I had just finished a round of mountain-climber planks when she said “take a breath. Put your hands on your heart. What are you feeling? Anger, sadness, like you want to laugh, or cry?” With that, I began to feel tears slowly trailing down my cheeks. Something about the movement of the workout, the music, the soft voice of the instructor, Karla with The Class, giving permission to let those bottled up emotions flow – soon I was sobbing. Still doing the exercises mind you, burpees, jumping jacks, yes, while totally wailing. What was I feeling? Pain, sorrow, loss, empathy, grief…all of the above.
I found myself wondering, am I really the only one in my circle not doing well with all of this Covid-19 stuff? Am I the only one terrified? Somehow, I doubt it. Like everyone else, I’ve been putting on the happiest face I can muster in order to appear okay, and in many ways I am. I’m pretty good at compartmentalizing life. I have the most lovely and caring husband, work will be fine, our kids are far away, but they are safe. However, the stress of trying to move around life, business as usual, is overwhelming at times, and I’m worried about pretty much everyone in my life being safe and healthy.
As it always has been, cooking is a soothing practice for me and it takes my mind off of the hard stuff. So later in the day, just after pulling these Brown Butter Cherry Bars out of the oven, Ric showed up in the kitchen and was so excited to see what I had made. We sat there and ate more than we should have, but these days, we’re cutting ourselves a little slack, so we indulged, and the moment put a smile on both of our faces. It’s all about the little things.
Browned Butter Cherry Bars
**These bars are so yummy that you may want to double the recipe and bake in a 9 x 18 inch pan.
- 1 cup flour
- ¾ cup sugar
- ½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups fresh or frozen pitted cherries, cut in half
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease an 8 x 8 inch pan and line with two pieces of nonstick parchment paper, placing one sheet across the other so the paper runs up the sides of the pan (this will make it easy to remove cake from pan after baking).
- Place the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat and melt.
- Swirl the butter in the pan occasionally until you begin to see browned bits floating in the butter, about 7-10 minutes.
- Remove from heat, add sugar and vanilla, and stir until combined. Set aside.
- In a medium size bowl, toss the flour, salt and baking powder together.
- Pour the butter mixture into the bowl with the flour, add the eggs and cherries, and mix until ingredients are incorporated.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, place in oven and bake for 30-40 minutes.
Enjoy
