The Cookie Cure or Woman Cannot rely on Decongestant Alone

I've been hit with the utter nastiness of a mid-winter illness. As a grown-up, (with not a regular 9-to-5) I'm discovering that usually, unless you have some visible substance visible seeping out of your body, sick days are not very easy to come by.

Henceforth, this weekend I continued performing my bouncy role in the quirky show I'm currently in (Now going into its fourth weekend). Gritting my teeth, doped up on decongestants and cough drops, I reported shortly after call time each night curl my hair, put on my ruby eyeshadow, and stick my inserts into my bra.

Every day, my co-actors would ask, "Feeling better?" And I'm sorry to report that I was never able to answer them in the true affirmative.

On the bright side, I have strengthened my supply of homeopathic remedies available here in the house. And I discovered (With Rob's help) a fabulous nasal decongestant product that I had to tell everyone about. And I got this outside-of-myself-don't-care-a-darn-about-what-anyone-thinks-of-me perspective on my performance. Plus there are those cookies. But more about them later.

These sicknesses creep up me not unlike the many recipes in the latest issue of Bon Appetit that I want to try. All of the sudden, I'm immovable on the futon and getting spoon-fed cough syrup and have probably gotten over half of my caloric intake in the last week from cough drops. Sometimes I feel like I should change my middle name to snuffel-upha-gous. And why do viruses have to last up to two weeks? (Moan)

Thank God that I made these cookies before the cold got really nasty. A few nights ago, I made a batch, baked a few and save the rest and then I had one these S'more cookies alongside my Nyquil, washed down with tea, before I went to sleep.



Then the nasty cold went on its way, infecting my entire week and weekend, and is still here, making itself comfortable, waiting to be totally kicked out of its accommodations in my sinuses. But, throughout it all, a bowl of cookie dough akin to a jumbled pot of chocolate and marshmallow gold sat safely in my refrigerator.

This particular sickness has made me hungry and these cookies are comforting- they fill the void. The day that I stayed home sick, I ate 3 of these wonderful clusters. A little something substantial to sink my teeth into, and slightly nutritious to boot. These little jumbles bundled up in whole wheat flour sport chocolate and/or marshmallow in every bite. They are craggy little buggers, molasses-rich heaps with the occasional burst of walnut. They are designed to taste like s'mores what with their obvious ingredients and also the whole wheat flour (subs in for the graham taste with brown sugar and molasses).

This morning, after taking some of the fabulous decongestant, I spied the silver bowl of Cookie dough gold gleaming and whipped out the rest of the cookies. Thank God there is another plate of these in the kitchen to get me through the end of the gnarly cold, after all, woman cannot rely on decongestant alone. And later, I took the remainder of them to the cast of my show after many proclamations of hand-washing.

Whole Wheat S'more Cookies


3 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups (packed)brown sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk ( No buttermilk? Squirt 3/4 tsp lemon juice into the milk, stir it up and let it sit at room temperature for 15 minutes. Viola.)
1 tbps dark molasses
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted.
1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips (9 ounces)
1 cup mini-marshmallows (left out to stale overnight)
3/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (or crush them up with your hands)

Preheat oven to 350°.

Line a few cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk flour, sugar, salt and baking soda in a large bowl.
Whisk eggs, buttermilk, molasses and vanilla extract in medium bowl;whisk in melted butter. Add egg mixture to dry ingredients, stirring until dough is evenly moistened. Stir in chocolate chips, marshmallows, and nuts.

Drop cookie dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets. Space them about 3 inches apart. About 12 cookies will fit on a sheet. Bake cookies 1 sheet at a time, until they are golden brown, dry to touch, but still slightly soft, 15 minutes.

Let cookies cool on sheets 10 minutes, then transfer to racks or cut-up paper bags and cool. (Cookies will firm up as they cool) store in airtight container at room temperature.