Well, we’ve eaten our way through another weekend here in Italy. The weather has suddenly gotten cold and what better way to warm up than next to a warm oven. Better yet, a warm oven full of cookies! That’s what I did Friday night. I haven’t baked much since moving here, partly because I didn’t bring all my baking gear with me and partly because delicious sweets are readily available here. I posted some pictures here so you can see for yourselves. Every where you turn here there is a bakery with a window full of goodies or and ice cream store filled with homemade gelato and then you go to the supermarket and there’s aisles full of the most exquisite chocolates you’ve ever eaten. I’ve really tried to quit the sweets since I’m getting older and all, but its a bit like wearing a wool sweater on your Hawaiian vacation, it just doesn’t seem natural!

I made the cookies from a recipe I found in the Denver Post ages ago. I used baking soda, peanut butter and chocolate chips that were brought over from the States, so there’s absolutely nothing Italian about them at all. To be honest, baking Italian style intimidates me. They use a different method of measuring (grams instead of cups), different ingredients (potato flour is a common cake ingredient), different pans (they’re very fancy here) and different leavening agents(it comes in little packages here and I have not idea what’s in them). But I decided to take the plunge after a year of living here and I went to the supermarket and bought all these mysterious ingredients and the pan and tonight I’m going to do it! I’ll try to document the occasion with some pictures and if it turns out OK, I’ll try to translate the recipe for you and post it tomorrow. I believe its called “Cake of Yogurt and Chocolate”. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with my entirely American, super easy cookie recipe.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup chocolate chips, but I use more

Preheat the oven to 350. Mix the first 4 ingredients together in a small mixing bowl until well blended. Mix in the chocolate chips. Using a teaspoon, space balls of cookie dough about 1 inch apart on a baking sheet. Bake for 9-10 minutes. Let cookies cool on the baking sheet before removing because the cookies will be very soft when they’re first out the oven.