Ore-gone. A Recipe for Oregon Trail Cookies.

I am still coming to terms with moving away from Oregon. After living in Portland for over 12 years and moving down to the Bay Area two months ago, I still can't quite let go and seem to be suffering from a minor case of separation anxiety. Don't get me wrong, Cali living has been pretty dang great. The weather is lovely, the scenery is breathtaking and the people are friendly. But, this time of year, I am used to preparing myself for a 9 month, bone-chilling, foggy downpour. I'm accustomed to slowing down and regrouping with quiet slow weekends at home, crockpot meals and a deep-seated desire to bake constantly. Here in California; it's only rained three times in the past 2 months, the leaves are barely changing colors, and we spent last Sunday on the sunny shores of a beach outside of Santa Cruz soaking up the 83° rays of golden sunshine. I know, this is sounds seriously whiney and I am not complaining, it just feels weird. A vast majority of we Oregonians recycle, upcycle and compost everything possible. That goes for the weather too. Our sunny warm days come in a limited supply, so we make the most of every hour of daylight when the rain isn't falling. Dayn and I are still imprisoned by our Oregon mentalities and we keep squeezing day trips and outdoorsy adventures into every minute of our weekends. It's as if we are stockpiling the sunshine and adventure for the winter. I am finally realizing that Californians don't turn into unsocial hibernating bears for 9 months and there will be plenty of time to get out there and enjoy the sunshine throughout the year. While I am still experiencing deep pangs of homesickness, I am learning to embrace the beauty and pace of life in California. As a coping mechanism, I created a new cookie recipe that I've named Oregon Trail Cookies, inspired by some of our fave local OR flavors. I am so smitten with the Extra Thick Rolled Oats from Bob's Red Mill that I practically turn every cookie recipe into an oatmeal base. The oats create such a wonderful chewy texture and give cookies seriously sustainable depth (Wow, that is such an Portland thing to say). I also incorporated filberts, the official Oregon State Nut. Filberts are known to everyone on earth other than Oregonians as hazelnuts, once again keeping it weird. The Beaver State also produces some pretty robust cherries, so I threw cherries in the mix. Most important of all, we Stumptowners are all coffee aficionados, our obsession with coffee is of SWF proportions. We chug that stuff like water or should I say we drink water like coffee. Either way, coffee was a must in these cookies. Finally, just because it seemed right, I added chunks of dark chocolate. Something amazing came out of a severe case of OR withdrawals, the Oregon Trail Cookie. And to think, I didn't even die of dysentery or lose an Ox on this baking journey.  If Oregon were a cookie, it would taste like this; sustaining, robust and a little nutty. Well, I'm Ore-gon for now.

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