Now before you read the Dear Peabody and think, oh no, here we go again…It’s not a mean one. It’s actually nice and quirky…just how I like them.

“Peabody-
You may have noticed a donation for $57.28 and wondered why that amount? Seeing as I use your recipes often I figured I would gladly donate to you but how much was the question. So I tried to think of you as a cookbook. You have many pictures on your site and so I priced your cookbook at $40. But I am frugal and would have bought it on Amazon. I looked at most books at that price set and they ran $26.40. Which I added on my tax for the book making it $28.64. I would buy my mother one as well. She enjoys your site but is afraid to buy things over the Internet. So two cookbooks at $28.64 gets you $57.28. I figure in a year I’ll give you another $57.28 as I know you have more than enough recipes on here for more than one cookbook. Though please update your index!
All the best. Love your site. Love your humor. Love you.
Keep baking.”

Seriously LOVE this. I mean, I love any and all donations. The large ones are nice, but so are the small ones. As someone who knows how precious $5 is right now I really, really appreciate those who gave $5 with notes that said I wish I could give more I just don’t have it. Very, very sweet that even though you don’t even really have it you like the site enough to give anyway. Touching. Very touching. But the donation of $57.28 was so thought out I could not help but laugh. It makes sense. I am totally guilty of buying most of my cookbooks from Amazon. And I hear ya on the index thing. I’m working on it…it’s such a time suck though. It will be done by March (not committing to March of what year though ).

On to the real matters of the week. Girl Scout cookie time is upon us. I have a weakness for Girl Scout cookies. I don’t give a rat’s hinny if they are processed, I like em, and all their yummy preservatives. It’s not even the cookie that gets me, as much as it is the Girl Scout themselves, and not just because I was one. I just can’t seem to say no to them. I had made up my mind that I was going to buy two boxes total this year. One Thin Mint. One Samoa. Which I did and was done with it. But then I walked out of my grocery store and there were these girls and their mom setting up. It was 19F right then according to my phone. I couldn’t even feel my fingers, so for them to stand out there and sell cookies, I was no doubt going to buy some. And the next thing you know I had way more Thin Mints than my original agreement with myself.

They are a danger to my household. And so I decided that I best start baking with some of them before the siren calls of the cookies came. For some it may be a horrid thought to think that I would do this to a GS cookie, others may be saying, thank goodness, I have way too many I need to do something with them. If the second half is you, then here you go. I chose a pound cake that used cream instead of cream cheese. I felt that cream cheese would have made it tangy, and who wants that with the flavor of mint. I topped mine with a little (ha) whipped cream and some extra Thin Mint cookies.

Did you buy or are you going to buy Girl Scout cookies this year? If so, what is your favorite?
P.S. In other news I can’t believe I had 18 posts in the month of February that must be some sort of record for me.

Thin Mint Pound Cake

1 cup unsalted butter, softened, plus additional for buttering pan
3 cups cake flour, sifted
½ tsp. salt
2 2/3 cups granulated sugar
6 large eggs, at room temperature
¾ tsp. vanilla extract
¼ tsp. peppermint extract
1 cup heavy cream
2 sleeve Thin Mint Cookies (the whole box…minus a few that might make it to your mouth), crushed up but with some decent sized pieces

Chocolate-Mint Glaze:
6 TBSP unsalted butter
¼ cup water
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups powdered sugar
½ tsp. peppermint extract

Grease and flour two loaf pans.
Put oven rack in middle position, but do not preheat oven.
Sift together sifted flour and salt into a bowl. Repeat sifting into another bowl (flour will have been sifted 3 times total).
Beat together butter and sugar in a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then scrape down the bowl after each addition as well.
Add vanilla, and peppermint extract and beat another 30 seconds.
Reduce speed to low and add half of flour, then all of cream, then remaining flour, mixing well after each addition. Make sure all ingredients are fully incorporated.
Fold in Thin Mint cookie pieces (again, if a few fall in your mouth I wont tell).
Divide batter evenly among pans.
Place pan in (cold) oven and turn oven temperature to 350°F. Bake until golden and a wooden pick or skewer inserted in middle of cake comes out with a few crumbs adhering, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Cool cake in pan on a rack 30 minutes. Run a thin knife around inner and outer edges of cake, then invert rack over pan and invert cake onto rack to cool completely. Then cover in glaze.
For the glaze:
Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat, about 2 minutes.
Add the cocoa powder and water. Stir until it thickens and comes to a boil, about 2 minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the powdered sugar and peppermint extract.

