CrunchyWhole Wheat Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

So I was sitting in line at the car wash and got the urge for peanut butter cookies. Yes, a bit random. But it was such a nice day after a really long spell of super cold weather, and the car really needed a wash. But back to the cookies. I think what got me on the idea was my trip to the grocery store before the car wash. Peanut butter was on sale, $2.99 for a 1kg jar, which is close to half price - which is why I got a smooth and a crunchy.  I'm the only one who likes crunchy in the family so had to get both. Incidentally, I almost got a jar of Skippy instead of the usual Kraft, because lately we've been listening to and singing that Mark Ronson & Bruno Mars song "Uptown Funk" featuring the best music lyrical passage for a long time:

Wait a minute
Fill my cup put some liquor in it
Take a sip, sign a check
Julio! Get the stretch!
Ride to Harlem, Hollywood, Jackson, Mississippi
If we show up, we gon’ show out
Smoother than a fresh jar of skippy

We laugh every time we hear it. But the Skippy wasn't half price, so no go.

Now, how to be inventive...let's try crunchy peanut butter instead of smooth, maybe whole wheat flour instead of regular, dark brown sugar, some oats, and maybe some freshly ground nutmeg. As a friend likes to say, "how bad could it be"?  Uttering that sentence is usually prelude to disaster, so we'll see what happens.  Here's what they look like going into the oven:

cookies about to go into the oven

...and....here's what they look like coming out of the oven:

Crunchy Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Oatmeal cookies

Next Time: would try to make them a bit chewier, so a big more brown sugar, maybe an extra egg, and a bit less fat (or a bit more flour instead)

Me: 9/10

SO: 10/10

SSO: 8/10

Two layer whole wheat chocolate cake with creamy chocolate frosting

I felt like something yummy for dessert. I almost made Chef Michael Smith's peanut butter brownies. Why not?  The recipe called for 1 cup of flour, and.....I ran out. Ooops.  Like seriously, who runs out of flour.  I forgot to put it on the list. I had just come from the grocery store too. I did however have whole wheat flour. It got me thinking, what is a dessert better suited to whole wheat flour? Well generally you can just substitute 7/8th of a cup of whole wheat to 1 cup all-purpose. That doesn't mean it will be a good substitute however. While looking around for ideas I thought why not just go for a good old chocolate cake. And if you're going to make a chocolate cake, you need to have a good frosting, and of course two layers. By the way, the hot water helps the cocoa to dissolve and also makes the batter nice and smooth. It will look thinner than you might be used to, but really it works!

Two layers of chocolate cake ready to go

So what's the best thing about a two layer cake? The extra icing in the middle of course! Well that, and I get to use my cake top remover, a.k.a. cake slicer. Not only do you get nice flat layers, but you get to eat the part you cut off.  I like this frosting quite a bit. The slight orange flavour is awesome. Edit: I tried part white flour and part whole wheat, also very good. I was walking by the dairy section at the grocery store, and saw the cream cheese.  So there is an alternate cream cheese icing recipe that also works very well. Notice the icing recipes are almost identical except the milk is replaced with cream cheese.

Next Time: Maybe try a different frosting, although this one is really good

Me: 9/10
SO: 9/10
SSO: 10/10

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

This is something I make at least once a month. We are pretty good at eating up the bananas we buy every week, but once in a while there are 3 or 4 that get softer and softer and blacker and blacker. Past a certain point you just sort of ignore them on the counter, knowing that you have passed the point of no return.  Banana Bread time.

Whole Wheat Banana Bread with a big slice
hacked off the end. Just can't resist.

Why not whole wheat for a change. If we're going to go all healthy and that, then might as well cut the sugar and oil from my usual recipe (1 cup oil and 1 cup sugar) significantly and replace it with honey, yogurt, and applesauce. Now to be fair, the original is pretty darn tasty. And I usually don't put the full cup of either sinful ingredient in anyway. I also throw in an egg, although that can probably be skipped - the yogurt should be enough to bind by itself.

I just love slicing off a two inch piece, slathering with butter, and chowing down. Yum-a-yum-a. If there is any left after a day or two, then it is good in the toaster as well.