studying = baking

finals time means three things:

• lots and lots of orange juice (minus the vodka)
• self-induced hibernation on weekdays and weekends
• baking!

i'm not going to lie, i get really cranky during finals time, and this year is no different. it doesn't help that my worst two exams are back to back and are the first two in the lineup. since i get stir crazy being trapped in my apartment, this usually leads to baking. and since my oven is finally back in action, and the weather is sufficiently chilly i've been a baking machine.

i wanted to make chocolate chip cookies, but didn't have eggs, so i improvised a bit, and have to say the results were fabulous!

what i could find in the cabinets (and fit on the counter)

i started with 8 oz of smart balance, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 2 tablespoons of splenda for baking, 1/4 cup of peanut butter and mashed it together. i think the experts call this "creaming". but i'm telling you, when i do it, its just mashing. 

i added 1/4 cup of applesauce and 1 teaspoon of vanilla to that mixture and combined. at this point it looked gross, too gross for photos.  separately, i mixed together 1 cup of whole wheat flour with 1/4 cup of all purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking power and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda.  add the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix thoroughly. 

i added to that, one cup of mini chocolate chips that i tossed with about a tablespoon of flour.  i always add a pinch of flour to just coat the chips so that they stay interspersed throughout the dough. mix just until combined.



i baked them off for about 10-12 minutes in a 325 degree oven.  and because there were no eggs in the recipe, i only baked as many as i thought i'd eat over a 10 hour span, and popped the rest in the fridge to bake off during the week.  i looooove eating freshly baked cookies, but i'm usually apprehensive to leave dough in the fridge for too long. not that it ever lasts too long when you could have this:

yummmmmm!!  i enjoyed these little beauties all week long. all those sweets made me want to make some REAL food. i tried out a chicken marsala recipe, that didn't come out half bad!  although i was a little over zealous with the marsala wine. it was more drunken chicken than anything else, but i polished it off!

ok, back to the note cards and outlining (and a harry potter marathon) ....what should i bake next?!