Hey friends, I hope you had a good week!

Today I wanted to share my eleventh Fleeting Thought with you. If you’re reading one of my blog posts for the first time (hi/friendly wave) and if your back and happy to read more of my ramblings (massive hug!!). 

I haven’t written one of these for awhile, basically if you haven’t caught one of these posts before Fleeting Thought is something I’ve come up with while trying to post more of my feelings and be a little bit more blog-ish, these wordy posts might sometimes include stories or poetry or be a bit random and rambling about various things I think about.

So lets go…

The Christmas decorations have been well and truly taken down and safely packed away for the distant festive season…I don’t know about you but I’m always so sad when the decs come down, the house looks so dull without the Christmas trees (yes I have more than one!) and the outside is still too dark and wet to play outside.

Its the time of the year when the Post-Christmas blues can creep in. A period when the excitement of the season has worn off and we’re all back in the real, slightly grey world.

There are a few ways to combat these feelings of sadness, and I’ve got a number rituals that I like to do to get back into the swing of post Christmas living.

In my humble opinion celebration the little wins and focusing on things you enjoy is the best way to lift your spirit.

Firstly exercise! I know it sounds obvious, but exercise really does help, a few winters ago I bought myself a stationary bike so I could still cycle even when its raining (I love cycling but hate going out in the rain to do so!) and follow some spin workouts but you could pick any exercise as long as you enjoy it – thats the key!!

Secondly, I make a list of all the little odd jobs I need to do around the house, places where paint might need touching up, photographs or art that can be hung up or moving the furniture around in different rooms. At the moment I’m contemplating either painting flowers around the inners of every doorframe in the house or painting a ‘floral frame’ to go behind photo or piece of art I’ve hung on the walls…decisions, decisions.

Thirdly, every year I write a journal starting January 1st and ending New Years Eve. I fill it with art/photos/memories/pressed flowers from the year, its always fun to start a new journal. I use the blank page sketchbook from Beechmore Books, I’ve tried several books but Beechmore are the ones I always come back to, they have 156 pages of 160gsm paper (which works with my watercolour brush pens), have lovely vegan leather covers and the book itself opens to lay flat. They last me the whole year (just about).

And finally, I like to bake (ignoring the amount of food I may or may not have indulged in over Christmas).

I thought I’d share a recipe with you for my absolute favourite peanut butter and dark chocolate cookies. I picked this up on a recipe card in Waitrose years ago its by Martha Collison (she’s clearly a genius and is the Great British Bake Off’s youngest ever contestant!) These cookies get eaten so quickly that sometimes they don’t even have time to cool down!!

I’ve made these for so many people over the years and they always go down a treat. I’m pretty sure they’re like 400 calories a lick so they’re only made on very special occasions.

Obviously they contain peanut butter so they’re a no go for those with allergies (if you or loved ones are allergic please don’t make them) and they contain egg so they aren’t vegan either (but egg substitutes are available). I’m a vegetarian and I tend to use dairy-free whenever I can as I don’t like the taste of cows milk so I use oat/plant based instead and I’ve got a free ranging duck and a chicken for fresh eggs (I try to contribute as little as possible to intensive animal farming). It was just one of those life choices that naturally evolved.

So with that in mind lets bake some awesome cookies…

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Makes 12 large cookies.

For the biscuit –

• 50g peanuts (you can skip these)
• 125g unsalted butter
• 125g Smooth Peanut Butter
• 100g Caster Sugar, plus 1 tsp for sprinkling
• 100g Light brown soft sugar
• 1 Large Egg
• 200g plain flour
• ½ tsp fine salt
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 100g plain chocolate, cut into chunks

The method –

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C, gas mark 4; line 2 large baking trays with baking parchment. 

Roast the peanuts in a small roasting tin for 8-10 minutes until golden; leave to cool then roughly chop. (Personally I always skip this step).

Meanwhile, in a large pan, melt the butter and peanut butter over a low heat, stirring to combine; set aside to cool slightly. (You can also microwave it in 30 second bursts for a little less washing up).

Using a wooden spoon or spatula, beat both the sugars into the peanut butter mixture, followed by the egg. 

Mix the flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda together (in a different bowl), then beat into the wet ingredients until well combined. Cover and chill the mixture in the fridge for 1 hour.

Remove the cookie dough from the fridge and stir through the chocolate and roasted nuts until evenly distributed. 

Lightly roll heaped spoonfuls of the mixture (about 65g each) in your hands. Arrange on the baking trays, well spaced apart. 

Sprinkle with 1 tsp sugar and bake for 13-15 minutes until spread and golden at the edges. Cool on the trays for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

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Full credit to Martha for creating such an amazing recipe! Her website is HERE!

These are pretty much the naughtiest cookies in the world but they’re tasty, simple and satisfying to make, a real treat when it’s cold and grey outside! I really quite enjoyed writing this – one of my quirks is how much I love baking. As always thank you so much for reading my friends, and have a lovely week! 

Ps. You can recipe on the Waitrose website HERE.