I woke up really late today. With the weather being not so wintry, something inside me is telling me to clean. I’m obsessed at the moment. We have been getting rid of lots of stuff in the house and organizing the “i don’t want to think about” corners of our Munich universe. It’s depressing to force myself to see what we’ve accumulated although little by little relieving that things are finally on the move.

Today I needed to organize the pea-sized, yet overstuffed pantry. Dried chilies expired in 2008 and barely used bag of old sultan raisins were some items that dove for the trash. Amazingly enough, most everything that reached its expiration date and then some, still looked pretty decent. Makes you wonder.. But with recent issues on the GI and allergy fronts, this household isn’t taking any chances.. or, let me say, less of them.

Anyway, so what’s with the cookies? I ended up finding two bottles of maple syrup in different places in the kitchen and two packs of flour–and I wonder which goods my income gets locked up in!  After I restuffed the cabinets and took inventory of their contents, I really felt the need for a reward for this pointless work (seriously this exercise in the end only benefits an idea that isn’t my reality, but I try).

I decided I had a hankering for peanutbutter cookies. With all that time in the kitchen I should have known that there were no eggs in the house. Luckily, the internet prevailed and I found a few potential eggless recipes in the first few hits-some with buttermilk or applesauce-all proclaiming vegany goodness. Oh great dog, cookies-for-a-cause! That wasn’t really the reward I was going for. I eventual settled for a recipe using maple syrup (ah ha) and olive oil substituting for sugar, butter and egg.  And thus the picture. They turned out pretty close to how I hoped they’d taste-pretty satisfying. Here’s to hoping my level of organization reaches the same this year.