Sorry to those of you who thought I had an actual heart attack on Thursday. I can assure you if I really did have one, at no point would I be posting a post about cookies on the blog. I mean I am dedicated to this blog and all, but that’s a bit much. So unless you see something from my webmaster saying I am down and out and had a heart attack, I am as usual, being sarcastic. Let us all remember that sarcasm is my second language…and with my bad grammar, it might just be my first language over English.

In awesome news, I got lots of dislike mail (I’m trying not to say hate anymore) about the donate button. Since they clearly want to make it on to the blog here we go:

“Peabody-
You are running a food blog not curing cancer. A donate button? Come on.”

“Dear Peabody,
You really expect people to donate to you for baking food? People are hopefully smart enough to donate to Livestrong or the Red Cross than they are to a cookie.”

“Peabody-
Get over yourself. A donate button?”

“Peabody-
You are not curing disease you are causing them, no need for people to donate to you. That’s just stupid.”

“Peabody-
I like the take on the snicker dooles with the use of lemon I love citrus. But begging for money is tacky and I thought you were above that.”

“Peabody-
You have to be quite the ego maniac to assume people think your blog is worthy of donations especially for beer.”

Yep, I am an ego maniac, for real. I really do think if you run a blog and you talk about your life that in some ways you have to be. To believe people want to read about what is going on in your life is a little on the ego side. Now granted I am still in awe that people do. I don’t think they actually like reading about my life, I think they like relating to the things I do in my life. There is some comfort in knowing you are not the only one when wearing ugly green sweatpants with a Clorox stain in the crotch (for cleaning the toilet) that is when a neighbor stops by for a visit. And I guess I am an ego maniac because of the fact that I like who I am. That often makes people uncomfortable. That is not to say that I wouldn’t like to be smaller or have changes in my life. It just means I accept what is going on at this time in it. I accept that this is where my body is right now. Hiding from a camera or a mirror doesn’t make me not know what I weigh. So if embracing that makes me self-centered so be it.

Bloggers are also ego maniacs because we like comments. Who doesn’t like hearing something nice about something they did. When you do something wonderful at work, and you put your heart and soul into it, you liked to be praised for it. You get all spiffed up, you hope someone not only notices but tell you that you look nice. It’s only human nature. I like being told that the recipe turned out great or that the picture made them drool.

As far as the Donate button goes, I’m not begging for money. I have people ask for it quite often. So I put it there. Many people use my recipes for their own businesses and want to compensate me in some way. Some just hope I keep blogging. If you run a food blog you know, it’s not exactly cheap. I run ads at this point to cover the cost of what I spend. And most months I make way less than what I spend. It’s just the way it goes. But I enjoy blogging, the people the most, and so I want to keep at it. Plus I’ve been through a divorce, clearly I need beer.

And lastly I fully realize this is a food blog. I am not curing cancer (though wouldn’t that be nice). And I assume the person who wrote that I was not curing disease I was causing them was referring to obesity. Everything in moderation folks.

Well enough about that. I figure I have done a fantastic job of annoying people as of late why not make something with Funfetti . I have seen Funfetti cookies that are more like cake cookies but really wanted them to be more cookie like. If that makes any sense. These were a poor choice to make as everything in moderation didn’t really come into play. In fact I don’t even really know how many cookies this really makes as I ate a good ¼ of the batter. So my guess is 30ish? I originally thought of glazing them, but I decided not to (read got lazy). If I were to glaze them, just a simple vanilla glaze with a plethora of extra sprinkles might be fun.

Funfetti Butter Thins

¾ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 egg yolks
Pinch of salt
1 ¼  cup all-purpose flour
1 heaping cup Funfetti cake mix
Festive sprinkles

Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, on medium-high speed, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add yolks one at a time, scraping down the mixer after each addition.
Add vanilla extract and beat for another 30 seconds on medium-high speed.
Add salt, Funfetti, and flour and mix on low speed until ingredients are fully incorporated.
Divide dough into four logs. Rolling so that they are the size of a quarter if you were to slice them. Wrap them in plastic or wax paper and place into fridge for 1 hour. You can go as long as overnight if you have stuff to do.
Preheat oven to 350F.
Remove cookies from fridge. Slice cookies to about ½ inch thick. Place on a parchment lined (or you can use baking spray) cookie sheet and space about 2-inches apart (these suckers like to spread). It is easiest to use a knife that has been dipped in hot water each time. These can be sticky cookies and doing this makes the cutting part go a lot easier. Place a few (or a ton, your choice) or sprinkles on top of cookie and press down. Bake for 8-10 minutes depending on the size of your cookies. Let the cool on a rack and enjoy. Sprinkles make everything better.

