Have a Cookie
The world is complicated. You're allowed a little sweetness now and again.
Welcome to Fare Well Friday post #2, where I abandon all pretense at being a health and well-being blogger and just give you a cookie.
Just kidding. Well, about that first part.
Look, friends: the world is a scary, unpredictable place. And while I LOVE my leafy greens (breakfast kale salad? Yes please), I cut my teeth - literally! - on cookies I “helped” bake in the kitchen with my Mom when I was about two years old. Some food provides vitamins and minerals - and some connects us to cherished memories. Both kinds of food nourish us.
While I do plan to devote most of this section to foods that have measurable virtues like protein and fiber (raise your hand if I *haven’t* ranted to you about skyrocketing rates of colorectal cancer, a favorite subject that makes me a hoot at parties), sometimes…you just want a little something sweet. And it is my firm opinion that if you’re going to have something sweet, it should be absolutely delicious.
With that, I invite you to bake up a batch of my signature Spotted Dog Farm (our homestead in West Virginia) “Shepherd’s Cookies.” These are a variation on your classic monster or cowboy cookies with a couple of tweaks:
I don’t use brown sugar in my kitchen…I keep molasses and white sugar on hand and tweak the ratios as desired. If you don’t have molasses, sub all brown sugar here - we want these to be nice and chewy.
Unsalted butter and natural peanut butter (strongly recommend chunky, and look for the stuff with no added oils or sugars, just peanuts and salt) are essential here.
No candy - but lots of good quality chocolate. I like Callebaut white and dark callets, but if a 5.5-pound bag of Belgian couverture chocolate isn’t on your shopping list, any good-quality chocolate will do. I like pumpkin seeds, but you can use whatever you like.
Other essential notes:
You want that natural peanut butter to hydrate and soak into those oats! These cookies will be MUCH better if you observe the at-least-two-hour chill time before baking and then bake until JUST set.
All right, plans for weekend set! If I may be so bold, I encourage LESS doomscrolling and MORE baking. And hey, maybe throw a breakfast salad in there. For balance.
Shepherd’s Cookies (Like a monster/cowboy cookie…but better)
1 cup (226 g)butter
1 cup (396 g) granulated sugar (you could use coconut sugar if you wanted - if so omit the molassas
2 T (85 g) molassas
1 cup (270 g) natural peanut butter
2 large eggs
2 t vanilla extract
2 c (240 g) all-purpose flour
2.5 cups (283 g) old-fashioned rolled oats
.5 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 sweet semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup raw pepitas (hulled pumpkin seeds)
Cream butter, sugar, and molasses until light and fluffy; add vanilla and eggs and continue beating until fully incorporated. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda, then add to the creamed butter mixture. Add the oats, chocolate chips, and pepitas and stir to combine.
Using a cookie scoop or big spoon, form into large balls - you should get about 22 big cookies. Refrigerate the scooped dough (it is much more difficult to chill and then shape) for at least two hours - overnight is even better. (Once chilled, you can also freeze your dough balls, baking just a couple at a time - a fabulous company-on-short-notice hack.)
Bake on a parchment-lined sheet at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes, or center is just set but still slightly underbaked. Cool on baking sheets. Share with someone you love.
Enjoy - and until Monday, fare well,
Havala
Below: audio version of this post + recipe PDF
So happy to see the picture of you and your mother happy in the kitchen in 1983.