Scent Notes: Butterscotch and peanut butter coated in chocolate with a dash of expensive vanilla, honey, and a cold glass of oat milk.

Amanda could hear Linda’s voice in her head now. “Those AREN’T cookies! These shouldn’t count! Did she even bake them?” But Amanda didn’t care. Plus, she had absolutely no time to do anything else. She had twin girls that were 16 months old, and they took up all of Amanda’s time before and after (and often during) work. She was thankful that her company let her work remotely most days. However, she’d gotten roped into participating in this year’s company-wide bake-off due to pressure from her manager, Linda. She tried to explain that she did not have time to make hundreds of cookies, but Linda was insistent that her whole team had to participate. These scotcheroos were her form of delicious protest: easy to make and damn delicious. She’d bought her ingredients mostly in bulk at the local superstore. The most expensive (and, arguably, tasty) ingredient was the butterscotch chips, which thankfully were on sale. It was 1:30 in the morning and she had two large casserole dishes of cookies chilling in the fridge. The last two batches were being made now, and she planned to cover them and let them cool on her porch overnight because even fitting the first two batches in the fridge had been a miracle. Growing twins eat a LOT of food. 

The recipe had been a favorite of hers growing up, one her mom made for bake sales and special occasions, and they’d always been Amanda’s favorite, even if they weren’t, technically, cookies. Plus, she made them the way her mom did, with the fudgy chocolate in the middle of the butterscotch and peanut butter. Her mom had always called these “crunchy fudge sandwiches,” but Amanda thought Scotcheroos was a snazzier name. She was only bringing in three batches and cutting them into tiny squares. Everyone could deal, there’d be enough sugar happening that if a few people didn’t get any, it wasn’t the end of the world. She’d rather have a full tray for her family at home than enough to feed all the people in her office anyway. And if Linda threw a fit, she wouldn’t get to have any, Amanda decided as she spread the last bit of coated rice cereal on top of the fudgy chocolate middle. Something about the combination of butterscotch and chocolate with a hint of peanut butter. It just never failed. Maybe she’d cut out a piece of one of the chilled batches, you know, just to make sure it was as tasty as she expected it to be, with a nice glass of oat milk on the side: her mom-version of a nightcap. A splendid idea, interrupted by the crying of the twins. “Soon,” she said to her fridge, and went to go and soothe her girls.

Scent Notes: Butterscotch and peanut butter coated in chocolate with a dash of expensive vanilla, honey, and a cold glass of oat milk.