The Cookie Jar

Plum Upside Down Cake 

We grow plums at my house, and when we had a copuious amount of ripe ones that couldn’t be used in time I had two thoughts: 1. jam or 2. upside down cake. Well, as this post makes obvious, the cake idea prevailed. The recipe is quite easy actually, and doesn’t require much time. 

Ingredients: (serves 8-12)

• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 5 large plums, halved, pitted, each half cut into 6 wedges

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• sprinkle cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 cup milk

Instructions:

1. Slice and pit plums, and place evenly in a greased deep dish 9 inch pie plate or cake pan. (I used a pie plate

2. In a medium saucepan on medium heat, melt brown sugar, honey, and 6 tablespoons unsalted butter stirring frequently until mixture simmers to a near boil and is well combined. (caramel sauce.) Pour this sauce over the plums in the dish.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large bowl, cream together remaining 6 tbsp butter, and sugar until well mixed. Beat in eggs, almond extract and vanilla until evenly mixed and slightly fluffy. Then, beat in flower, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon until mixed. Slowly beat in milk for a smooth, lump-free batter. Pour into prepared pan or pie dish. 

4. Bake at 350 degrees for at least 50 minutes (but mine took about 58). Make sure a tester comes out clean when baked and that sides are golden brown. Allow cake to cool in pan at least 25 minutes on a wire rack before removing from pan.

5. To properly remove cake from pan. Flip cake or pie dish ‘upside-down’ on a large plate carefully and then lift plate quickly. Some of the cake may not make it, but if you greased the dish well, the entire cake should be on the cake, with little residue in the dish. 

6. Serve warm, with whipped cream or at room temperature (it tastes great with a nice earl grey tea!)

Cinnamon-baked French Toast *adapted from the Pioneer Woman

This baked french toast is perfect for mother’s day and is a tradition in my family because you can make it easily the night before, and then put it in the oven in the morning for a no-hassle, wonderful mother’s day. (my mom usually doesn’t like breakfasts in bed, but this is an exception)

Ingredients:serves 10 (so feel free to cut recipe in half)

1/2 cups granulated sugar

6 eggs

1 medium loaf of “day old” french bread

“idiot proof” 5 ingredient peanut butter pocket cookies

These cookies are absolutely delicious and fantastic. They also have only 5 ingredients (as few as 4 if you opt out of chocolate*, but let’s be honest, who in the right mind ever does that?), so it may be fair to say that they are easier than store-bought. 

*PS. the chocolate is “stuffed” in the middle, so it oozes out when you split the cookie in half, even when cooled

Makes about 14 devastatingly good cookies 

1 large egg

1 cup creamy or chunky peanut butter (any stirred brand will do, I used Skippy Creamy today)

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 teaspoon baking soda

about 1/3 cup chocolate chips or chunks (to stuff the center of the cookie with)

Instructions:

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large bowl, beat eggs, brown sugar, peanut butter, and baking soda until combined. Scrape down sides of bowl with a spatula. 

2. Using an ice cream scooper, make small balls of dough. Stuff the center of each doughball with about 3-4 chocolate chips (make sure dough covers all sides around chips) Place dough about 1 inch apart from one another to prevent sticking on an ungreased baking sheet. 

3. Bake for 9-11 minutes, or until light golden brown on top of cookies. Allow to cool on wire racks for at least 15 minutes, since cookies are fragile. Remove from sheets with a spatula and enjoy!

Cherry Garcia Ice Cream

(adapted from Kiss My Spatula, and Jerry Garcia himself!)

Ingredients (makes one pint)

1/4 cup shaved dark chocolate, or dark/bittersweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup sliced, pitted Bing cherries, or tart cherry preserves (morello cherries are the best, if using a jam)

2/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

dash salt

1 cup whole milk

2 cups heavy cream

Method

Place the shaved chocolate flakes and the cherries or cherry preserves in separate bowls. Cover and refrigerate.

Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a saucepan. Whisk the eggs in a bowl and gradually add some of the warmed milk, stirring constantly as you pour. Pour the warmed mixture back into the saucepan.

Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula. Strain the custard into the heavy cream and stir.

Chill thoroughly, and transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze following the instructions (about 20-25 minutes, sometimes 30).  After the ice cream is thick enough(about 2 minutes before it is done), add the chocolate and the cherries, then continue freezing until the ice cream is ready.  Freeze at least 2 hours before serving.

French Brioche with Dark Chocolate Chips (optional)

These brioche are absolutely delicious, with the buttery-ness of a croissant, and the rich egg-bread flavor of a challah. The French clearly know their breads (but hey, is that even a question?) These brioche take a very long time to rise, but the results are worth every minute.

