The Getting There

I know it seems like I got engaged and just forgot about you all.



This is not the case. It is the #1 drawback to having a regular blog: entry guilt. When I fail to post a new entry at least once a week, a sense of anxiety creeps in. I have been feeling guilty and shameful for seemingly abandoning my blog for the first time in a year and a half. However, this sense of anxiety, guilt and shame was trumped by the only thing that has the power to trump my desire to cook and write about it: pilot season. Remember? I told you all about it a few years ago in this post.

This was the busiest one yet, and my life has been JELLO for the past month and a half. I have not cooked a single thing that entire time, but even if I had, there would have been no time to write about it. I am pathetically making my way back into almost a normal lifestyle (although things are still quite busy), and that includes this.



It was the birthday of my dear friend, Sara, and I wanted to make her something special for this debut back into the world of recipes.

I realized that we are entering the stage of life where we may still look forward to birthday parties (a chance to spend time with friends and eat yummy sweets), but we no longer look forward to birthdays. It may sound ridiculous coming from someone my age, but we fear becoming older. It is not the wrinkles or the gray hairs that being to pop up every now and then (although that stuff sucks on it's own); it is the quarter-life crisis, this in-between stage where you may not be where you pictured yourself ending up as an adult whether it be career, family, spiritual-life or finances. As kids, when we dreamed of what we would be when we grew up, we completely neglected to consider this step of actually giving ourselves the opportunity to get there. It is a time in life that few people really anticipate: the getting there.

Sometimes I find myself getting impatient, wanting to rush through this stage of life towards a more settled and secure future. However, I have come to appreciate this time to soak in all of my twenties have to offer, to gain new experiences, make new friends and continue to develop old friendships. These experiences give me perspective for the future and these friendships get me through the experiences. See how that works?

I made these cookie cupcakes for Sara's birthday because she is my friend and has helped me through many an experience since I have known her. She loves to bake and is super at it. You can visit her blog, Lovely Clear and Sweet for her great recipes. I, on the other hand, tend to perform poorly in this arena. I wanted to ease back into making more new recipes with something simple, yet original. I think these were just the thing for a simple sweet treat.



Peanut Butter Cookie Cupcakes with Chocolate Chip Frosting

1 bag of mini chocolate chips
1/2 c crushed peanuts
your favorite peanut butter cookie recipe (you can really do this with any cookie recipe)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Drop cookie dough balls into greased cupcake pan
Bake for about 13-15 minutes (until the tops begin to brown.
When the cookies are still hot and in the pan, sprinkle chocolate chips generously over the top of each.
You can let them melt and spread the chocolate around like frosting or you can leave the chocolate chips in tact for a textured look.
Sprinkle some crushed peanuts over the top, and pop the cookies out of the cupcake pan once they have cooled off a bit.