I’d never considered the pairing as one of the best on the planet. But when my grandson Jacob was 5, he offered his opinion in a confident tone. He looked me in the eye and proclaimed that peanut butter and chocolate are the best combination of flavors.

Some might argue, offering up different sets of two ingredients that work together harmoniously. My father always sang the praises of strawberries and cream; my mother would weigh in with apples and cinnamon. For me, my palate wavers, but my favorite ingredient combinations often showcase some kind of cheese.

Now in high school, Jacob and I have made hundreds of Peanut Blossom Cookies, tasty peanut butter cookies, each adorned with a Hershey’s chocolate kiss. The recipe has been around for decades and it’s foolproof, a great treat to bake with kids.

The recipe is included here, along with a brownie that shows off peanut butter as well as chocolate. Also included is a formula for Peanut Brittle Bars, a bar cookie that uses chocolate and salted, roasted peanuts, deviating a smidgen from the peanut butter theme. But I couldn’t leave them out. To my palate, they are the best bar cookies imaginable. The pairing is a jewel.

Peanut Brittle Bars are a scrumptious salty-sweet treat. (Photo by Cathy Thomas)

Peanut Brittle Bars

My hankering for salty-sweet treats started with my Aunt Lillian’s peanut brittle. Throughout my childhood, every year her nut-laden candy arrived a few days before Christmas. Tightly packed in a pristine coffee can, Lillian’s crunchy confections disappeared far too quickly. Well into adulthood I discovered Peanut Brittle Bars. The crisp squares showcased a topping of salted peanuts, along with chocolate chips and caramel.

Yield: 48 bars

INGREDIENTS

Base:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon toasted wheat germ

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) cold butter, cut into 1/4-inch slices

Topping:

2 cups salted, roasted peanuts

1 cup milk chocolate chips

1 (12 1/2 ounces) jar caramel ice cream topping

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

DIRECTIONS

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 10-by-15-by-1-inch rimmed baking sheet.

2. In a food processor fitted with the metal blade, place flours, wheat germ, brown sugar, baking soda and salt; pulse to combine, about 10 seconds. Add cold butter slices; pulse until crumbly and butter is cut into dry ingredients. Do not over process, or mixture will form a dough. Dump onto prepared baking sheet. Use clean fingers to evenly press into even layer. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 14 minutes or until evenly golden.

3. Sprinkle peanuts and chocolate chips over warm base. In a small bowl, stir together the caramel sauce and 3 tablespoons of flour; drizzle over peanuts and chips.

4. Bake in 350-degree oven for 12 to 18 minutes or until golden brown and set. Cool 1 hour or until completely cooled. Cut into bars.

Cut Milk Chocolate and Peanut Butter Brownies are stacked on a plate. (Photo by Cathy Thomas)

Milk Chocolate and Peanut Butter Brownies

My favorite way to serve peanut butter spiked brownies is alongside vanilla ice cream that is sprinkled with peanuts.

Yield: One 9-by-13-inch pan of brownies, about 12 servings

INGREDIENTS

Soft butter for greasing pan and parchment paper

8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter

1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons smooth peanut butter

1 cup coarsely chopped milk chocolate

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

4 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 2/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, see cook’s notes

Cook’s notes: I use semi-sweet chocolate chips because they are preferred by my grandchildren, but cookbook author Nicole Rucker calls for 72% chocolate chips, a darker chocolate with a higher cacao content. The choice is yours.

DIRECTIONS

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a 9-by-13-inch rimmed sheet pan and line the bottom and sides with parchment paper. Set aside.

2. Place 2 sticks of butter in a small saucepan on medium heat. Stir frequently and keep an eye on it so it doesn’t brown. Meanwhile, put peanut butter and chopped chocolate in large heatproof bowl. When the butter is hot and melted, pour over peanut butter-chocolate mixture and stir to combine and melt chocolate. Set aside.

3. In the large mixing bowl of an electric stand mixer, combine brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt, eggs, and vanilla. Mix on medium speed for 1 minute, until the mixture is pale in color and creamy looking. Add the melted chocolate-butter mixture. Mix at a medium speed until combined. Add the flour and cocoa powder; mix until just combined, so no dry bits of flour remain.

4. Transfer batter to prepared pan. Using a silicone spatula smooth out batter pushing batter into the corners and making it even. Tap lightly on the counter to remove any air pockets. Scatter chocolate chips on top of batter, gently pressing them down a little.

