Ryan's Feelings

Good Evening. Another one. I worked for 8 hours today and not in the theatre. I wish I didn't need a day job, but I do. Oh well. Sorry, I don't mean to get you down or to wallow in my own thoughts. That's why when I'm feeling down and out and I need to be feeling creative and work on what I really want to be working on (theatre) I like to bake delicious cookies. Here's one of my favorite recipes:

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp cinnamon
¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter
¾ cup light brown sugar
½ cup sugar
1 large egg
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
2 ½ cups quick cook oats
1 cup peanut butter chips (Reese’s are my favorite and I use the whole bag when I really need it*)

Preheat the oven to 350˚.

In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

In a large bowl, cream the butter with the sugars until smooth. Then add the vanilla and the eggs and mix until it is all blended in. Next add the dry ingredients and mix well. Finally stir in the oats and peanut butter chips. By this point you should start feeling a little better. Drop teaspoon sized balls of dough on an un-greased cookie sheet. Bake for 11-13 minutes.

Now you can of course use an electric mixer but I find the power, energy and strength needed to cream the butter by hand is exhilarating and picks me right up. Don’t feel bad if it doesn’t pick you up entirely…the cookies will be out the oven soon to finish the job.

Good cookies lead to creative genius. I know it just seems like more of your precious time (because it is). But, 30 minutes baking is better that 2 hours of uncreative frustration. As an artist, I hope this helps you feel good and have at least one revelation about whatever it may be that you are currently working on. Feeling down is normal, especially when you need to be cramming in a day job, family and other obligations around your art. There are positives to these things as well which I will discuss at a later date. Remember that most of the time it is better to bake than to be half-baked while making art.

*you know what I mean and if you don’t then just stick to the cup

Written by Ryan Emmons