Oatmeal Peanut Butter Sandwiches

It’s no secret that DC is a city of Type A’s, a fact to which any tourist who’s committed the egregious sin of standing on the left side of the metro escalator can attest. We don’t have a job, we have a career. We don’t jog, we run. We don’t go to happy hour, we go to networking events. In short, we don’t do anything halfway.

I’ve been back in DC for over a year and a half at this point, and yet I find myself continually surprised by our community-wide need to overachieve. This weekend’s cookie swap ranks up there with the best of them for hammering this point home.

After a holiday party-filled weekend (thanks W’s, A’s, G’s, & B’s for hosting!), it was cookie swap time chez Ros. My only previous cookie swap experience was in Seattle, where I was one of three people who actually brought homemade cookies and the remaining group came with Oreos in tow (holiday Oreos, mind you).

This experience was different. I walked into the party feeling preeeeetttyyyy dang good about my [chewy, moist, rich, unique] cookie sandwiches and was abruptly met with the most beautiful display of cookies that I may have ever seen in person. I’m not just talking a sprinkling of powdered sugar here and there; there was literally a tower of cookie rings that I can only assume were Norwegian-inspired (or so I was led to believe by the miniature Norwegian flag flying from this golden stack) that was mysteriously stacked around a champagne bottle.

Are. You. Serious?

All of a sudden, my cookie sandwiches looked like the rec league soccer star in a room full of David Beckhams.

These rec league cookies tasted awesome - one of David Beckham’s managers even told me as much. And that’s the big picture. But what lesson did I learn? MAN those DC’ers know how to overachieve!

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Sandwiches
Recipe Adapted from Joy the Baker

Cookies:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups uncooked old-fashioned oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Filling:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1 cup powdered sugar
3-4 tablespoons milk

Place racks in the center and upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Beat the sugar and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat until creamy, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add egg and beat on medium speed for about 1 minute. Add the vanilla extract and beat until blended.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter and egg mixture slowly beating on low speed until just incorporated. Stir in the pecans last.

The cookies will be small, so portion about 1 heaping teaspoon of cookie dough into your hand. Roll into a ball and place on the prepared cookie sheet. Keep cookies about 1 1/2-inch apart on the baking sheet. If the cookie dough begins to stick to your hands as you’re making dough balls, rinse your hands and portion the dough with just slightly damp hands.

Bake for 10 to 13 minutes or until they’ve reached your desired doneness. I like mine a little underdone and cook them for 10 minutes. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

To prepare the filling, place butter, peanut butter, and powdered sugar in the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed, drizzling in vanilla extract. Scrape down the bowl as necessary. Add milk one tablespoon at a time until you’ve reached your desired consistency. The filling should be easily spreadable.

When cookies are completely cool, flip over and spread half of the cookie bottoms with peanut butter filling. Top with a similar size cookie. Wrap individually and store in the refrigerator. Cookies are best served slightly chilled. Cookies last, wrapped in the fridge, for about 5 days.

Traditional French Onion Soup

I never thought that I would be welcoming in the cold weather, but here I am, reveling in the little nip in the air. This could be partly due to the hard-wiring in my head that has me instinctively feeling inappropriate if I walk out of the house without a heavy jacket once the calendar reads December. Or it could be due to the excessive (but exciting) holiday decorations strewed about my office building that seem like a heavy dose of snow could really polish off the effect.

But mainly it's because cold weather justifies my love affair with soup. This french onion soup satisfies a craving that you didn't even know you had. It's hearty and rich, and feels like an incredibly decadent way to warm body and soul on a cold, dark night. It only makes four servings, and I can tell you that four servings later, I wish I had more. I plan on making this for friends when they come over - not only because it tastes so good, but it just looks so beautiful when it comes out of the oven! 

(Lesson learned - let this soup cool for a few minutes before serving. It is HOT when it comes out of the oven. We almost had a coup in our house when someone realized his only two options were to burn his tongue or wait for the soup to cool before digging in. Of course, I would never say who...)

Traditional French Onion Soup 

Recipe Adapted from All Recipes

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
2 large red onions, thinly sliced
3 large sweet onions, thinly sliced
1 quart chicken broth
1 quart beef broth
1 cup red wine
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon parsley flakes
1 teaspoon thyme
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
4 thick slices French or Italian bread
6 slices Gruyere or Swiss cheese slices, room temperature
1/2 cup shredded Asiago or mozzarella cheese, room temperature
4 pinches paprika

Directions: 
1. Melt butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Stir in salt, red onions and sweet onions. Cook 35 minutes, stirring frequently, until onions are caramelized and almost syrupy.

