“All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.” ― Charles M. Schulz
This first month of 2014 can best be summed up as writer’s block. I have no idea why it’s been such a struggle to write this month, only that all of my posts would have been published much sooner without this sudden huddle I’ve had to face. For some reason as of late, when I sit down to write, my mind goes completely blank. And then when I do start typing, it becomes a mumble-jumble of thoughts and ideas with no real structure and then I turn into the Queen of Random Ideas and Run-On Sentences. I’ve completely run out of new ways to say “delicious” that now I feel like it’s easier if I just call a recipe “awesome.”
It’s no secret here that I love cinnamon buns. If you do a quick search in my search bar, you’ll notice that I’ve posted a few other cinnamon bun recipes, ranging from an adaptation of Ree Drummond’s famous recipe to a quick and easy muffin recipe laced with delicious cinnamon spread. And what’s not to love about a sweet and gooey cinnamon bun? Hot from the oven, drizzled in warm icing and sticky with the luscious mixture of cinnamon, butter and sugar, I would climb over my own husband for one. A perfect afternoon for me would consist of a cinnamon bun + a cup of hot tea + a good book.
In fact, a couple weeks ago I decided right then and there that I wanted this perfect afternoon to happen and set out to make cinnamon buns. The conditions were perfect. The weather outside was cold and snowy, Trevor, still not feeling well, was drinking copious amounts of tea and until that moment, I was pacing around the apartment wondering what I was going to do since I was stuck inside on a snowy day with a sick husband.
Back in the fall, I purchased some 100-calorie peanut butter chocolate bars from Costco as an easy, portable purse snack. These bars was especially handy because I take a zumba dance class on Wednesday nights and I’m always famished on my hour-long bus ride back to our apartment. Being only 100-calories though, the bars never satisfied me after my workout so I wasn’t really that sad once we finished the Costco-sized box a few weeks ago.
Or so I thought. Lately, I couldn’t stop thinking about them. The calorie content may have been pretty miniscule for a post-workout snack, but the taste and the texture was something I couldn’t get enough of. It reminded me of a soft peanut butter puff wheat square with a hint of chocolate. Growing up, I loved homemade puff wheat squares, but I stopped making them a couple years ago when I read about corn syrup being pretty much one of the worst things you can put in your body (thanks Jillian Michaels). Since then I’ve completely sworn off baking with corn syrup, even though I know that I can’t completely avoid eating it (like in the 100-calorie bars).
I realize that I’m a little late on the whole “happy new year” bandwagon. Just a little bit. I had every intention to post this recipe earlier this week, but then life happened. We returned from my parents house, the weather in Toronto took a turn for the worst, Trevor got sick and had to stay home from work and I tried to go to bed at a decent hour to avoid catching his cold. This was all in the span of a little more than a week. All I can say is that I’m so happy it’s the weekend!
I hope that the first little bit of 2014 as been treating everyone well. And for those people who have made New Year resolutions, I hope you’re still on track. In the past, I used to scoff at the idea of waiting until the beginning of the year to make resolutions. Now I believe that anyone who is willing to look at their current situation, acknowledge that they want to make a change and make that first step deserves an applause, no matter what time of year it is.
I’ve made a few resolutions this year and one of them is to be more organized with my blogging. Since it took me six days to write this post, I realize that it’s going to be a long, slow process. But, I figured that writing about my resolution here would be a helpful reminder to get my butt in gear and make some long-term changes.
I must have stopped and restarted this post a thousand times.
Well, that’s obviously an exaggeration, but it was at least 20 times. I’ve pushed and held the delete button so much that I have a permanent dent on my middle finger. And yes, I use my middle finger rather than my index finger to delete text on my keyboard. I was definitely that kid in your class who cheated and on all her typing tests in computer class.
The reason I’ve re-written this post so many time is because I came to the realization that this was going to be my final write-up for 2013 and that I didn’t want to end the year on a negative post. I didn’t want my last post of the year to be about how our oven in our rental apartment malfunctioned and completely fried the first batch of these cookies. I also didn’t want to mention how everyday this week I went to bed at 9:30pm because of how exhausted I was from work. And lastly I didn’t want to complain about how these cookies didn’t really turn out the way I originally planned, but ended up being everything I needed in a snack when I was grumpy, tired and deleting paragraph after paragraph of this blog post.
Canadian food blogger, baking and eating her way through life. Musical theatre fanatic. Personal finance nerd. Sometimes runner/yogi. Green smoothies are pretty amazing.
