A sense of transition

Oh man. There's no stopping it.

I'm at the cusp of adulthood. You know, the edge of the cliff that leads to that world we never imagined we'd ever reach- where people have desk jobs, and go to graduate school, and pay all of the bills. The feeling is making me cherish the ups and downs of college more than ever. In fact, I'm holding onto these remaining school days for my dear life... stumbling about and writing crazy things about the experience, like the following:

Youth is the sip of that bitter coffee, and the thought that despite all of the tragedy in the world that swells like a spilled puddle of liquid and touches you with its very edges, you can still stare at the night sky and find the innermost serenity in nothing at all.

CRAZY right!? (I hope you know I omitted about 5 other sentences in the interest of your sanity). So I figured that I should take a break from navigating the streams of consciousness and return to what is truly good. Do you remember when we had a mandatory snack time in first grade? Well, I do. I mean, how could I not?

The other night, I was struck by a bit of inspiration (and that longing for a bit of sweetness after dinner that starts out like a small whim and as time passes somehow transforms into a giant, insatiable wildebeest!) So I decided, given the sparse contents of my pantry, to make a small batch of cookies. After a lengthy search, I discovered some peanut butter cookies on this site, and made them right away. For some reason, upon taking my first bite I was flooded with memories of elementary school... and the ten minute snack breaks we'd take to sit out on the benches in front of class and munch on graham crackers while peeling away the paint on the bench with our fingertips. Ah! The simplicity of it all!

And if you need this brief remembrance of things past, please don't hesitate to bake these cookies.

Peanut Butter Graham-Cracker-like Cookies

I'm giving them this unappealing title because with the addition of a bit of cocoa powder and cinnamon, the flavor of these changed dramatically from that of the original recipe! I also made a quarter batch, but I'm going to give you the recipe for the whole just in case.

Practically entirely stolen from 101 Cookbooks

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. fine salt
1 cup natural peanut butter (I used 1/2 cup peanut and 1/2 cup almond butter)
1 cup honey
1/3 cup olive or canola oil
*1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (optional, I didn't have any on hand)
1 heaping tablespoon cocoa powder
1/2- 1 tsp. cinnamon (to taste)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

Mix the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt, cocoa powder, and cinnamon) together in a bowl. Set aside.

Now here's the first place where I strayed from the recipe. I heated the oil, peanut butter, and honey on low heat so as to incorporate all of the ingredients. You certainly don't have to do this if you think everything will mix nicely. Either way, mix the wet ingredients in a bowl.

Combine the dry and wet ingredients, but don't over-mix. Heidi recommends that you chill the dough for an hour or so, but I took my tablespoon, shaped some cookies, and plopped them on the baking sheet to bake right away...and my cookies turned out just fine. Oh! and after placing the cookies on the baking sheet, make a quick flat indentation with your fork. They don't seem to flatten out much otherwise. You only want to cook them for 10 minutes or a little less- if not, they'll dry up!

Enjoy!