5. Bake for 10 minutes. Rotate pan and bake another 13 to 15 minutes, or until the sides are set and the center will still appear a bit unset. A toothpick inserted in center should come out with very moist crumbs.

6. Allow brownies to cool on a wire rack. They can be stored airtight at room temperature up to one week.

Source: Adapted from “Fat + Flour” by Nicole Rucker (Alfred A. Knoff)

Peanut Blossom Cookies are a classic homemade sweet treat. (Photo by Cathy Thomas)

Peanut Blossom Cookies

A milk chocolate kiss pressed into the center of these still-hot peanut butter cookies makes them pretty and delicious, too. When I want to make these cookies with my grandchildren and I discover there aren’t any Hershey’s chocolate kisses in the house, I substitute either Hershey’s nuggets or Mini Milk Chocolate peanut butter cups from Trader Joe’s.

Yield: About 3 to 4 dozen cookies

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature

1/2 generous cup peanut butter, creamy preferred

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup dark brown sugar

1 egg

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Parchment paper

Granulated sugar for rolling

9 ounces Hershey’s kisses, unwrapped

DIRECTIONS

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, place butter and peanut butter. Beat at a medium speed until well combined. Add sugars and beat until creamy. Add egg, milk, and vanilla; beat until well combined.

2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt; stir with a whisk. Add the flour mixture in 3 portions to the butter mixture, beating between additions to combine.

3. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Shape dough into 1-inch balls (I do this with the aid of a small ice cream scoop). Roll the dough balls in granulated sugar to coat. Place on prepared baking sheets, about 1 1/2-inches apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately place an unwrapped chocolate kiss in the middle of each cookie, lightly pressing it down. The cookies may crack around the edges. Don’t worry.

Award-winning food writer Cathy Thomas has written three cookbooks, including “50 Best Plants on the Planet.” Follow her at CathyThomasCooks.com.

By TOM MURPHY, Associated Press

IV therapy clinics are springing up around the country, touting quick ways to recover from a hangover or a hard workout. But doctors and regulators preach caution.

The services have been on a growth spurt since the COVID-19 pandemic, offering drips that promise to boost energy, gird immune systems or relieve joint pain. This is done from bags of intravenous fluids normally seen hanging next to hospital beds.

Customers must be willing to fork over as much as couple hundred dollars for each session — in some cases for a mixture of vitamins and supplements that would be considerably cheaper in pill form.

Proponents say this approach helps customers hydrate faster and absorb more of a vitamin or supplement than they would by swallowing pills.

But Dr. Sam Torbati, co-chair of emergency medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, says the therapy mostly helps people create “expensive urine,” with the body clearing what it doesn’t use.

Related Articles

Burns and fireworks injuries: What to do when seconds count this July 4th

Twin Cities nurses avoid strike, but Duluth walkout still possible

‘Not accountable to anyone’: As insurers issue denials, some patients run out of options

FDA vaccine official restricted COVID vaccine approvals against the advice of agency staff

Strike to start Tuesday for health care workers at Stillwater clinic

How many IV clinics are there?

They’re hard to count, partly because some businesses just provide IV therapy while others offer it as part of a medical spa.

The practice grew popular during COVID-19, when access to doctors became limited and people grew more concerned about their immune system health, according to the American IV Association, an industry group.

Regulators in Ohio are following the trend closely in their state, which now has around 200 clinics. These businesses were largely unheard of there before the pandemic, said Cameron McNamee, a spokesman for the Ohio Board of Pharmacy.

What should customers know about IV therapy clinics?

Doctors say there are some good questions to pose before any treatment starts.

Customers should ask the person starting the IV how long they have been doing their job and what sort of training they have, said Torbati.

They also should know what’s in the IV drip. For instance, “Wonder Juice” treatment offered by the Restore Hyper Wellness franchise combines six vitamins and supplements that are available, in oral form, on the pharmacy store shelves.

Knowing all the ingredients comes in handy if someone has an allergic reaction.

Also ask where the company gets its drugs, if any are used. The answer should be a licensed pharmaceutical wholesaler, according to McNamee.

Otherwise, the drug could be counterfeit or substandard. Ohio regulators have suspended the licenses of businesses that purchased drugs on Facebook.

Customers also should make sure the clinic is in decent shape when they visit.

“If the office isn’t clean, then the IV room’s probably not clean either,” McNamee said.

