Beat the Cold-Season-Blues through Baking

In my opinion, post-holiday winter months lend themselves to three things: tea, books, and baking. Not half-way through February I find books lining my car seats and the floor beside my bed, while my little tea pot is permanently stationed beside the sink (I always mean to clean it out, but before I clean anything I have to make a cup of tea). The counter is also cluttered with a giant, tea-grimed mugs (my teeth are tea stained a bit, too. Oh well. Time to switch to Earl Green). This may seem like the behavior of an addict—of the harmless tea-drinking, library haunting variety— but I contend that the Power Three are needed as weapons in the war on the winter blues.

A note on winter blues: there’s a condition called SAD— Seasonal Affective Disorder. Victims show symptoms of depression, and are, indeed, in a sort of depression, the cause of which is thought to be the dark winter weather. Turns out humans need light like plants; cold and dark are lethal to the joy molecules. Wintertime, those of us affected tend to turn a little blue.

After a spring semester in London, I found out I was prone to be down with the SADness. Not that I don’t love winter—the landscape is still lovely, in a quiet way— but January through March I’m better if I get up a little earlier to hear dawn’s bird calls, walk mid-day to soak up sun, cover my desk top with pictures of gardens, and, of course, use my Power Three to encourage my body and soul.

The most important thing about the Three is that they provide warmth, nourishment, and a chance to relax. The tea is always hot (I was born in New England; when I think of tea I think of hot steam rising out of mugs, not Southern porches and tall, water-beaded glasses.) The books I read are all old favorites: the most beloved have been read, re-read, and are even stained from baking goop that spattered out from a mid-read mixing. And the baking projects are all delicious, whether easy or imaginative. Below are two recipes: one crazy and one a steadfast winner. I hope you try them accompanied by a hot drink (Rostovs or Ashland Coffee & Tea has loose leaf Earl Green) and maybe a good book, familiar as an old friend. I know I will.

Easy Peanut Butter Cookies adapted from almost any church cookbook ever

With only four ingredients, these are the easiest cookies you’ll ever make. They also are an all-time favorite of any adult who’s been a child. They can be made with any type of peanut butter: crunchy or smooth, fresh ground from Elwood Thompson or from a giant jar of Jiffy—though beware the added (and perhaps unwanted) ingredient of sugar in most commercial butters. Smucker’s Natural is my choice: it comes in a glass jar, it’s available in Organic and is just more grown up. The butter is a bit grainy, which I like, and the first thing you see is the layer of oil that has separated from the rest of it—which is easily banished by stirring it in and refrigerating the jar, or by pouring it off (I like peanut butter really grainy) and using in Thai cooking.

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar (I’ve skimped on the sugar before, and still enjoyed the result, or substituted half a cup of honey for the same amount of sugar)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg

A little flour for rolling.

Stir together all ingredients except flour. With flour covered hands, roll dough into inch round balls (they get bigger). Lay them out on a cookie sheet and lightly press each one twice with a fork to make a criss-cross design on top. Bake at 325 degrees for 10 minutes.


Tart fruit scones with Chocolate Coating from my own experimenting

This recipe is original. One dark night I was longing for scones with my tea (I think I was reading something British), and most of all, chocolate. This is the result. I always miss the fruit of summer, and when what I’ve frozen from last harvest is gone or freezer-burned, dried fruit is my last resort. I made these scones with the remains of a bag of dried Bing cherries from Trader Joe’s (Richmond, when, oh, when will you get a Trader Joe’s?). I did not include any sugar in the recipe, because I intended to coat the scones in chocolate. Next time, I’m going to use fresh cranberries, and I will add some sugar to the “tart” scones to balance the sour red fruit.

2 cups whole-wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
3 tablespoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cold butter 1
1/2 cups milk
¾ - 1 cup chopped dried cherries (or whatever is left in the Trader Joe bag) You can also used dried cranberries (like Craisins). I like the idea of scones made with red fruit. It’s nearing Valentine’s day, and we all need a little red in our lives.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Sift together wheat and all-purpose flours, baking powder, and salt (Sifting helps distribute the baking powder, which is the rising agent, equally through the gluten portion, which is the flour). Cut butter into dry ingredients until it resembles fine crumbs (chop the butter a little before sticking the pieces in the dry mix, to aid the process of cutting in the butter). Mix in the milk and dried cherries carefully, until just blended (once you add liquid to the rising agent and gluten, you don’t want to be too rough). Plop heaping spoonfuls of the dough onto a cookie sheet, spaced apart a little. (You can form the dough into a ball and roll it out to a half an inch thick and cut out round shaped scones, but I never bother. You’re coating the ugly things in chocolate, anyway.) Bake in preheated oven until risen and golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Take them out of the oven to cool while you whip up the chocolate coating.

Chocolate Coating:

Take some chocolate—milk, dark, 70% cocao, baking, old Hershey Truffle Kisses or whatever you find in the bottom of the candy drawer (hey, winter nights, I get desperate)— and put them in a microwave-able bowl. Add a touch of vegetable oil. Put it the microwave for 20 seconds or until the chocolates’ melted. Gently stir the oil into the melted goodness, so your final product is a bit more creamier than just plain melted chocolate would be. Only a little oil or butter is necessary for this. Microwave in short increments (from 5 to 30 seconds) until the chocolate is spreadable and lovely, then smear over the cooling scones.