Something sweet and filling for long journeys through the mountains.
Around the Hearth
Peanut chip bars are a family recipe that is hearty, sweet and filling. Their great for this time of year when its starting to get chilly and people start to cook again.
This recipe is from the cookbook of my mother, June. When I was looking for a recipe for the About the Hearth page, it felt right to start with one of her recipes.
Peanut Chip Bars
Temperature: Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit
Ingredients:
1 ¼ cup flour
¼ tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
½ cup butter
½ cup peanut butter
2/3 cups packed brown sugar.
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped, salted peanuts
1 package of chocolate chips.
Method:
In a small bowl cream butter, peanut butter, brown sugar and beat until the colour of the batter is light.
Beat in egg and vanilla.
Stir in dry ingredients, ½ cup peanuts and ½ cup chocolate chips.
Turn out mixture into a 13x 4 greased pan.
Sprinkle with remaining nuts and chips, making sure to press them in slightly.
Baking:
Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
Cool and cut into bars.
Peanuts → 🌙Flibby Nuts
Flibby Nuts grow on of the flibby vine. This plant grows on the slopes of the Spinebacks where it faces severe winters and fierce winds.
The nuts are light silver, beige or avocado. Thee nut inside has a rich flavour that makes them popular.
Because flibby nuts grow so prolifically and are so nutritious, they are eaten by the hearthkin and those who find themselves lost.
Many hearts keep a bowl by the fire. This is unwise when you have a white lynx as a migaly.
Peanut Butter → 🌙 Moonbean Paste
Moonbeans are silver beans that become lavender when ripe. Because they only ripen when the light of Astra is the fullest, parties of men and women travel up the mountain to pick the beans after duskfall.
The beans are cooked over the hearth and then ground. They become a thick paste that is thicker than peanut butter, but tastes close to it.
Moonbean paste is a staple in the Spinebacks. It is used in bread, biscuits, and occasionally cakes.
Serai often says when cooking with Moonbean paste,
A spoonful for baking. A spoonful for the cook. A spoonful for Jynx.
Chocolate Chips → 🌙 Dusksweet Chips
Dusksweet comes from seeds of the 🌙 Dusksweet tree. This tree is grown in sheltered valleys to the south of the Spineback proper where bogs meet the mountains.
The roasted seeds are sweet, and crunchy. The chips are irregularly shaped making each mouthful of the bar different.
Keefee is notorious for stealing the largest pieces before they reach the batter. That is, if he finds them before Jynx.
Jynx’s Observation
From the hearth of June Rader.
When I was growing up life centered around the dinner table. My brother, sister, my parents and I met around the table each night to share our day and a meal. My mother, June, was always the cook.
While she struggled cooking some things, like I still do, she could bake. Mom baked fresh cookies, muffins, pies, and occasionally bread, every week. It was not unusual to come home to a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin pie near Thanksgiving, or shortbread at Christmas.
My parents are both gone now, and as their wedding anniversary approaches, I wanted to pull out one of the old recipes. I don’t remember peanut chip bars especially, but it was written in her hand writing, in her own recipe book, and I wanted to try it.
You might want to try the recipe. I can’t guarantee it will turn out, but they did for me. You don’t have to. You can just read about Jynx’s antics, see what the dogs are up to or read about Moonberries.
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