Because I like most of you (well, not all of you, but I won’t say your name ) I have taken many of your suggestions to heart…if we don’t count the numerous request for baked goods being sent to your homes. And of course the strangest request I ever got is also not being granted.

I get a lot of email asking me where my RSS Feed Button is…exit stage right (or look over to your right). For reference, if any of the websites you read don’t have this option, it is because like me they know you can add an RSS Feed from your tool bar in both IE and Safari. Of course I didn’t know this until my beloved ex-husband computer programmer extaordinare pointed it out to me. Just know that it’s there in your upper right hand corner and you can add what websites you like to your list. But I have a button now to save you the trouble of having to email me.

The other oddly requested item is a donate button for Pay Pal. So there it is. Feel free to buy me a bag of flour or a beer. The beer won’t help me buy ingredients to keep the blog running, but it will put me in a good mood. Or nothing at all. It’s only over there because it was asked for. Have at it.

You should notice that your feed is partial now. Or at least it should be. And as requested we figured out how to have a picture up top. So I hope this is satisfying to the vast majority of you. If it isn’t I’m sure you will send me an email letting me know. Just be warned that any and all emails are subject to a little raking you over the coals and letting the CCbP population have at you.

And last I added my Twitter account, which to be honest I don’t Twitter that much, but might if more people interacted is over there. As well as the much pushed Facebook page.

And sorry about the last post, when things were getting up graded it went bye-bye. It’s being put back if you want to make that recipe. I am sorry if any celebrations were crushed by that recipe going down. I’m sure Larry’s Graduation from Rodeo Clown School just wasn’t the same without that pound cake. Though be warned that somethings are still being ironed out. If you find something not working, please let me know.

Enough with the boring talk, let’s talk cookies. My favorite cookie of all time. Most of you are all too familiar with my love of the snickerdoodle. It appears in many forms on this blog. Though interestingly enough never just the cookie. The reason why that is because I’m not allowed to give out my family’s snickerdoodle recipe, or the sweet pickle recipe for that matter until they all pass on. So I guess you best support this blog so you can get that eventually. These are not them. These aren’t even probably a snickerdoodle to a purist. But to them I say suck it (in the nicest way possible of course). Instead of being rolled in cinnamon sugar, the cinnamon and a little nutmeg are added inside the cookie, along with a little lemon zest. Then topped with a tart lemon glaze. They are a fantastic cookie to drink with your tea or shots of vodka for that matter (I kid…sort of).

It’s been an interesting week. If you follow me on Facebook you can hear all about the heart attack (not a real heart attack people…stop emailing) I got on Thursday that struck panic in the World of Pea.

Lemon Snickerdoodle Cookies

1 ½ cups granulated sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
Zest of one large lemon (the kind that look like they are on steroids)
2 eggs
2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1 ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. freshly ground nutmeg (it taste so much better that way)
Lemon Glaze:
1/3 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted (lumps are lame)

Heat oven to 375F.
In a large bowl place the sugar and zest together. Using your hands, rub the sugar and zest together to get the lemon oil released into the sugar. Set aside.
Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and lemon scented sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition.
Add the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt, and spices with the mixer on slow until all ingredients are fully incorporated.
Shape dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on greased cookie sheet.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack let cool before glazing.
For the glaze:
Whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice. Drizzle over cookies.

What makes a person healthy? According to Rush Limbaugh apparently it’s being a supermodel. Now I actually call Crazy Cocker Spaniel a supermodel because she is blond, not real bright, tall for her breed, and throws up her food often.  If she was a chain smoker who snorted a little coke I could probably get her an agent. So I find it interesting that Rush uses supermodels as the model for a healthy woman. Apparently who isn’t a healthy woman and who isn’t practicing what she preaches is Michelle Obama. Now I tend to steer clear of politics on here and this isn’t really a political thing, but I don’t see how someone with Michelle Obama’s guns (arms for those not in the know…aka my mom) can’t be healthy.? You don’t get those sitting around doing nothing.

