Risky Business

I could feel my heart pumping, my hands going sweaty and my eyes darting left and right.

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Paper was dampening in my hands, I had no way out. I could hear the construction in my head, houses going up around me, enclosing and suffocating me.

I walked down a couple of lanes, darting in and out of free parking, avoiding the houses and hotels surrounding me. It felt too suburbia, it felt too expensive, almost like I was stuck, living in the hub of a big game…

Suddenly a police officer stopped me. Pale as milk, yet imposing in his blue uniform, he beckoned me forward. Slowly, I walked up, not even knowing I had done something wrong.

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Bound and gagged, he tossed me into a dark jail cell, with a small passage for visitors. Huh. Who would visit me?

Suddenly, it struck me. I was away from the suffocation surrounding me in the ‘free world’, on the ‘free road’. I savoured my three months in prison, enjoying every time my bail was set, too expensive to be paid.

But alas, it had to end, and there you had me, a small, insignificant, homeless girl, surrounding by a cosmopolitan run by greedy, ruthless, Vikings in business suits. It felt like my life was crumbling around me.

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My few $1 notes looked almost grey, I had no sense of money. Wandering the streets, I came upon my housing estate, the single one not mortgaged, sold or ruined by my past follies. I saw a few people inside and a spark of hope lit up within.

Going in bravely, I stuck out my hand and demanded my due. A few twenties fluttered in the air around me, mocking me. As they lay on the darkened, smudgy floor around me, I gazed through my cracked windows, aching as even the poor people enjoyed a hot meal.

I was stuck in a poor, brown hole, a road named just about after a doll. Ironic isn’t it, considering that my home was so close to one of the classiest places in town, a beautiful fair maze of boardwalks and happiness.

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I sniffed and sighed and continued walking through the business world. The gnawing of my stomach was becoming too much to bear, so I hastily ducked into the nearest building that night. 

Seeing the abundance of abandoned Jack The Ripper posters, I realised I could only be in White Chapel. A seedy fellow, with a small spurt of growth starting on his upper lip, lifted his arm. A stench almost visibly flowed out of his arm pits and my eyes water.

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‘Four. Dollars.’ He whispered.

I looked down into my wallet, hidden secretly in my inner pockets. A fly rose out. Desperately, I rifled through my papers, but everywhere I looked, a psychedelic collage of “SOLD” and “MORTGAGED” signs appeared.

My desperation set in.

So I flipped the board.

I had lost Monopoly yet again.

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You may be wondering why I was obsessed enough with Monopoly to write a post about it but allow me to explain my situation and/or position. It was raining cats and dogs today.

My mum and my brother were at home.

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Honestly, it was like a sign or something that it was board game day. It was too gloomy to go out, too gloomy to just watch TV mindlessly and it felt like it had been since primary school that we played.

So thus began, the tears, the clawing, the attempted stealing of other people’s cash, the bartering, the mind games and most importantly.
The trading.

206189Now tell me if there is a trend here. I owned Mayfair-Park Lane each time out of the last 4 times we played. I was defeated soundly each time, not a penny to my name in the end.

Just before I sat down to write this post, I swapped Park Lane for a cheaper, orange property. And I won soundly.

High money, high risk. I have been enlightened. Do not buy Mayfair 🙂

Anyhow, while I was losing soundly, I was lucky that I had a nice big stock of these cookies to keep me from wallowing in my not-wall-street material personality. I was able to bite into that big, super sweet, PB flavoured cloud of heaven and stop the depression from taking over.

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But then, after this win, these cookies gave me the winner’s boost I deserved.

Yes, my board gaming is quite serious business 😉

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These cookies were made as the usual PB cookies, but the white chocolate freckles inside really added to the sweetness, complimenting the nutty flavour 😀

Even on their own, they were addictive, and despite the very bright, festive colouring (Still for Australia Day!), the did not have that artificial sprinkle taste I have come to associate with them. Just like the jellybean packets which came before it, this was also part of the Australia Day range  at BigLolly.com.

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Called the ‘Green & Gold Aussie Buddies‘, I would definitely be their friend! A solid 9.5/10 for this product!

