Nutter Butters

I should start off by saying that I did not grow up with Nutter Butters, so I don't really know how close this is to the original Nabisco cookie. Nor have I ever had them from Bouchon Bakery (from which this recipe is adapted). But whatever, they're good! Chewy, buttery, not overly peanutty. It does make for a substantial cookie though. I often cut one in half so as to not feel gluttonous...but then end up eating the other half anyway! In any case, it's also a perfectly good cookie without the filling.

A note on peanut butter: the original recipe recommends using creamy Skippy and then adding in chopped peanuts separately. I always have crunchy peanut butter on hand and see no point in adding chopped peanuts separately. (Caveat: using creamy peanut butter might make the filling easier to spread.) Bottom line: use what ever you like...creamy, creamy with separately added peanuts, crunchy or hell, crunchy with even more peanuts added in!

cookies:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature

1/3 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

(coarsely chopped peanuts)

1 + 1/4 cups rolled oats (orig. recipe calls for "quick cooking"but I only ever have "old-fashioned" on hand)

Heat over to 350 degrees. Beat together butter, peanut butter, sugars, egg & vanilla until smooth and creamy, about 4 minutes. Stir in dry ingredients. Drop rounded teaspoons (or larger if you want) on parchment-lined baking sheets and bake for about 10 minutes, until cookies have spread and turned very light golden brown. Remove from oven and cool on cookie sheet for about 5 minutes, then cool completely on a rack.

filling:

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter

1/4 cup peanut butter

3/4 cup confectioners' sugar

Beat all ingredients together until smooth. Spread a thin layer of filling (about 1/8 inch) on the underside of a cookie and sandwich with another.

Deana's (soon to be famous) Cream of Broccoli Soup

This is from my friend Deana (whom I love!) who is always after me to post more. So here is her contribution to my recipe box, circa the early '90s. I hadn't made this in a while and was pleasantly surprised at just how satisfying it is, though quite simple. As you can see, the broccoli was bright green but when I added the carrots back in and pureed everything, the soup ended up having a slight orange tinge.

Vegetable stock:

1 tablespoon butter

2-3 carrots, chopped

2 small onions (1 medium?), chopped

(1-2 stalks of celery, chopped--my addition)

5 cups water

Melt butter in a large pot. Add carrots, onion & celery; cover pot and sweat vegetables for 10 minutes. Add water and simmer for 40 minutes. Strain broth, saving veggies.

Broccoli soup:

1 pound broccoli

stock/vegetables

3/4 cup milk

salt & pepper, to taste

Boil broccoli in vegetable stock until tender, but still green. Let cool. Throw broccoli, stock, and previously cooked vegetables (from stock) into a blender and puree. Serve as puree, or reheat with milk for cream of broccoli. As Deana says, "It's awesome!"