Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies (A Funny Thing Happened)

There are few times in a person’s life when having an oatmeal cookie sounds like a bad idea.  Perhaps when giving birth, or when running a six-minute mile. Otherwise, it is fair game as far as I am concerned. 

Oatmeal cookies say warmth, fall, and comfortable sweaters. These do not suggest otherwise.  My coworker, Anne, first brought them into work, thick with white chocolate and dried cranberries.  And while I do not really love either adornment in other sweet things, I quickly decided they were some of the best cookies I had ever known.  

So I got the recipe.  Swapped in butterscotch and apricot for the chocolate and cranberries.  Then I baked and I tasted, hot out of the oven. 

The cookie was okay. It was not one of the best I had ever known. 

I ate three more, just to be sure.  And then I put the rest in plastic bags, sealed them in, and went to bed feeling a little sick.

But a funny thing happened overnight. Those boring little cookies morphed into something else entirely. Something nutty and chewy, with a dose of oats thick enough to suggest they mean business.  Plus a caramel undercarriage and just enough salt to balance it all out.

I am going to go ahead and say that browning the butter is a must, as is baking them the night before you need them.  The walnuts are in there for a reason, so resist the urge to take them out if you can. You will need good quality oats too, along with a little patience.  I suspect you can hang loose with the chocolate and dried fruit.

The rest pretty much takes care of itself.  We are not birthing a child here, mind you, but having a recipe like this still feels like a win.

Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

• ½ cup walnuts
• 2⅔ cups old-fashioned oats
• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 cup chopped dried apricots
• 6 ounces of butterscotch chips
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1⅓ cup dark muscovado sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:

Toast the walnuts until fragrant (either in the oven or in a pan; I used a cast-iron skillet); set aside.  

Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper; set aside.  In a medium bowl, add the oats and sift in the flour, baking soda, and salt; add in the apricots and butterscotch.  Finely chop the walnuts and stir in until everything is well combined.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium low heat until it turns golden brown and fragrant (about four minutes); this happens very quickly so be sure to watch.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, pour in the browned butter and whisk in the sugar until well combined (a minute or two).  Add in the eggs, cinnamon, and vanilla and whisk until well combined.  Add in the dry mixture and stir until just combined.  (The mixture will be thick.)

Chill the batter for 15 to 30 minutes; meanwhile preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Once chilled, scoop the batter using a tablespoon to gather up a heaping amount (about 2 to 3 tbsp) of dough and gently round it loosely into balls spaced 2 inches apart on the prepared sheets.

Bake until lightly golden and just dry to the touch but still soft in the center (about 10 minutes).  

Slide the parchment onto wire racks to cool.  Line the sheets with more parchment and repeat with remaining batches.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies

Notes:

1. Let the walnuts cool slightly so they aren’t piping hot when you mix them in.
2. My oven runs a little hot, so I ended up dropping the temperature slightly, but these cook pretty quickly so watch them.
3. These freeze beautifully and really do get better with age.
4. If you do not have muscovado, use dark or light brown sugar and don’t look back.
    

Rose Angel Food with Orange Blossom Cream: Save the Cake

It seems logical that a cake requiring twelve eggs (and only the puny fat-free parts) would become defunct almost immediately. Lest you think angel food cake has gone the way of the Dodo, please reconsider. 

It is true the last person I remember to bake the dessert was my grandmother.  She used to alternate between angel food cake and something called Love in Bloom, which dictated cream cheese be mixed with heavy cream and spread over a premade graham cracker crust, then topped with cherry pie filling.  

It is also true she recently turned ninety. And it is highly unlikely she makes either of these options on a regular basis now. 

Do not be misled.  She is a spry woman who lives alone and still flips her mattress regularly.  Though I think when you enter your tenth decade, you probably yearn less and less for foods with cherubic undercurrents.

Perhaps there are people still Love in Bloom-ing on a regular basis, but the recent trend has been to gather around lusty, big bosomed desserts that take kindly to things like bacon, sea salt, and good old fashioned lard.  No matter.  Anything that encourages an empty wine bottle peaks my interest, immediately.  (In this case, a bygone rosé.)  Add in an innate companionship for summer berries and you have my undivided attention.