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These Freckle Cookies were uber soft, and uber sweet, so I have adjusted the recipe (besides my random adjustments while making them) to have a bit less sugar in them 😛

Freckled PB Cookies

Adapted from: Sally’s Baking Addiction

Printable Recipe!

Ingredients:

  • 113g butter, room temp
  • 1/2 cup + 2 tbs of dark brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tbs molasses
  • 1 cup crunchy peanut butter
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/4 cup plain flour + extra to dip hands into before rolling the cookie dough balls
  • Freckles chocolates

Method: 

  1. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together till smooth and creamy on medium speed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
  2. Beat in the egg, the peanut butter, the molasses and the vanilla essence till the mixture is smooth.
  3. Sift in the flour and baking soda, then use a wooden spoon to mix it in till a sticky dough forms with no traces of flour. (I prefer this to putting it into a stand mixer as that is messier and it often leaves streaks of flour at the bottom)
  4. Chill this dough, covering the bowl in plastic wrap, for 30 minutes in the fridge
  5. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and dust your hands with the extra flour. Also coat the inside of a tablespoon in flour, as the dough continues to be soft and sticky (especially in humid weather like what we are having!)
  6. Roll about 1 – 1.5 tbs of dough into a ball and place on a tray lined with baking paper, leaving around 5cm between each cookie.
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  7. Slightly flatten each of the cookies with the back of spoon, coated in flour so it doesn’t stick.
  8. Bake for 9-10 minutes. Place the tray on a wire rack and immediately start placing freckles into the middle of each cookie, gently pressing it down.
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  9. Let them cool to firm them up (they look underdone when you initially take them out) – they are very delicate, and you have to be careful putting the freckle in, so that it does not split the cookie.
  10. After 15-20 minutes, carefully lift them off the tray and let cool to room temp on a wire rack (if you can let them, that is :P)

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Disclaimer: Go Bake Yourself received this mix of freckles as a promotional sample from BigLolly.com but all the opinions written here are my own.

61 Comments

  3. Carolyn Chan says:

    What an hilarious post ! I can’t remember the last time I played Monopoly but I do remember that I loved the game when I did ! And those cookies look absolutely delicious – so plump and scrumptious.

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  4. Sophie says:

    When I read the whole story, I thought, ooh no, she was in prison in a foreign coubtry like in Thailand for smuggeling drugs!! 😦 I am happy to heat that it is in the Monoply Game only! xx Lovely bright cookies, so special too! x

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  5. mjskit says:

    I always had a hard time with Monopoly because it just went on and on and on…Kind of like Risk. 🙂 However, with a batch of these cookies sitting in front of me,I could probably last a long time in a Monopoly game!

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  6. BeBetsy says:

    Hello! It was fun to see you back on BeBetsy and a pleasant surprise! Always love reading your posts…. you keep us entertained and make us hungry. Good combination!
    If you get a chance come set up your gallery with us on Simply BeBetsy- quick link with pic! 🙂 Find it on our home page. Great to see your smiling face and hear from you. Hugs and loves ~ sharon and denise

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  8. My Inner Chick says:

    ***Seeing the abundance of abandoned Jack The Ripper posters, I realised I could only be in White Chapel. A seedy fellow, with a small spurt of growth starting on his upper lip, lifted his arm. A stench almost visibly flowed out of his arm pits and my eyes water.***

    Not only are you a FAB baker, but you write the same way. WOW.

    Oh, and the cookies look DElish! xxxx

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  13. Debra says:

    I loved your story! I must admit that as it went on I wondered what you’d had for dinner to give you such a strange dream. 🙂 I love board games and think Monopoly can be such a fun one, although now I mostly play the “junior” version with my granddaughters. Fun, but I will enjoy it when they can participate in the full game. The pb cookies really tempt me. I love the addition of molasses. I wish we could get those pretty candies…maybe I’ll find something similarly colorful! 🙂

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  15. Barb Bamber says:

    I love playing games with my kids, but sadly, I’ve never mastered Monopoly. Your writing was funny.. I kept thinking it was some sort of bad dream.. and I guess it was, lol. Until you made those cookies, now those I would want to master!!

