Squirrels and Nuts

We figured out conclusively last night that the Sprout has a peanut allergy.

Not to panic - it's just hives, not breathing difficulties (so far). On two previous occasions, he got hives from food but we couldn't pin it on peanuts exactly. But last night, while patting peanut butter cookie dough into balls, he definitely had a reaction and it could only be from the peanut butter.

I have no experience with hives. Wow. Can they ever come on fast. It was 10 minutes between the dough rolling, a tiny taste, and the full-body hive action. And his allergy is even a contact allergy - he got hives all over his hands from the peanut oil. And then he rubbed his peanut-buttery hands into his itchy little eyes. Ooh la la la. We stuck him straight into the bathtub and rubbed him with baking soda/water.

He had some eczema this Spring/Summer, and one of the drugs that the dermatologist prescribed was an antihistamine that helps eczema patients sleep without itching too much. Luckily, we had this antihistamine on hand and gave it to him the moment all the hives appeared. Within 10 minutes of that, the hives stopped itching and started to clear up. Poor little bunny. It was really scary for me, since I've never been around hives much, but Jim handled it with his usual aplomb. And we agreed that I should finish making the cookies since there seemed to be no risk of Sprout suffocating.

I'm going to consult with Sprout's doctor about how allergies can progress, so we know what the risks are. Jim eats peanut butter every day, and having it in the house seems to have no effect on Mister Bobo. That's a relief. And Bobo helped me make cookies with ground almonds in them last week, with absolutely no histamine reaction. So it might just be peanuts, and not all nuts. If it's all nuts, then I'm in trouble.

As a tradition, I usually make a ton of Christmas cookies around this time, and most of them have nuts in them (I am a squirrel, after all). I'm thinking that I'll hold off on making some of them this year, though, since it seems like teasing to make cookies in front of the Sprout that he can't have.

The bittersweet part of this whole story from last night is that the peanut butter cookies were unbelievable.

I'm always shopping for a good cookie recipes (collecting good cookie recipes is one of my haphazard hobbies), and only 1 in 20 is worth keeping. Most of the cookie recipes out there should be drop-kicked off a cliff, in my opinion. And I am a dessert snob, after my four years of working at Calories. It has to be pretty stunning to make my list.

Last night's Magic Peanut Butter Middles were a keeper. You make a paste of peanut butter and icing sugar - this paste is rolled into tiny little balls (a la Sprout). Then you also make a chocolate cookie dough, and wrap each peanut butter ball in chocolate dough. The finished product is flattened with a glass onto the cookie sheet and baked for nine minutes. And presto: a chewy, chocolate cookie with a surprising, creamy, peanut butter middle! Oh my God.

Jim had to run down the alley at 9:30 p.m. to take half of them to John and Amy, so we wouldn't both get tummyaches from gorging ourselves. And now, Sprout had such fun (and doesn't connect "make a cookie, anna putta onna sheet!" with being really itchy and crying), that he wants to make more cookies...