As I write this, I am home for the sixth week.

Each day seems a little easier. I like my condo. I love my cat, although I miss my Elderlee, who died in December. I eat when I want to, which seems to be more likely twice a day. I wake up and feed the cat around 7:30 and watch MSNBC for an hour (why is it that I seem to like Mika and Joe more than I used to?). Then I go upstairs, shower, get dressed, make the bed and think about whether my meal will be breakfast-y or lunch-y. Often it is eggs and sweet peppers, onions and garlic and rye bread. Sometimes it is cereal with bananas. I think about dinner around 3 p.m. and decide whether it will be something that I should prepare or leftovers in the fridge. Sometimes it is two kosher hot dogs.

I have not been very interested in dessert, but three nights ago I read the new Bon Appetit in bed and saw a recipe for trail mix cookies. It looked really delicious and I had every single ingredient in my pantry. The cookies required little sugar and almost no flour. But I read the recipe again: you make the batter, then refrigerate it for a few hours or overnight before you make the cookies. So it isn’t like make the cookies and eat them hot in 20 minutes, but they are amazing. So check out your pantry; I bet you have most of the ingredients in yours, too.

Trail Mix Cookies

From Bon Appetit, May 2020

Makes 12 very large cookies

1½ cups assorted nuts and seeds

½ cup old-fashioned oats

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted,

1 large egg

¼ cup dark brown sugar (although light will do fine)

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

¾ cup assorted dried fruit (cut into ½ inch pieces if large)

¾ cup chopped bittersweet chocolate chips, discs or chopped bars

½ cup all-purpose flour

Flaky sea salt

Place racks in upper and lower thirds of the oven; preheat to 350 degrees. Toast nuts and seeds on a rimmed baking sheet, tossing once until golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl; let cool.

Meanwhile, mix egg, butter, brown and granulated sugars, vanilla, salt and baking soda in a large bowl. Let sit until nuts and seeds are cool; this will make for a chewier cookie.

Add dried fruits and chocolate to nut mixture; toss to combine. Give egg mixture a good stir, then stir in the flour. Mix in nut mixture, smashing it against the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, until combined and mix-ins evenly coated in dough. It will look like too many mix-ins, but the dough will come together as it chills. Cover and chill at least 2 hours and up to 3 days.

Reheat oven to 350 degrees. Using a 1/3-cup measure or a #16 cookie scoop, portion out dough, packing firmly, to make 12 cookies. Divide between 2 parchment-lined baking sheets as you go (I use my Silpat sheets.) Using a cup or your hand, press cookies into 2½ diameters disks about ¾-inch thick and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake cookies, rotating sheets top to bottom and front to back, until golden brown and no longer wet looking, 11 to 13 minutes. Let cool on baking sheets.

Cook’s Tip: Cookies can be made 1 week ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.

On the Side

In the six weeks homebound, I have only gotten four takeout meals. Last week I wanted pizza or Thai food. I don't drive too far from home; so far I have only gotten fuel once. Will I need to relearn driving on I-95?

My Thai place was not open, so I called New York Family Pizzeria and ordered a medium Margherita. I picked it up in 25 minutes and took the pizza and garlic knots (free with a pizza) home. I put it on the counter but waited a few hours until I was hungry and then placed three slices and knots on a preheated 400 degree oven rack.

I am not sure anything makes a better Margherita: just a little red sauce, just a little cheese, fresh sliced tomato and a few pieces of basil (the last added when the pizza comes out of the oven). I ate the pizza for two dinners and one lunch. Dreaming about it again.

New York Family Pizzeria

220 Route 12 (Shop & Shop Plaza), Groton

(860) 445-1242

Lee White lives in Groton. She can be reached at leeawhite@aol.com.