Sybil bakes a cookie

I am two different people.

By day, I'm mild-mannered fundraiser for a pretty conservative non-profit. I'm the girl who makes cookies for sick co-workers. I rarely speak up at meetings.

By night... well, that's a different story. Let's just say that I'm the girl solemnly vowing to bake you vegan cookies for your birthday - and I WILL DAMMIT in order to make up for that time 10 years ago that I left you sitting on my porch because I'd failed to leave the key under the mat before I took off for a concert in the next town over.

I'm not an angry drunk, nor a bitter one. I'm a very well-intentioned drunk. I will careen from from new friend to new friend, vowing to collaborate on plays and books and communal living arrangements. I will discuss plans for DIY city parks and draw them up on napkins. I'll offer to put people in touch with each other so that THEY can collaborate on plays and books and communal living arrangements.

I'll promise to invite you over to a vegan brunch and drink mimosas with you underneath the orange tree. Needless to say, this is something I'm fond of promising to people at around 2 am on Sunday morning.

I love both of the people that I am and want these two to become one. One love, y'all! I want to be known as the friend who'll bake cookies if you're not feeling well. Not, as I'm well aware that I am, the friend who promises to sign up for a "sick shift", but ends up sitting on the edge of the bed hoping that I don't have to change any bandages.

And as much as I'd love to bring a bit of my rock n' roll self into my place of employment.. well, let's just that would go over about as well as me signing up for nursing classes at the local community college.

Tonight, I'm taking steps, a la Sybil, to bring these two gals together. How, you ask? By baking some Sierra Nugget cookies. They're muy delicioso and I will deliver them post-haste as a belated birthday present.

AND... as I type this, I'm sitting on the front steps, glass of Pincas Negras Malbec next to me, waiting for my neighbor to return from walking her dog. When she does, there will be a small batch of Sierra Nuggets for her as well.

Because doing something unexpectedly nice just leads to goodness all around and we need a little bit more of that right now.

One love, indeed.

Sierra Nuggets Cookie Recipe

Wet ingredients:

1 c. non-dairy butter, such as Earth Balance

1 c. brown sugar

1.5 c. granulated sugar

2 Egg Replacers or 2 T. flax mixed with 3 T. water

1 t. non-dairy milk

1.5 t. vanilla

Dry ingredients:

1.5 c. flour

1.25 t. baking soda

1.5. t. cinnamon

1/2 t. mace

1/8 t. powdered cloves

1/4 t. nutmeg

1 c. cornflakes (I used frosted flakes, and it worked out fine)

1 c. rolled oats

1/2 c. shredded coconut

2 c. vegan chocolate chips

1 c. raw walnuts chopped.

Cream together wet ingredients in medium sized bowl. I'd suggest using a beater or mixer so that it's light and fluffy. This will come in handy when you're mixing the wet and dry ingredients.

Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients. You may have to use your hands for this step.

Drop by spoonful onto greased baking sheet and bake at 350 for 12 minutes.

They won't spread very much so you can cram a lot onto one baking sheet.

Now... I never follow this last step, but I think that it might be an important one for this recipe. I still have one more batch in the oven so I'll test it and see.

Last step: Let cool on cookie pan for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack (or the Auto section of last Sunday's paper).

You should get about 36 - 42 cookies - enjoy!