I went to bed cranky last night and woke up just as irritable.  Is it wrong to think every once in a while as a homeschool mom, “If I don’t get out of here I’m gonna go nuts.”?

I planned my entire weekend around the fact that Monday was going to be a fun day.  I’ve had this concert ticket for six months, see, stuck to the fridge with a magnet.  My little family and I were going to enjoy the day out at our favorite city dives and then go our separate ways at concert time.  Well Mr. Morrissey has done it again.

I made it to the door of the concert venue a couple of years ago before I realized that he had cancelled his concert that night.  When tickets went up for sale again I was one of the few that was able to snag one in under three minutes when they sold out.  Then he postponed.  Late last night he postponed again so, while my “Mondays” were done on Sunday and I was so excited about my plans for Monday I couldn’t sit still, I learned that Monday was going to be just another Monday.  But it’s not his fault, he and his mother have been ill and I’ll live having to wait a little longer.  Or I may just sell the ticket and be done with it.

But I’m still cranky and suffering from cabin fever, mid-winter blues, and the OCD (Obsessive Creativity Disorder.  Giggle.) that keeps me in the newly converted sewing/craft corner of my sun room.  The remedy for this is usually an hour or so on our little hiking trail around our property.  I love this trail, don’t feel like myself unless I make the loop a few times a day.  I missed my daily trek on Sunday, however, because I was so busy getting ready for being out and about all day Monday.  So no trail, no exercise, no outing, no concert…makes me want chocolate.  And I wonder how my problem areas develop– hips, thighs, old lady arm flaps…

I will still have my trail today to break the monotony but I’m wishing for rocky road.

I came up with this recipe when the pantry needed clearing out of those toxic holiday baking items that were left over from the season.  White flour, chocolate chips, brown sugar, and those teeny marshmallows you put on sweet potato casserole at Thanksgiving.  The last of the cow’s milk, before we quit the holiday season splurging and went back to almond milk, made them even better.  It was a delicious solution, but now I’m wishing I still had those goodies so I could go round two with some cookie dough and a glass of real milk.

Ingredients:

2 c. all-purpose flour

3/4 c. packed brown sugar

3/4 c. butter

1/4 tsp. salt

2 small eggs  (Small because when they lay this time of year, my chickens only give me teeny eggs.  One extra large egg would probably do it.)

6 oz. semi-sweet Ghiradelli chocolate chips

1/2 c. coarsely chopped nuts  (I used walnuts.)

1/2 c. mini marshmallows

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. baking soda

Method:

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine all ingredients.

Roll into a log on a lightly floured surface.

You can chill for easier handling, but I didn’t see the need, the dough was so nice and firm. Slice into 1/2 to 3/4″ sections and place pieces onto an ungreased cookie sheet 1 1/2 to 2″ apart.

Bake for 13 minutes.  Yes.  13 on the nose for ooey, warm goodness.  (In my oven, anyway.)  Transfer to cooling racks as soon as possible, but not for too long or you’ll miss the best part– breaking a hot, melty cookie in half to watch the chocolate and marshmallow stretch until it breaks and gloops all over your fingers and, hopefully, down your chin as you take that first bite.

You can make large batches of the dough to roll, wrap, and freeze for future use, or to keep in the refrigerator to slice and bake individual cookies.  It will probably keep for 4 or 5 days.

Yield: 1 1/2 dozen large cookies