Why are regulators concerned?

They don’t like that a nurse or a paramedic often helps a customer decide on an IV therapy and then delivers the treatment. Rules can vary, but many state regulators say a doctor, physician assistant or nurse practitioner should be involved.

The clinics often run on standing orders, which are issued by a doctor with the idea that they give the nurse or paramedic permission to treat patients according to certain protocols.

Hospital emergency rooms regularly operate on the same kind of orders, according to Dr. Chris Seitz, an emergency physician and chairman of the American IV Association’s scientific advisory board.

“Many nurses saw patients before I ever could get to them in the emergency department and initiated care like IV fluids,” he said.

Is there too much patient involvement?

Regulators also worry about the role customers play in picking their own treatments.

“A patient cannot enter a doctor’s office or hospital and demand an IV any more than a patient can direct his or her own appendectomy,” Kentucky officials said in a March statement.

But Seitz says there should be a partnership between any care provider and the patient, with the provider helping the patient make the right decision.

“Patients have a requirement and a need to be the CEO of their own health,” he said.

Patient choice feeds another worry: the mixing of ingredients for specific treatments, a practice known as compounding.

South Carolina regulators said in a 2023 statement that this should result from a valid care provider order, “not from a patient-driven menu akin to a fast-food restaurant.”

However, proponents say the addition of vitamins or drugs to an IV treatment should not be confused with mixing prescription drugs in a lab.

“It’s just pretty simple low-hanging fruit in terms of clinical complexity,” said Jeff Cohen, a co-founder of the American IV Association.

What’s the big picture?

IV therapy clinics do provide some care. They can help cancer patients or pregnant women stay hydrated. Some treatments offer relief from migraine pain.

But many drips require the creation of a sterile, soluble vitamin or supplement that is safe to put into someone’s veins. That’s more expensive to make than a vitamin that may cost a few cents a pill, Torbati noted.

Customers will need to determine whether the added expense is worth it.

“Usually within eight hours, all that expensive therapy (is) peed out,” he said.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

From a barbecue explosion to a severe firework injury, a lot can go wrong when celebrating the Fourth of July.

When it does, minutes – even seconds – can significantly impact the extent of the injury.

“Just know that alcohol impairs your reaction time,” said Dr. Randy Katz, Memorial Healthcare System’s district medical director for emergency services in Florida.

Firework accidents sent 14,700 people to emergency departments across the nation last year, quickly turning celebration into tragedy. Although prevention is key, Katz says response is also essential.

If a firework or sparkler injures an eye, immediately protect it from pressure or further trauma by placing a cup or makeshift device over it.  “You don’t want to cover it with a towel or anything that touches the eye,” Katz advises.

Katz said kids often run with sparklers or use them to sword fight. “It’s easy to sustain an eye injury.”

Related Articles

Thinking about taking a stab at IV therapy? Ask some questions first

Twin Cities nurses avoid strike, but Duluth walkout still possible

‘Not accountable to anyone’: As insurers issue denials, some patients run out of options

FDA vaccine official restricted COVID vaccine approvals against the advice of agency staff

Strike to start Tuesday for health care workers at Stillwater clinic

More than a third of firework burns are to the hands and fingers, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Should a firework go off in your hand, Katz says, wrap it in a towel and keep it covered until you get to the ED.

Katz, who is also the medical director for the Florida city of Hollywood Fire Rescue, has seen hundreds of emergencies that happen when festivities and celebrations go awry.

On beaches and in backyards, barbecues will be in use this holiday weekend. And that presents a potential danger.

Forty-six-year-old Andrew Sossin knows this well.

On a hot July day, Sossin had friends and family gathered at his Hollywood, Florida, home, enjoying a backyard barbecue.

His friend, Gabe Zohora, joined him in his outdoor kitchen, ready to man the gas grill together. But when Zohora pushed the button to start the grill, it exploded, setting the nearby cabinets on fire. The explosion caused both men to catch fire as well.

Zohora, a firefighter, followed the protocol. He stopped, dropped and rolled, and then jumped into the saltwater pool. Sossin was propelled in the air and hit the ground face down, his arms and legs smoking. His wife poured water on him and called 911. “I was in and out of consciousness,” he said.

It turned out that Sossin’s grill had a propane leak. Sossin, CEO of Recovery Unplugged, an addiction treatment center, says he hasn’t been able to wear shoes since the accident, and is still healing. His wife’s quick response minimized the burns, he said. Experts advise against removing clothing that is stuck to the burn.

