૮ ･ ﻌ･ა it's levi

Stede: Alright! Arts and Crafts time everyone!

The crew:

Gable: Wow, they sound stupid.

Travis: They aren’t really. They’re so smart. Just not about the feelings.

Gable: Maybe you need to be more obvious. Like, I don’t know, tell them, hey, I love you.

Travis: Hey, Gable, I love you.

Gable: Yeah, exactly like that. If that flies over their head then I’m sorry, but they’re way too dumb for you.

A few years ago, when I was living in the housing co-op and looking for a quick cookie recipe, I came across a blog post for something called “Norwegian Christmas butter squares.” I’d never found anything like it before: it created rich, buttery and chewy cookies, like a vastly superior version of the holiday sugar cookies I’d eaten growing up. About a year ago I went looking for the recipe again, and failed to find it. The blog had been taken down, and it sent me into momentary panic. 

Luckily, I remembered enough to find it on the Wayback Machine, and quickly copied it into a file that I’ve saved ever since. I probably make these cookies about once a month, and they last about five days around my voracious husband - they’re fantastic with a cup of bitter coffee or tea. I’m skeptical that there is something distinctively Norwegian about these cookies, but they do seem like the perfect thing to eat on a cold day. 

Norwegian Christmas Butter Squares

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 egg 1 cup sugar 2 cups flour 1 tsp vanilla ½ tsp salt Turbinado/ Raw Sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Chill a 9x13″ baking pan in the freezer. Do not grease the pan.

Using a mixer, blend the butter, egg, sugar, and salt together until it is creamy.  Add the flour and vanilla and mix using your hands until the mixture holds together in large clumps. If it seems overly soft, add a little extra flour. 

Using your hands, press the dough out onto the chilled and ungreased baking sheet until it is even and ¼ inch thick.  Dust the top of the cookies evenly with raw sugar.

And it is GREAT.

Birds playing volleyball 

Dorian: Tell me, Cassandra: did your family throw suitors at you?

Cassandra: My uncle did, waves of them – until I broke one's arm. Then there were fewer.

Dorian: I must admit I never tried that.

Cassandra: It was an accident. Well... mostly an accident.

Cassandra Allegra Portia Calogera Filomena Pentaghast, former Seeker of Truth and lover of Varric's Swords and Shield Series

[ID: “I have done nothing wrong, ever, in my life” “I know this, and I love you” meme from Parks and Rec edited. In the first image, the face and white hair of Travis Matagot is edited over the face of the person saying “I have done nothing wrong, ever, in my life.” In the second image, the hat, hair and face of Captain Orimar Vale is edited over the face with the text now reading “you couldn’t possibly be more incorrect”]