that!"

Girlfriend wanted to put her head through a wall.

At this point, I threw myself on the table and begged, "What is IT? What is the threshold, the line, the cut-off, the measuring stick by which you declare one peanut butter chocolate thing okay, but the next one not?!?! The pie, okay I can understand the pie thing, maybe it's more of a texture issue. But for the love, it's a GIANT peanut butter and chocolate cookie out there!!!! Is that it, is it just okay for cookies??? Because here you have this delectable HEATH bit thing that you declared your very favorite EVER but now you want Peanut Butter and chocolate which you have repeatedly reminded me is NOT YOUR FIRST CHOICE!!!!"

At which point he said, "OH! I just assumed it was a big chocolate chip cookie with one huge chocolate chip in the middle."

And the moral of the story here is....Do make certain you have your facts straight before putting your head through a wall. It might save a lot of time and trouble, and most likely, an outrageous ER bill.

There now, for those of you who have soldiered on with me, I'm happy to inform you that it is now snowing.

I might have time to grab a quick nap.

And then maybe I could grab myself one of those really big chocolate chips to have for a post-shovel snack.

Have a great weekend!!!