Ingredients: Makes 12 brioche rolls

1/4 cup warm water (110-115 degrees Fahrenheit)

1/4 cup warm whole milk (110-115 degrees Fahrenheit)

3 teaspoons active dry yeast (roughly one small packet, but measure)

2 3/4 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

3 eggs, at room temperature

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature/soft

semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips (about 1/4 cup), optional

1 large egg beaten with milk (for egg wash glaze)

Instructions:

In a large stand mixer bowl, allow yeast to sit in warm milk and warm water for at least 15 minutes, or until yeast is foamy. 

Add one cup flour, beat at low-medium speed until fully incorporated. Repeat this with 1 cup of flour, and then the remaining 3/4 cup flour. Beat until the dough looks dry and crumbly, but well combined.

Increase the speed to medium on the mixer, and beat in sugar and eggs (one at a time) until fully combined and somewhat fluffier. On low speed, blend in butter (1-2 tablespoons at a time), until just mixed.

Using a dough hook or your hands, knead dough for about 10 minutes, or until it becomes slightly more elastic and smooth. Butter a large, dry bowl and place dough in it to rise for about 1.5 hours, or until the dough has doubled in volume. 

After first rise, let the dough in a warm, dry place, deflate it every once in a while. Every half an hour, deflate dough by lightly tapping it on top and sides with a spatula. Do this 4 times (until 2 hours). Place bowl of risen dough into the fridge overnight.

The next day, remove bowl of dough and allow it to rise a bit.  Lightly grease about 12 brioche tins (or a muffin tin with 12 spaces, if you don’t have brioche tins at home) Make 12 balls of dough and place them into the tins.

If you want chocolate chip brioche, flatten out each dough-ball, lightly scatter about 1 tablespoon of chocolate chips across the dough, and then fold into a ball. Allow these dough-balls in the tins to rise another hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit. Beat together 1 egg and some milk until foamy. Brush this egg wash across the top of each brioche.   Bake brioche for about 10 minutes. When they are done baking, turn the oven off, and allow them to sit in the oven for about 5 minutes before cooling on a wire rack. 

Brioche are best eaten with a nice cup of cappuccino or espresso (how Parisian) with a side of compound butter, plain with jam (my personal favorite), or with Nutella for the true chocolate lover. They usually stay fresh about 3 days, but are best eaten asap, of course!

Classic New York Cheesecake

Oddly enough, I’ve never made a cheesecake before. Not even those delicious mini oreo cupcake cheesecakes that keep popping up all over the web. However, my mom is a huge cheesecake fan, and after seeing cheesecake on a stick (who knew!) at Coachella this weekend, I decided it was about time to give cheesecake making a shot. This recipe is adapted from many cookbooks, but is definitely a classic way to make New York styled Cheesecake.

Makes 10 large slices

Ingredients:

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

dash salt

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

2-8 ounce packages of cream cheese (do not use fat free for this recipe!)

1 pint full fat sour cream 

3 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

zest from 1/2 lemon

1 cup granulated sugar

******this is a basic cheesecake recipe. Feel free to add in swirled jam, cocoa powder, nutella, chopped fruits, melted white chocolate, liquer, etc.**************

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 8 or 9 inch round springform pan with nonstick spray on bottom and on sides. 

Make graham cracker crust with cinnamon, salt, brown sugar, graham cracker crumbs, and melted butter. Press mixture into the bottom of the springform pan, and use the bottom of a glass to flatten out the crust so that it covers the bottom and 1” of the sides evenly. Refrigerate this crust for about 10 minutes, while preparing filling.

In a very large bowl, beat together cream cheese and sour cream until very smooth and well mixed. Gradually beat in eggs, sugar, and vanilla until well mixed, creamy, and a bit frothy. Beat in lemon zest, and/or any other flavorings you may wish to use. 

Pour filling into chilled crust. Wrap sides and bottom of springform pan in aluminum foil and place pan in the center of a large roasting dish/pan. Pour boiling water into the roasting pan carefully (make sure none splashes on you or on the cheesecake!) until the water reaches about the middle the pan. (The reason we use water baths to bake cheesecake or any other fragile dessert is so that it retains its smooth, soft quality and doesn’t get too rubbery)

Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes. Cheesecake will be slightly jiggly when you remove it, so don’t worry (I still always do). Refrigerate in pan for at least 4 hours before serving, although I’m sure you could get away with 3 hours chilling if you HAD to ;)

When slicing cake, remove springform sides carefully. Heat a knife in warm water before cutting into cake. Slice cake with heated knife carefully and serve along side whipped cream, sliced fruit or berries, or with a delicious caramel sauce. Enjoy!