For prevention, experts recommend starting a gas grill with the cover open and checking regularly for propane leaks and proper ventilation. Amazon sells a propane alarm.

At Jackson Memorial’s Miami Burn Center, Dr. Carl Schulman treats the most severe burns. If you catch on fire, from a firework, bonfire, barbecue or cooking incident, Schulman says immediately stop, drop and roll. “We live near water here in South Florida, so a lot of people like to run and jump in the water. That’s not always the best thing. Unless you’re standing on a dock or on the edge of a pool, those few seconds it’s going to take you to run to the water, you’re burning that whole time. It’s much more effective to stop, drop, and roll.”

Schulman also advises against icing a burn, which can cause further damage.

“You can run normal temperature water over it, and then if it’s very serious, of course, call 911 or seek medical care.”

If running water isn’t accessible, a cool, wet cloth can be used as an alternative. However, once the initial pain subsides, you should replace the damp towel with a clean, dry cloth to prevent the burn from becoming infected.

Of course, holiday weekends also are prime time for drownings. Poor visibility in lakes or rivers can be dangerous.

“The hazards sometimes lie not with what meets the eye but what’s beneath it,” says Dr. Purva Grover, emergency medicine physician for Cleveland Clinic Children’s Pediatric Emergency Departments. “So, there are hazards like rocks, plants and debris, which sometimes you really don’t see, especially in the free-flowing natural areas of water.”

If you can’t see the bottom, jumping in head first can lead to spinal injuries. Katz said he has seen those patients in the emergency room. When someone jumps in and doesn’t come up, anyone nearby needs first to get the person out, then keep them immobilized. “Lie them flat on their back and don’t move them until EMS arrives,” Katz said.

On beaches, water conditions can change quickly, and crowded beaches or swimming pools can make it hard to notice when someone slips under the water.

Once you pull someone out, turn them to the side and allow water to escape from the mouth and lungs, Katz said. Then, check for a pulse. If they are not breathing normally or are only gasping, leave them on their back and start chest compressions. “They no longer recommend mouth-to-mouth. Just chest compressions, which can also expel some of the water out of their lungs,” he said. For anyone without a pulse, ask somebody nearby to find an AED and call 911, he said.

At hospitals, emergency department doctors brace for the holiday weekend. At Memorial, Katz said, “We are expecting our trauma program to be busier.”

South Florida Sun Sentinel health reporter Cindy Goodman can be reached at cgoodman@sunsentinel.com or on X and Instagram @cindykgoodman. 

ST. CLOUD, Minn. — Two motorists were killed late Wednesday night in a collision with a pickup truck that St. Cloud police say fled from an earlier traffic stop.

The incident occurred at about 11:45 p.m. Wednesday, according to the St. Cloud Police Department.

According to the department, a St. Cloud police officer saw a pickup truck traveling south on Ninth Avenue North at a high rate of speed with its headlights off. Police said the truck was traveling “well above the posted speed limit.”

The officer pulled the truck over in the 1100 block of Eighth Avenue North. As the officer approached the vehicle, the driver threw something out of the passenger side window and began to flee the scene.

By the time the officer returned to his squad car, the truck was no longer in sight, so the officer did not pursue. When the officer searched the area of the traffic stop, he found that the item thrown from the truck was a firearm.

At that same time, a crash occurred in the 1300 block of 10th Avenue North.

An initial investigation by police determined that the fleeing truck was heading north on 10th Avenue North at “an extremely high rate of speed.” A passenger car was traveling west on 13th Street North. The truck T-boned the car in the intersection.

The car’s two occupants, a 59-year-old male driver and a 45-year-old male passenger, both from St. Cloud, died, police said.

The driver of the truck, a 26-year-old man from Sauk Rapids, was taken to St. Cloud Hospital, where police say he was in critical condition.

This case is under investigation by St. Cloud police and the Minnesota State Patrol.

Related Articles

Man charged with having machete outside St. Paul school gets probation

A Q-tip and spotless car were key evidence linking Bryan Kohberger to murders of 4 Idaho students

Man charged with killing former Minnesota House speaker says he looks forward to ‘truth’ coming out

An MS-13 leader is sentenced to 68 years in racketeering case involving 8 murders

Bryan Kohberger admits to killing 4 Idaho students but motive remains unclear