i don’t know if you noticed, but it’s HOT outside right now. so hot, in fact, that when people ask what i’ve made in the kitchen lately, i’ve actually found myself saying “it’s too hot to even think about making food.” while i wish i was a bit more motivated, i’m having a pretty good time just snacking on fresh fruit constantly because it’s easier and more refreshing. fact: i can eat an entire watermelon without even realizing, and with juice still dripping off my chin, ask for another. bananas, strawberries, oranges - there are few lazier foods for hot summer days.

kids aren’t really troubled by the heat. they’ll stay outside all day playing just because they can. meanwhile, i’m racing from one shady air-conditioned place to another in a desperate attempt to stay cool and keep from getting skin cancer (my skin has two settings: pallid white and lobster red). wow, i’m sounding really old here. anyway, the kids in my neighborhood have taken to selling lemonade on the corner, and while i haven’t indulged them yet (2 bucks a glass?!), i found myself thinking, during my sprint from the bus stop to my apartment door, about how delicious lemon bars would be.

the girl pointed me to this recipe, and i’m eternally grateful. they have oatmeal in the dough, which is something i’ve never seen before. it’s a great excuse to eat oatmeal, since the only time i use it is in baking. i got my fill of mushy hot oatmeal on boy scout camping trips growing up. it’s also an incredibly simple recipe that doesn’t require any eggs. really, you can have this in the oven in less than 10 minutes.

what’s so great about lemon bars? how about the combination of sweet and sour, the refreshing bite of the filling, the realization that you are going to finish the entire tray of bars before they make it out of the kitchen…

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do you like peanut butter and chocolate? sure you do. who doesn’t? i can’t resist it. i used to trade all of my halloween and easter candy for reeses peanut butter cups. move aside, charleston chew. no room for you.

are these just peanut butter cookies with hershey’s kisses stuck in them? sure they are, but the sum is greater than its parts. it’s almost a reese’s peanut butter cup, deconstructed…and inside out..sort of. well, chocolate and peanut butter are a delicious combination anyway. these cookies could not be easier to make, and they’re actually fun too. next time i could try actually putting a reese’s cup in the center of the cookie, but dare i?

one note of caution - it can be tough to store these cookies since they’re not easily stackable. and if you try to put them on top of one another in some kind of container, the kisses can melt and get squished. you have two options: either refrigerate the cookies after they cool on the sheet for about half an hour before trying to store them, or eat them before you get a chance to store them. i usually opt for the latter.

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if you take a look at my post archive, you might notice that i’ve been going sweet-savory-sweet-savory to keep things interesting. and in planning out my baking schedule (yes, i keep a loose schedule), i realized that i had skipped one of my all time favorites. the first thing i ever learned how to bake.

is there any more comforting smell than chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven? of course, my mom’s chocolate chips cookies were the only ones i really enjoyed growing up. no refrigerated cookie dough in our house - only real butter and sugar. watching her bake seemed so effortless, but the end result was a transcendental experience. very rarely did the cookies make it off the cooling racks before being devoured by my sisters, brother and me.

when i started baking in college, i requested the recipe from my mom, and she mailed it on a 3×5″ index card as always. after baking the cookies for the first time, i called her to let her know that they came out great and that i was now an official accomplished baker. but i had to know where she got the recipe. i expected a story of the recipe being passed down from great grandmothers. instead, she asked me if had a bag of chocolate chips there handy. i did. “turn it over,” she said.

all these years, my mom had been making the nestlé toll house chocolate chip cookie recipe, a recipe that’s been on the back of every bag of semi-sweet morsels for about 70 years. i can still hardly believe it. but there’s something so indescribably perfect about the cookies she bakes, so i can’t bear to change a thing. to me, there is no better cookie.

i wanted to make something special this time, because these cookies are the last thing i will bake in my current kitchen. that’s right, i’m moving into a new place, leaving behind my 45 square food baking space that has served me so well for the past 2 years. the next time i post, it will be from a kitchen at least 3 times the size, so i’m ready to be spoiled by extra counter space and a full size oven with a working light.

i want to dedicate this post to my tiny efficiency apartment kitchen, because despite its limited size, i’ve never had any problem baking anything. it reinforces the idea that it doesn’t take anything fancy to produce delicious food that makes people happy. this is my old oven. modest, but never once let me down. thank you, old friend.

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i’m proud to say that i grew up in a family where home-cooked meals and home-baked desserts were the norm. my mom seemed to have an endless supply of recipes for every occasion. so when i went to college, i found myself calling every week and asking for a new idea for dinner or dessert. rather than just emailing me recipes, my mom sends them to me the way she keeps them at home - on index cards. when the mail arrived, i came to expect a envelope thick with 5 or 6 index cards with hand-copied directions for my childhood favorites.

this brownie recipe straddles the line between cakey and fudgey, so you won’t have to choose. the only thing i’ve changed about my mom’s original directions is to add coffee. many desserts use freshly brewed coffee, but here’s the secret - i use instant coffee. it’s what i grew up drinking, so it’s what i have in my apartment at all times.

you’re going to want to stop yourself from adding more instant coffee after the first tablespoon. ignore your instincts and just keep adding more. the batter will smell and even taste too bitter before you bake it, but when the brownies come out of the oven, you’ll be pleasantly surprised with the depth of flavor. these won’t last long after you put them out - and they’re great warm.

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