It had been too long since my last encounter, so I had to go hunting for a recipe.  I found support where I often do: with Mrs. Garten and Mr. Lebovitz (plus my mother).  And then I had to do something I hate doing.  Obtain very specific cake parts. 

Including caster sugar, cake flour, a plan for a dozen egg yolks, and other persnickety things, like a specific two-piece tube pan.  Luckily, the latter was a gift recently scored at a garage sale. (Which may implicate the dessert’s passing proclivities even further). 

Do not be deterred.  She is fussy, but worth it.

What resulted was one of the lightest, softest cakes I have eaten in years.  Quite good on its own, capable of being sliced and palmed on a moment’s notice.  Ethereal paired with unsweetened whipped cream and the ripest berries you can find. 

I added rose water to the batter and orange blossom into the cream, because they are heady and romantic and perfect for a cloud-like, and arguably antiquated, cake.  Some souls find these flavors to be too grandmotherly, so simply leave them out if you are in this camp.  (I am not.) 

Either way, the cake should be rebranded as vintage, and swiped off the endangered list.

Or perhaps I am mistaken.  Perhaps it never really left us.  Old often becomes anew.  Here, rosé begets rose. And cake becomes better cake.

Rose Angel Food Cake with Orange Blossom Cream and Berries

Adapted from Barefoot Contessa Family Style by Ina Garten

Ingredients:

for the cake

• 1½ cups egg whites (10-12 eggs), at room temperature
• 2 cups sifted superfine (caster) sugar, divided
• 1⅓ cups cake flour
• ¾ tsp kosher salt
• 1½ tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• zest of 1 large lemon
• 1 tsp rose water

for the whipped topping

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tsp orange blossom water

for the berries

• 2 cups berries (blackberries, blueberries, et cetera.), divided
• a few drops of fresh lemon or lime juice
• 1 to 2 tbsp sugar
• splash of Grand Marnier

Instructions:

one or two hours ahead

Separate your eggs; save the egg yolks for another use and let the whites come to room temperature.

to make the cake

Set the oven to 350 degrees.

Place a fine sieve over a medium bowl and sift ½ cup of the sugar and all the cake flour together into the bowl.  Sift this mixture three more times (you may wish to get another bowl so you can easily move it back and forth).

In the bowl of a stand mixer, place the egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar.  Whip on high speed with the whisk attachment until medium firm peaks form (about a minute). (At first, my cream of tartar clumped a bit so I whipped the whites by hand until everything became incorporated and then resumed the mixer.)

With the mixer on medium speed, slowly sprinkle in the remaining sugar and whisk until thick and shiny (1 to 2 minutes more).  Add in the vanilla, lemon zest, and rose water and whisk until very thick (about another minute). 

Remove the bowl from the stand and sift one forth of the flour mixture into the egg whites; gently fold in the flour using a rubber spatula and then repeat 3 more times (adding a forth of flour each time), until everything is incorporated.

Pour the batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan.  Smooth the top and bake for 35 to 45 minutes, until the top is golden and springs back when touched.  Immediately invert the pan over a bottle (a wine bottle works well for this).  

Let completely cool.  

Loosen the cake by running your knife along the two inner rims, then remove the cake by gently tipping the pan sideways; run your knife along the bottom of the pan to fully extricate the cake.  Wrap tightly in plastic wrap until ready to serve.

to serve

In a medium saucepan, add 1 cup of the berries, citrus juice, sugar (to taste), and Grand Marnier and heat on medium until the berries start to give off liquid, but haven’t yet become mush (about 3 to 5 minutes).  Toss in remaining fresh berries and stir to combine.

Whip the cream until it becomes the consistency you prefer (I like mine on the thicker, denser side), drizzle in the orange blossom water; refrigerate until ready to serve.  Top each slice of cake with a dollop of whipped cream and spoon berries on top.

Makes enough for 8 humans

Notes:

1. The whipped cream and berry sauce can be prepared a day in advance, but omit the last cup of berries. Gently rewarm the sauce and add in the fresh berries right before serving.
2. The cake can be made two days ahead of time.  Keep in airtight container or wrap well with plastic wrap. Store at room temperature.
3. Don't have caster sugar?  Whirl granulated in a food processor.
    

