Sunday, March 30, 2014

HIMYM finale baking: sumbitches cookies



Over nine seasons, How I Met Your Mother has had its ups and downs, but unlike many other people, I stuck with this show to the very end - and that end has come. Tomorrow night will be the series finale, where hopefully we will finally get the answer to the show's title: how did Ted meet The Mother? (Spoilers for all nine seasons of HIMYM in my post below...)

I'm expecting a bittersweet ending to the show and won't be at all surprised if they do actually kill one of them off (the consensus is currently on The Mother, but my money is actually on Robin to bite it). Hopefully I'm wrong and they decide to go for the happy ending (this is a sitcom, after all), but I'm prepared for either outcome. 

I'm also prepared in terms of snacks during the finale - I finally settled on a suitable dessert: the "sumbitches" cookies. In the season 9 premiere, Lily meets The Mother while in a highly stressed mood, and to calm her down, The Mother offers her cookies - something with chocolate, peanut butter, and caramel. 


I decided to make those cookies (plan B was to decorate cake pops with tiny suits, but the cookies were far less work). Following a recipe of a fellow HIMYM fan, I whipped up a batch of sumbitches, hopefully designed to reduce emotional outbursts during finale viewing 

In honor of nine years of great (with some stumbles along the way) television, I've complied a list of my top fifteen favorite episodes of HIMYM. These are episodes that, for whatever reason, I've watched countless times. I've listed them here in chronological order - ranking them by awesomeness would just be too hard. 

The Pineapple Incident - Season 1


One of my favorite things about this show is their use of flashbacks as a framing device for storytelling. While other shows like Lost or Pretty Little Liars use flashbacks for dramatic, revealing purposes, HIMYM uses it mostly for comedic relief. This episode was one of their best uses of it - piecing together Ted's crazy blackout drunken night. And unlike those other shows, I'm totally okay with never finding out what was up with the pineapple. 

Slap Bet - Season 2




This episode may be the best of all nine seasons of this show. It set up two huge (and awesome) plot points for the show: Marshall and Barney's slap bet and Robin's past as a Canadian pop star. But besides that, it was also flat-out hilarious - the music video at the end alone probably makes this the best ever episode ever. (And speaking of the slap bet, I think it's adorable that Marshall used up his last slap to get Barney to focus for the wedding).

Something Borrowed + Something Blue - Season 2



Technically, this is two episodes and I actually did like Something Borrowed better than Something Blue, but I'll just group it as one since they were both so good. Lily and Marshall's wedding was as sweet and disastrous as you would expect for a HIMYM wedding (although honestly, that wedding was a cakewalk compared to Barney and Robin's current wedding weekend of hell). Marshall shaving his head was one of the funniest moments of the series, and the couple's impromptu wedding vows were one of the cutest moments.

How I Met Everyone Else - Season 3 



I was pleasantly surprised to see Blah-Blah pop up in season 9 (albeit for 3 seconds) because this episode is one of my most re-watched. Seeing Blah-Blah get crazier and crazier throughout the episode was almost as enjoyable as watching how the rest of the gang met each other. I personally liked seeing Ted and Marshall messing with Barney within minutes of meeting him.

Spoiler Alert - Season 3



I quote this episode with my sister all the time, and I also thought it was one of the more well-written episodes, with the A-plot tying perfectly into the B-plot by the end of episode. The glass-shattering effect was also one of my favorite jokes in this episode, and it was great to see that most of the characters' traits brought up in this episode were continued throughout the series (except for Lily's loud chewing, but honestly, that would have been annoying for all of us).

The Platinum Rule - Season 3



Again, great use of the flashback in this one and props to them for keeping Lily's hairstyle accurate as they flashed through the years. Another thing I love about HIMYM is how reference-able it is, and in this case, Barney's Platinum Rule (never, never, love thy neighbor) is kind of true in real life, although not as exaggerated.

Ten Sessions - Season 3



The awkward acting of guest star Britney Spears notwithstanding, this one was pretty funny as well. The ten-week time frame was an interesting setup for the episode (interspersed with flashbacks within this ten-week period), all leading to what is probably the sweetest scene ever in the series: Ted's two minute date with Stella. Seriously, that was majorly cute. Why can't stuff happen like that in real life?

Intervention  - Season 4



Another episode that set up a running joke through the series (the gang sure do love their interventions), as well as Ted's douche-speak ("look what I won at the re-NAY-sounce fair"). Not too much else to say - I've got to make these shorter or I'll never finish the list.

Woooo - Season 4



The episode is up here for the Woooo girl description scene alone. So funny, yet so true. And Sven, the Swedish architecture collective was hilarious as well.

Little Minnesota - Season 4



The very first episode of HIMYM that I ever watched. Born and raised in Minnesota myself, I can relate to Marshall (and at times, Robin) a lot. Although I didn't have any idea of who was who when I first watched this, it was still hilarious (mostly because of the Minnesota/Canada stuff) and got me to go back and watch this show from the start.

Girls vs. Suits - Season 5




Barney singing about suits. Enough said.

Jenkins - Season 5


I thought Amanda Peet was a great guest star in this episode and Robin's "but, um" drinking game was hilarious. The whole reacher-settler thing was also funny (yet true, in a way).

Glitter - Season 6



It's Robin Sparkles 3, y'all! That Canadian teenage math show alone was more than enough to get this episode on the list.

The Broath - Season 7



Monks chanting bro! I still standby my belief that Barney would have been better off with Quinn and this episode highlights exactly why. He really messed it up with her in Season 8 (nearly as bad as how he messed up with Nora earlier, who was probably the best girl for him if he really wanted to change for the better).

How Your Mother Met Me - Season 9



Season 8 was okay. And Season 9 has overall been good, but this episode was definitely the best it's been in awhile. The Mother had to be one hell of a girl for us viewers waiting eight years to finally meet her, and this episode showed us exactly why she was the one for Ted. I loved all the references and callbacks to previous episodes too, and dang, that song at the end was beautiful.

Here's to a (hopefully) amazing finale! Thanks HIMYM, it's been a fun ride.



"Sumbitch" cookies (with chocolate, peanut butter, and caramel)
Makes about two dozen
(Adapted from two.thirty.ate)

  • 1/2 cup butter (unsalted)
  • 1/2 cup/130 g peanut butter (creamy)
  • 1/2 cup/100 g white sugar
  • 1/2 cup/106 g brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/4 cup/156 g all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 3/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 cup/157 g chocolate chips
  • ~2 dozen chewy caramels (I used Werther's)
  1. Cream butter, peanut butter, white sugar, and brown sugar together in a stand mixer until smooth. 
  2. Add the egg and continue mixing. 
  3. Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda together in a separate bowl. 
  4. Stir in the flour mixture into the mixer until just combined. 
  5. Chill dough in fridge for about an hour. 
  6. Preheat oven to 375F.
  7. Wrap about two tsp of dough around a caramel candy. 
  8. Bake for 10 minutes - cookies will spread out a lot, so don't put them too closely together on the cookie sheet. 
  9. Let cool and enjoy! :)

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