hopefulandhungry

I love a hearty cookie and in my cupboard is a Costco size bag of rolled oats, therefore, I decided to put those oats to good use in an oatmeal cookie.  Monster cookies, oatmeal chocolate chip, oatmeal scotchies…..I love them all, but I wanted to make something a little different this Tuesday afternoon.

I opened up my “Cookie” recipe book and flipped to oatmeal in the index.  Under oatmeal was a recipe for “flapjacks”, sounded like a pancake to me…..but I discovered something even more delightful.

Cranberry and Pecan Flapjacks-from Cookie recipe book

Makes 10

• 2/3 cup sweet butter, diced
• 2/3 cup light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup pecan nuts, chopped (you can substitute another nut, but pecans give an intense nutty flavor)
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries (or any variety of dried fruit)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Lightly grease a 7-inch square shallow baking pan (I used an 8×8 glass baking dish lined with parchment paper).

Put the butter, sugar, and maple syrup in a large heavy pan and heat gently until butter has melted.  Remove from the heat and stir in oats, nuts and cranberries until well combined.

Spread evenly in the prepared pan and using a knife, score the mixture into ten bars.  Bake for 25-30 min, or until golden.

Remove from the oven and cut through scored lines.  Leave until completely cold before removing from the pan.  (This is important, I tried to remove a bar while warm and it crumbled immediately.)

These flapjacks are a very rich and buttery delight.  I served them last night for a BBQ with friends with a scoop of simple vanilla bean ice cream.  I’m sure the secret is the butter, but between you and me, I’ll still think of this as a hearty/healthy cookie filled with rolled oats.

Injections

Last night I started my IVF injectable medications.  My protocol starts with 10 units of Lupron placed subcutaneously for approximately three weeks nightly. It wasn’t the pain from the needle that bothered me so much (which turned out to not be painful at all) but rather actually gathering up the nerve to “dart” (how it was actually described!) an entire needle into my abdomen.  There is just something counterintuitive about placing a needle into one’s own body.  This is the beginning of my injections, so hopefully it’ll get easier each time.

Hubby and I are leaving for NYC tomorrow, so I’ll need to pack my Lupron and syringes….fun times!!  We are spending a long weekend there for a wedding.

I’m hoping to visit lots of places that cater to my sweet tooth.  I was inspired after reading this post on Kevin and Amanda‘s blog.

Any suggestions?!?!!