Early Plum Frozen Yogurt, This is Just to Say

One of my favorite poems is by William Carlos Williams.  It is about plums, which I love.  But it is also about apologizing without actually apologizing.  It feels sexy too and is called, "This is Just to Say"

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

A role the plum was born to play.  I only wish prunes got that level of respect.  Prunes get nose wrinkling and constipation.  I hate that.  (This is also what inspired the title of this very blog.)

No matter. I am a champion for plums of all kind.  Even the wrinkly ones.

So please allow me to introduce early plum frozen yogurt.

It pushes all the buttons you want a summer dessert to push.  It is refreshing, freckled with vanilla beans, layered with tart plum bits, and delicately sweetened.  I used deep purple plums with canary yellow flesh, which birthed a ballet slipper-colored base dissected with bright pink fleshy swirls.

All this just to say the yogurt was delicious.  So sweet.  And so cold.

Early Plum Frozen Yogurt

Inspired by Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home by Jeni Britton Bauer

Ingredients:

for the frozen yogurt base

• 1 quart plain low fat yogurt
• 1½ cups whole milk
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 2 ounces (4 tbsp) cream cheese, softened
• ½ cup heavy cream
• ⅔ cup sugar
• ¼ cup light corn syrup
• 1 vanilla bean pod, split, seeds and pod reserved

for the plum swirl and plum syrup

• 2 limes, 1 zested and both juiced
• 4 black plums, each sliced into 6 wedges
• ⅓ cup demerara sugar
• pinch of salt
• splash of rosewater (optional)

Instructions:

day 1

Over a large bowl, fit a sieve or colander double-lined with cheesecloth.  Pour yogurt into the lined bowl to drain; cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight (6 to 8 hours).
In a medium saucepan, place lime juice, zest, plums, demerara sugar, and pinch of salt and heat on medium, stirring occasionally, and gently. 

Once the skins start to separate from the flesh, remove enough slices from pan to make 1 heaping cup and place in a small bowl.  (The plums should be slightly softened, but not falling apart; it is okay to do this a few pieces at a time, as not all the plums will lose their skins at once.

The plums yellow flesh should turn bright pink from being cooked with their skins.)

Cook the remaining plums and their liquid down until thick (about 20 minutes); using a small sieve, strain out the skins, pressing down to extract all the juice.  You should have just over ½ cup plum liquid; add in the rosewater.  Place in a small container.  Cover and refrigerate both the plum halves and plum liquid.

day 2

Discard the liquid from the strained yogurt; measure out 1¼ cups of yogurt and set aside. (Use the small amount of leftover yogurt for another use.)  In a small bowl, whisk 3 tbsp of the milk with the cornstarch to make a slurry.  Whisk the cream cheese in a separate small bowl until smooth.  

In a medium saucepan, combine the remaining milk, cream, sugar, corn syrup, and vanilla bean (pod and seeds) over medium heat; boil 4 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching.

Remove the milk mixture from the heat, discard the vanilla bean pod, whisk in the cornstarch slurry, and return the liquid to medium heat until it thickens slightly, about a minute or two.  

Whisk a little of the hot mixture into the cream cheese, enough so that it becomes smooth, then whisk into the saucepan with the remaining milk.  Remove from heat; whisk in the yogurt and reserved plum liquid. 

Set a medium-sized metal bowl over a larger bowl filled with ice.  Set a strainer on top and pour the liquid through to remove any unseemly bits.  Let cool; cover and refrigerate the base overnight.

day 3

Churn the base in a frozen ice cream canister for 20 to 25 minutes, until the base pulls away from the sides of the canister, forming ribbons.  While the yogurt is churning, cut up the reserved plum halves into bite-sized pieces.  Spoon a little of the base into a freezer safe-container and then layer with plum bits; repeat layering until both the plums and base are all used up, ending with the base. 

Place a piece of parchment paper, cut to fit the container, over the top of the yogurt; seal and freeze at least 4 hours before serving.

Makes about a quart

Notes:

1. This is a hard frozen yogurt; you’ll want to take it out a few minutes to soften before scooping.
2. I suspect if you use plums with dark flesh, the result will be a darker shade.  
3. We are a tad premature for plum season right now in Massachusetts.  I had very good luck with some local supermarket fruit.  I think nectarines would be lovely here too.
4. I can never get my act together enough to let the cream cheese soften ahead of time, so I usually stick it in the microwave for a few seconds.  It does wonders.