2. Mix chicken broth, beef broth, red wine and Worcestershire sauce into pot. Add spices and simmer over medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Reduce the heat to low, mix in vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Cover and keep over low heat to stay hot while you prepare the bread.

3. Preheat oven broiler. Arrange bread slices on a baking sheet and broil 3 minutes, turning once, until well toasted on both sides. Remove from heat; do not turn off broiler.

4. Arrange 4 large oven safe bowls or crocks on a rimmed baking sheet. Fill each bowl 2/3 full with hot soup. Top each bowl with 1 slice toasted bread, 1.5 slices Gruyere cheese and 1/4 of the Asiago or mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle a little bit of paprika over the top of each one.

5. Broil 5 minutes, or until bubbly and golden brown. As it softens, the cheese will cascade over the sides of the crock and form a beautifully melted crusty seal. Serve immediately!

Creamy Pumpkin Pie Bars

Happy holidays, all! Since my blog posting comes with such dependable regularity, I’m sure it comes as no surprise to you all that I am slightly off-schedule with my holiday greeting cards.

Did I say off-schedule? I meant to say, “So far behind that they’re not happening this year.”

Oops.

In the spirit of the holidays, I present to you an open letter to all of my friends and family spread far across this big ol’ country (and others!).

Dear friends,

I probably don’t tell you this enough, but I consider myself one of the top three luckiest girls in the world to have you in my life. (I think Kate Middleton and Suri Holmes may have me beat – though the Duchess has morning sickness and mini-Holmes inherited Tom Cruise genes, so maybe I’m not so far behind?)

Here’s the thing. How many people can honestly say that they have true friends. We all have the friends who you say “hi” to on the street, or with whom you abstractly talk about getting together for coffee but never actually follow through. On the other hand…you guys, well, let’s just say that it’s pretty incredible to be surrounded by people who let you show all of your colors, good, bad, and dance moves….and they love you all the same.

I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your jokes (well, most of them), your hours of conversation, your jogs around the city, your glasses of wine, your gchats, your treks up mountains, your lazy Sundays, your homemade dinners, and your presence in my life.

Thank you to all of you for all that you bring to the table as individuals, and please know that I wish nothing but happiness and good things for you for this holiday season and the year ahead.

With all my love (and by some mathematical property I learned in elementary school, MM’s love as well),

Sharon

P.S. It felt wrong to post a holiday letter without something sweet to go with it. Enjoy these bars! General consensus – these are yummy, but it would be fun to make them even more yummy with a new filling. Experiment time, anyone?

Creamy Pumpkin Pie Bars 
Recipe from Joy the Baker

Crust: 
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup old fashioned oats
3/4 cups (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold and cut into small cubes
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans

Filling:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 large egg white
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon all-spice
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract.
9 roasted pecan halves for topping

Directions:
1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 350 F. Grease an 8×8 square pan, then line with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, salt, and oats. Add cold butter and quickly but thoroughly break the butter up into the dry ingredients. When broken down, some butter pieces will be the size of small peas, others will be the size of oat flakes. Add the chopped pecans and toss to thoroughly combine.
3. Remove about 2 cups of the mixture from the bowl and place in a small bowl in the refrigerator. This will be used for the crumble topping.
4. Dump the remaining crust mixture into the prepared pan and use your fingers to quickly and evenly press the crust into the bottom of the pan. Place the pressed crust in the refrigerator while you prepare the filling.
5. To prepare the filling place cream cheese in the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat cream cheese on medium speed for about 1 minute, until smooth and pliable.
6. Add pumpkin and sugar to the softened cream cheese and beat on medium speed. Stop the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl, ensuring that the pumpkin and cream cheese are thoroughly combined. If the cream cheese looks chunky, switch to the whisk attachment and beat on high speed until most of the cream cheese lumps are incorporated.
7. On medium speed add the egg and egg white. Beat to combine (about 1 minute). Add the spices, salt, and vanilla extract. Beat to combine.
8. Remove the pressed crust and loose crumb from the refrigerator. Pour the creamy pumpkin filling over the pressed crust. Sprinkle generously with crumb topping and top with pecan halves. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until the center no longer jiggles. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before removing from the pan and slicing. The bars are best served chilled.