I did a bit of baking in the wee hours of the morning, as a way of ignoring the pain in my head. I chose a recipe that caught my attention a while ago, and one for which I had all the ingredients on hand.
These are Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars. You should make them immediately. And you should make them in secret so that you do not have to share them with anyone!
They are like a combination of a cookie and a brownie, a true bar, I think, with a bit of oatmeal for texture. The frosting is like fluffy clouds of ambrosia sitting atop the bar. I have never created frosting so luscious. I now, officially, am a Frostingmaker. Of course, I just had to substitute heavy cream for the milk in the frosting recipe, but it surely only made the frosting just that more fantabulous! I also, in both the bar and the frosting, used Peanut Butter & Co.'s The Bees Knees peanut butter, which is mixed with honey. Yes, these bars are BLOODY AWESOME!
I am a bit bummed that the bars fell a bit flat in the middle, but I have never managed to escape that problem. They were chewy crispy on the edge, like brownies, so they definitely needed to come out when they did.
The frosting recipe makes enough for a cake. Seriously, you could bake a chocolate cake and then frost it with this recipe and probably cause folk to have culinary heart attacks as they tried to contain their joy. It really is amazing frosting. Never before have I made a frosting with powdered sugar and not been able to taste the powdered sugar when it was done. This tastes like something out of a 5-star restaurant. I am not kidding!
When I ate the Bob's Red Mills Favorite Bran Muffins, I admit that I could taste the cooking spray on the bottom of them. I did not care for that taste. So, when I was in the grocery store fetching milk and cheese and sour cream (along with my free prescription), I bought paper liners for the next batch of muffins. Then, as I was leaving that aisle, I spotted Pam's baking spray (I cannot quite figure out what the title of it is supposed to be). I was stunned when I went to cut and remove the bars, because they practically leapt out of the pan! I am sold on that product after just one use!
While I am posting photos, I thought I would add this one from the sunset that occured prior to my wee-hours-of-the-morning baking. This was the most color there was all evening. I got to thinking ... does one need clouds to hold the colors of a sunset?????
Yes, my head still hurts. And my mouth is swimming in saliva, whereas my throat is bone dry. It is an odd combination that is found on the Xanax withdrawal forums quite frequently, so at least I am not going nuts. I've been seeing stars a lot lately. I suppose the copious amounts of horizontalness due to those stars is why I decided to bake in the wee hours of the morning. The day was over, technically, but I still made it productive. Of course, we will not discuss what happens when a reactive hypoglycemic eats frosted peanut butter oatmeal bars on an empty stomach. SIGH.
Amos gave his stamp of approval to the bars. He's been unusually clinging in the past few days, not really content to be beside me for any amount of time at all. It's my lap or my shoulders for him. I wonder if he is bothered by something or if he is trying to help with the pain in my head.
Just for the sake of fostering a bit of Amos admiring, I thought I would post his Blowin' in the Wind photo again. Adorable little fluff ball, eh!
PS If you haven't noticed, I've been watching "Blue Bloods." I find it both soothing and intriguing, especially since it essentially is a ginormous lesson on how to agree to disagree and to fight and make-up in a very healthy manner. I like the talk of faith. And I most especially like both the tradition of the entire family eating Sunday dinner together each and every week and the rules of conduct for that table. It is also a show that you can listen to and still follow fairly well if, for example, your vision is so poor that you cannot see the screen. I never thought I would like the show, but I am already in season four.
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