On one hand, Limbaugh said, she is encouraging children to get healthy and eat “roots, berries, and tree bark” but was recently seen enjoying a high-calorie meal of fatty ribs. First off, why are people getting their panties in a wad over the fact that she is dare suggesting that we all eat better and move more? We ALL know this. Do we do this? No, not always. I know I certainly don’t and I continually work on that.

“The problem is, and dare I say this, it doesn’t look like Michelle Obama follows her own nutritionary, dietary advice…I’m trying to say that our First Lady does not project the image of women that you might see on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue or of a woman Alex Rodriguez might date every six months or what have you.”

Being healthy does not equate to being skinny. To me being healthy means you have good numbers for your cholesterol, waist ratio, blood pressure, triglycerides, and blood sugar. It also means to me that you eat 90% “healthy” and 10% indulgent the other time. Because she is photographed eating ice cream or ribs doesn’t mean she’s not practicing what she preaches. I know many people assume that all I do is sit around and eat my baked goods. They would be sad to learn that sometimes I just get a taste of them and give them to others. Yesterday I ate steel cut oatmeal with almond butter and a sliced banana for breakfast, along with a green smoothie. Lunch was Roasted Beet and Butternut Squash Quinoa Salad. Afternoon snack was Ants on a Log (celery with almond butter and raisins…not actual ants, though I have eaten ants before)and a glass of ABC (freshly juiced Apple, Beet and Carrot juice). Dinner was Ratatouille Chili loaded with veggies.  And a handful (maybe two   ) of Swedish Fish.
Michelle doesn’t need to be a stick to be healthy. I think the media has warped people’s perception of what is considered healthy, or thin for that matter. My friends just the other day were discussing that Jennifer Hudson is in no way a size six. I think she is. I’ve been that size. But we are so used to seeing celebs a size zero, that a size six seems large. Sigh. Remember the good old’ days when supermodels of the 80’s were a size 6/8. Far more realistic if you ask me.

Clearly my entire site falls into the 10% category. But you know what? That ten percent is what makes life pretty darn awesome.  And adding to that 10% is this Brown Sugar Banana Cake with Sugared Walnuts. This is not one of the things I just stuck in my mouth for a taste. This is one that got devoured by me. It’s a spinoff of a Brown Sugar Almond Cake I made awhile back that I make quite often. It’s a keeper for sure.

What do you think, do you need to be skinny to be healthy? Is Michelle Obama unhealthy? Is Jennifer Hudson a size 6?

Brown Sugar Banana Pound Cake with Sugared Walnuts

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1  cup almond meal
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 ½ cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 ounce cream cheese, at room temperature
2 medium bananas, super ripe (like scary brown ripe)
2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 TBSP pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. pure almond extract
6 large eggs, at room temperature
1 ½ cups sugared walnuts (see recipe below)
Brown Sugar Glaze (see recipe below)

Spray a Bundt pan, 10-inch tube pan, or two 8 ½ by 4 ½  inch loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray (I used a loaf pan spring form and two mini loaf pans).
Preheat oven to 325F.
In a bowl, sift together the flour, almond meal, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer set on medium speed, cream together the butter, bananas,  and cream cheese, about 3 minutes. Gradually beat in the brown sugar and powdered sugar and continue beating until pale and fluffy.
Beat in the vanilla and almond extract.
Add eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition.

Switch over to using your hand and a spatula. Add the flour mixture and fold into the batter. Do this until no flour can be seen and batter is smooth.
Fold in sugared walnuts.
Spoon batter into prepared pans. Bake until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, 75-90 minutes. For my mini loaves, it took 55 minutes. For the spring form loaf pan it took 70 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes. Then remove from pan and pour with glaze.

Brown Sugar Cake recipe adapted  from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O’Conner (if you don’t own this yet, you should!)

Sugared Walnuts
2 cups  walnut halves
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup water
Lightly grease a baking sheet.
In a 1 quart glass measure, combine walnut halves, sugar, and water. Cook in microwave oven on high setting for 8 to 8 1/2 minutes, or until sugar has caramelized. Stir several times during cooking. Pour out onto prepared baking sheet, and separate into pieces. Let cool completely. Store in an airtight container.
Sugared Walnuts recipe from Allrecipes.com

Brown Sugar Glaze
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 TBSP water
In a bowl combine all the ingredients until smooth. Pour over cake.