Just. Plain. Rude.

“If the second date seems to be going well, it's pretty much a given that by dessert I'll renounce my faith” – Josh Stern

I am a people pleaser. I am constantly worried about letting people down. I will literally go about making myself uncomfortable if I can make someone comfortable. I think it stems from a deep need to have everyone like me. And maybe this is getting too personal, but it’s true. I even want people I don’t like to like me. I go out of my way to get this person to see past whatever it is they find wrong with me, making myself feel bad in the process, the whole time asking myself: “Why am I doing this? I don’t like this person.

You might be wondering why this is relevant. Well, I have recently been working with someone I cannot stand. Literally. Just being around this person makes my blood boil. And I know it may sound crazy, but the only way I can recharge myself after she has literally sucked all the niceties out of my bones, is to bake. It also doesn’t hurt to be able to eat what I’ve baked and drown my sorrows in a plate of chocolate-covered something or other.

So, when I came across a cookie that was made with whole-wheat flour and 100 calories per cookie, I felt I’d hit the “I-need-something-sweet-to-take-my-mind-off-of-how-horrible-this-situation-is” jackpot. And after sharing almost an entire batch of them with a friend and a tall glass of milk, I feel I was completely right.

These cookies use whole-wheat flour and brown sugar as their main base, and are made chunky, sweet and even a tad salty with the addition of dried cherries, bittersweet chocolate and walnuts.

Now, remember, you don’t have to be totally pissed off to enjoy a cookie, but if you are, these will definitely have you breathing easy again.

Skinny Girl Chocolate Chunkers

Ingredients:

½ cup whole-wheat flour

¼ cup rolled oats

¼ tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp cinnamon

6 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

6 tbsp brown sugar, packed

2 tbsp granulated sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ cup semisweet chocolate chips

¼ cup chopped walnuts

¼ cup dried cherries

Directions:

1.     Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2.     Combine flour, oats, baking soda and cinnamon in a bowl.

3.     In a larger bowl, beat together butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. About 3 to 4 minutes.

4.     Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add egg and vanilla to the bowl and continue to beat the mixture until smooth.

5.     Slowly and gently mix in the flour mixture to the butter and egg mixture. Careful not to over mix, but working to make sure the ingredients are thoroughly combined.

6.     Stir in chocolate chips, walnuts and cherries. I found it was easier to do this with my hands to make sure that the add-ins were evenly mixed throughout the dough.

7.     Drop the dough by the tablespoonful onto 2 ungreased cookie sheets about 2 inches apart.

8.     Bake until the cookies are golden brown, around 9-minutes. (Just know that with the brown sugar and the whole-wheat flour, the dough will already look a little dark when it comes out of the oven, that doesn’t mean it’s burnt, it just has a more caramel-tone than a white-flour and sugar chocolate chip cookie)

9.     Let cool for 3 to 5 minutes on the trays to firm up before moving the cookies to cool completely on a wire rack.

Enjoy while reminding yourself that you don’t have to be perfect. You don’t even have to be great. (Get ready for a greeting card worthy sentiment) you just have to be you…and you have to let yourself enjoy a good pick-me-up cookie.

Til next time,

D