Recipe source: out of my head. MasterChef, here I come 😉

In small bowl, whisk together 1 cup of warm water, 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp honey, and 1 tbsp yeast. Set aside for a few minutes until the yeast puffs up.

In a medium-size bowl, stir ½ tsp salt into 2 cups unbleached flour.

Add yeast mixture to flour and combine. Turn your dough ball out onto a floured surface for kneading. The dough will be on the wet side at this point, but I think it’s much easier to add more flour to too-wet dough than to add more water to too-dry dough. ymmv. So, that said, have more flour on hand to dust the dough with as you knead. When it gets sticky, add more flour. Knead dough for about 5 minutes.

Coat your dough ball in more olive oil and place in a bowl to rise. (Don’t skip this step or you’ll be sad when you go to remove your risen dough from the bowl and it’s stuck.) Cover dough/bowl with a towel and place in a warm spot to rise. Come back in an hour. Set a timer so you don’t forget.

While you’re waiting, you can prepare the filling. Melt ½ cup butter. Mix in: 1 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp nutmeg,  ⅛ tsp cloves, ⅔ cup dried cranberries, ⅓ cup walnuts.

Ding!

Ok, your dough is now all puffed up. Flour your surface again and turn the dough out onto it. It should just fall out of the bowl, but help it out if it sticks a bit. Using your hands (you don’t need a rolling pin), stretch it out into a rectangular shape. Spread the butter-sugar mixture over the dough. Try to get it all the way to edges.

Starting on one of the short sides of the rectangle, roll the dough up. Before you cut the roll, use your knife to (gently) mark 9 evenly-spaced slices. Tip: Start by marking the middle slice, then the 4 on either side. Once you’re happy with your spacing, cut.

Place the slices in a 9″x9″ pan. Cover and let rise again for an hour. (Set your timer again.) Near the end of the hour, preheat your oven to 400°F.

Bake for 15 minutes. Yay, all done. EAT.

So you want chocolate chip cookies, but you’re feeling too lazy to roll out dough balls. Make these instead! Tastes like a chocolate chip cookie, takes minimal effort.

(I wasn’t sure what to call these. I was calling them Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies in my head, but it seems like brownies-sans-cocoa are typically called blondies, so I went with that.)

In a small bowl, stir together:
1¼ cups flour
¼ tsp salt
½ cup chocolate chips
(optional) ¼ cup nuts

Set the dry ingredients aside.

In a second, slightly bigger bowl combine the remaining ingredients.

First, soften:
½ cup unsalted butter

Then, add:
1½ cups brown sugar

Finally, beat in:
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla

Mix in the dry ingredients.

Pour into an 8×8 pan and bake at 350°F for 25 min.