I haven’t talked much about living in St Louis, have I? After living in 3 different states in the last 3 years, we struggle to put roots down and get ’too comfortable’ in any one place. As I write this, we never know where the future will take us. Most likely, St Louis isn’t home. We tell ourselves we’re close to family here, but, really, ‘close’ means a 9-10 hour car drive. ‘Close’ is now open to interpretation. It’s not that we’re not happy in St Louis at all! I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: you Midwesterners are NICE. I spent my twenties in California and walked away with a number of friends that I can count on one hand. They are life-long friends, but few, they are. I’ve been in St Louis 11 months, and I am having to reschedule coffee dates with multiple people because I’m terrible at time management during the week. We’ve done some amazing things in our short time: hockey games, football games, Broadway plays, concerts. These tickets just keep falling in our laps, and we have no shortage of people to call to join us. It’s pretty grand.
There’s a huge food scene here, but to be honest, I cook at home. A LOT. We have a great CCSA (Combined CSA, meaning several farms contribute) that gives us fresh produce, meat, dairy and eggs each week. I’m so giddy to cook everything in my bag each week, that it never occurs to me to go out to eat much. But the restaurants we have eaten at meet or exceed my expectations. We’re currently doing a barbecue tour of the city with a group of friends where we choose a different smoke joint every Friday. Besides the one time I ordered pickles as a side dish and got an entire pint of ’em (even a pregnant chick would agree that’s too many pickles!), it’s been pretty good. I have to admit one of my favorite things about eating barbecue on Fridays with our friends (besides the endless laughter) is that we can take it to-go and eat it at a bar. Can you believe there’s a bar that allows you to bring in outside food?! I know we are the envy of the bar. You know how good barbecue smells. Yeah, you do. There are TWO food magazines in this city. Not one, but two. I’m impressed. What else impresses me? Gooey butter cake. I love that every bakery has it. And I love it that I’m not judged one bit when I order it for breakfast. This place called Russell’s on Macklind has seasonal flavors, and their coconut gooey butter cake and cranberry-orange gooey butter cake is exceptional. I feel cheated that I didn’t grow up with this cake. Everyone knows Boston Cream Pie, but why not Gooey Butter Cake? I’m here to fix that. Another thing I’m here to fix: gooey butter cake recipes using cake mix. This cookie recipe tastes exactly like gooey butter cake minus the cake mix. {insert wild applause here} It’s the cream cheese, guys. It makes it taste like a cake mix. I also have a pumpkin gooey butter cake recipe on this site that makes me beam. Now, I give you gooey butter cake cookies.
Notes on gooey butter cake cookies:
These gooey butter cake cookies are the softest, gooiest, chewiest cookies I’ve ever made. And they are ridiculously delicious. I made a batch and took them to a sick friend. What? Sugar aids recovery (#notadoctor). She’s a St Louis native, and she flipped over the cookies. I mean, part of me thinks it’s the pain meds talking, but the other part of me knows that I ate 3 in one sitting the first time I made them. I never do that. But I had 12 bites. In a row. I even leaned on a table while eating to fully take in how delicious they are. You gotta make these. Go ahead, eat 12 bites in a row. These gooey butter cake cookies want you as much as you want them.
*YOU MUST CHILL THESE COOKIES FOR THE RECOMMENDED ABOUT OF TIME. I keep getting emails about the cookies spreading, and this is what happens when you use non-chilled dough. Please, follow instructions.