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  20. Hotly Spiced says:

    I haven’t seen those freckles but what a great idea and your cookies look fabulous. What a game! Yes, it always ends in tears around here too. We have ‘Elvis Monopoly’ and Gracelands is the property to buy! xx

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  21. Zoe says:

    Ha ha ha ha!!! You are funny saying how board games can ruin relationships! I reckon serving your delicious green and gold cookies after games will surely reconcile bad businesses.

    If you are in Melbourne, I’m happy to meet for 1 or 2 monopoly games!!! :p

    Zoe

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  23. ATasteOfMadness says:

    Hahaha… oh man, I like Monopoly, but I don’t think I have ever finished a complete game. Someone gets frustrated or impatient.
    Now these cookies. Wow. They would make me forget how bad any Monopoly game went 😉

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  29. Pam says:

    Monopoly must have different names where you are. I’m assuming Park Lane is the equivalent of Park Place (one of the blue ones).

    I dislike Monopoly because my brother is a ruthless player and a poor winner. I am scarred for life because of his behavior during that game.

    He won every time. His strategy was always to buy up the orange ones and build on them.

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  34. Gina says:

    You made me giggle. I played that game all the time with the girls and I they always won, lol. I guess I was more of the prisoner type. If only I had had some of these tasty cookies to hold me over. Sigh.
    -Gina-

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  35. Kim@Treats & Trinkets says:

    Monopoly is so not my game. Like Risk, I’m just not bloodthirsty enough. However, give me a game of Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot and all bets are off.

    I love these peanut buttery clouds of deliciousness! And those candies are soooo adorable

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  36. Barbara says:

    Got worried while reading, then decided you were writing something for a class…then came Monopoly! Cute idea for a post!
    Yep, stay away from Mayfair, but DO make these cookies!

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  41. Bam's Kitchen says:

    CCU, you are such an imaginative writer. I thought at first we were dealing with something a little more serious than a competitive game of monopoly. These cookies are the bomb and even better than collecting the $200 as you pass go.

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  42. Christine (@cookingcrusade) says:

    These cookies look so colourful and sound delicious! Lol at your experience with Monopoly. I must admit I absolutely love Monopoly and I bought my husband an Avenger’s themed version for his last birthday. We played it once and I beat him pretty badly. It got to the point where I felt sorry for him and offered to sell him one of my properties at a low price and he just gave me a look and said “No, just put me out of my misery.” Poor thing. Something tells me that Monopoly game won’t be seeing the day of light for some years…

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  45. Liz says:

    LOL, I wondered where this post was leading 😉 I’m glad it was just Monopoly. Terrific cookies…I love the idea of white chocolate candies on top of peanut butter cookies! Going to have to make a batch!!!

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  46. Louise says:

    And to think I thought it was all a dream, Uru lol…Some say “Monopoly” was created in 1904 by a women named Lizzie Magie but, it was called The Landlord’s Game. A patent was granted for the game Monopoly and can be found on google patents. Patent #2,026,082 granted December of 1935, filed by C. B. Darrow. (Charles Darrow of Germantown, Pennsylvania:)
    In the US we have many versions of Monopoly, Uru. My grandkids love to play Farm Monopoly. You sure do take your gaming seriously, lol…I’m sure the kids would love those cookies the next time we play any kind of Monopoly. (it’s a great tool for teaching the handling of money like giving change:) Thanks for sharing…

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  51. A_Boleyn says:

    I had the bizarre experience of reading the first part of your post before my first cup of coffee and wondered what surreal world I had come to. Then I realized that you were describing playing Monopoly … whew!

    Creative but kind of scary.

    The peanut butter cookies look delicious. I especially like the colourful white chocolate buttons on top.

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  53. John@Kitchen Riffs says:

    I haven’t played Monopoly in years! Maybe Mrs K R and I should have a match — assuming I can even find the game, that is! It may have been a casualty of a move sometime in the past. Anyway, great cookies! I’ve never met a PB cookie I didn’t like, and these look wonderful.

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  54. betsyb says:

    You definitely had me going with your story, Uru. I couldn’t imagine what the heck you were talking about, thinking perhaps you were off on another detective adventure! 🙂 Love your cookies, they are so pretty with the green and gold freckles in the centers.

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