Brittany’s Baking Stories: With a Twist
May: Oatmeal Cheddar Cheese Moon Pies
With this recipe, all I could think about as a writer was retellings. Retellings are updated versions of classic stories or fairy tales. For example, Romiette and Julio by Sharon M. Draper is a retelling of Romeo and Juliet. And this recipe was a new twist on oatmeal cream pies.
I kind of feel like I’m cheating because technically I made cookies last month. And oatmeal cream pies are basically filled cookies. I wanted something a little different, but simple. And this recipe definitely worked for that.
The oatmeal cookies themselves were delicious and really easy to make. Just had an added step of chopping the oats in the blender. I’ll have to remember to bake during nap time again because as soon as the cookies came out of the oven, my toddler wanted one. But fortunately, I was still able to make a few moon pies.
If you’re wary about the cheese in this recipe, fear not. I was too. Luckily Jerrelle Guy has an alternative, sweeter filling. Cream cheese is the base for both of the fillings. One has mild white cheddar and the other has confectioners’ sugar. So I cut the filling recipe in half so I could make both.
And surprisingly, the cheese filling wasn’t bad. It was a little salty and of course the cookies made it a little sweet. I still preferred the sweeter version. A better overall flavor, but I have a certified sweet tooth.
And this month’s writing tip is to try to create a retelling or read a retelling. Retellings are great ways to practice writing because you have a base to start from. You don’t have to create everything from scratch. You can create a whole new story line or just change the ending. You can play around in a world that already exists with all new characters. There are so many possibilities.
And here are some retellings you can read. Fair warning, I haven’t read all of them, but I’ve heard great things:
- Romiette and Julio by Sharon M. Draper (Read and Recommend)
- Tides by Betsy Cornwell (Read and Recommend)
- Darling by Kayla Ancrum
- Pride: A Pride & Prejudice Remix by Ibi Zoboi
- Mechanica by Betsy Cornwell
- Prospero’s Daughter by Elizabeth Nunez (Read and Recommend)
As always, the recipe is in Black Girl Baking by Jerrelle Guy. Happy writing and baking!
