Plink! Plink! Plink! I can hear the rain falling outside my living room window. What started out as a soft pitter-patter is now a full fledge symphony of raindrops hitting the glass and street. The air outside smells so earthy and clean. I think it's called petrichor...the scent that is, I read that somewhere once. I don't remember where. Anyhow, inside my cozy cottage, it still smells spicy...almost autumnal, from the persimmon cookies I baked this week. The aroma has been lingering, enveloping me each time I walk into the cottage. I don't mind, it's kind of a comforting smell.


My friend Dawn gave me a large sack of persimmons about a month ago. She had a tree that was overflowing with a bounty of persimmons according to her. Her generosity was much appreciated. I've slowly been using them up in various recipes as the mood strikes. I even puréed some and froze it, to be used in upcoming baked goods. One of the persimmon recipes I've made during my "Persimmon-fest" was a cookie recipe from a book that I had laying around called, Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook. If memory serves me correctly, I won it in a contest a few years ago. The recipe itself is simple enough and uses common spices that most of us have in our cupboard. So far everyone I gave some cookies to has enjoyed them immensely. The recipe called for Hachiya persimmons which I find a bit astringent in taste, I used Fuyu persimmons (the flat bottomed, squat ones).  I also subbed in pecans for the walnuts but other than that I followed the recipe as printed. The cookies have a subtle sweet persimmon taste which is balanced by the tartness from the dried cranberries. They're also more cakey than crunchy, so if you enjoy cookies of the cakey nature these will be right up your alley.

Enjoy and stay warm!

Persimmon Cookies (slightly adapted from Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook)

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups Fuyu persimmon pulp (roughly 2-3 soft persimmons)
1/2 cup of unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon fresh orange zest
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups AP flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground clove
1 cup pecans, chopped fine
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two baking sheets or line with Silpat.

2. Remove the stems and seeds of the persimmons, cut in chunks (no need to peel) and purée in a food processor until it's smooth.  * Be sure to use soft persimmons.

3. Cream the butter and both sugars until it's nice and creamy. Add in the orange zest, egg, vanilla and puréed persimmons. Mix well. Then add in the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Mix well. Finally, add in your pecans and dried cranberries. Then guess what? You got it- mix well (also scrape down the sides of the bowl so that all the flour, etc. gets incorporated).

4. Drop the dough on your prepared cookie sheets. Roughly two tablespoons worth. The dough will be soft and kind of sticky, that's ok.

5. Bake for 15-25 minutes depending on the size of your cookies. Mine took about 17 minutes.

6. Remove from oven. Allow to cool. Serve.

Only a week into December and it's freezing! (Ok, by California standards) I hope despite the chilly weather, you've been able to get out and enjoy yourselves. Post-Thanksgiving, Mr.S and I took Kidlet #1 to the San Francisco International Auto Show at the Moscone Center. (Thanks for the tickets Grace and Lawrence!) Kidlet #1 loves sports cars, so he and his dad were gawking at all the cool rides and talking a bunch of auto gibberish that I couldn't comprehend. (I'm used to this, as they engage in the same car nerd talk when we watch Top Gear or Fast 'n Loud.) I'm not that into car shows but I did have a nice time perusing all the new vehicles (the modified street vehicles were my favorite) and afterwards we went to Japantown, where I stocked up on Japanese sundries and snacks at Nijiya Market and Ichiban Kan. Mr.S and Kidlet #1 were also very patient while I spent an inordinate amount of time perusing the aisles of kitchen gadgets at Daiso. As a trade-off, I didn't grouse when they begged to grab dinner at Fisherman's Wharf.

Here's a few photos from the car show:










For some reason the SF trip spurred a cookie baking kick in me (maybe it was all the cute baking stuff at Daiso?) and I baked a TON of cookies the following week in the cottage's kitchen. Additionally, I chose to break in a cute tea towel  that a friend gave me as a birthday gift earlier this year. The tea towel is screen printed with a short poem by William Carlos Williams called, "This is Just to Say." I love plums and seeing that poem made me crave some juicy, ripe summer plums. Unfortunately, it's December so I was a bit SOL; however, I remembered that I had made a big batch of delicious rosemary plum jam this summer. I gave a lot of it away but I had a few jars still squirreled away in the cupboard. So in addition to the various other cookies I made, I also whipped up some fresh thumbprint cookies with homemade rosemary plum jam. Mmmm!


My thumbprint cookies have always been a crowd favorite - they're the perfect blend of savory and sweet. The trick is - I use Alice Water's sweet tart dough recipe paired with one of my own jams...strawberry balsamic, ginger peach, blackberry lime, etc. The rosemary plum is my favorite though. Plus it's super easy to make- I use a standard recipe for plum jam and just add in some fresh rosemary.



Rosemary-Plum Jam

Ingredients

3 lbs. fresh plums
a couple sprigs of fresh rosemary
7 1/2 cups of granulated sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 pouch liquid pectin

Instructions

1. Wash your fruit, cut in half, twist and remove pit. Chop. Place in food processor.

2. Wash rosemary. Remove needles from stem. Discard stem. Chop. Place chopped needles in with plums.

3. Give the processor a good pulse/chop or two. You want the processor to crush the fruit mixture (but not puree it). Alternately, if you're not too fussy - you can chop the plums finely with a kitchen knife and call it a day. It'll cook down.

5. Pour rosemary-plum mixture into a large heavy bottomed pot.  Add lemon juice then sugar. Place on high heat and bring to a full rolling boil boil. Stir constantly while the softened fruit and sugar meld.

6. When it gets to be a full rolling boil (rolling boil-= boiling so hard it can't be stirred down, it keeps bubbling), add the pectin in quickly. Keep stirring the entire time.

7.  Return to full rolling boil for exactly 1 minute. Check to see if the jam has set. If it has, remove it from the heat. Skim off any foam.

8. Ladle the jam (while it's still hot) into hot, sterilized half-pint jars. Leave a 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe the rims, secure the lids and finger tighten the rings. Then follow the procedure for processing in a hot water bath.

PS This jam is also amazing when paired with roast pork.

How to sterilize jars and lids
How to hot water bath/can your jam

All week I've felt like I've been waiting, waiting, waiting. Waiting for Mr.S. to come home, waiting for the UPS guy to deliver my package, waiting for the weekend to come and even waiting for autumn to arrive. I'm sick and tired of this weird summer weather and that nasty humidity we had earlier this week was the last straw. I've got my boots, scarfs  and cute cooler weather outfits ready to go, dammit! In the meantime, the cooler beach weather of Santa Cruz is going to have to suffice. In preparation for my girls' weekend getaway, I baked a couple of batches of cookies for us to enjoy while we gab. Two were my old tried-and-true standbys- thumbprint cookies with homemade jam and chewy flourless peanut butter cookies (which half ended up mysteriously at Mr.S.'s casa). I also decided to attempt a new recipe that I had bookmarked in a past issue of Food and Wine magazine called, "Tutu's Super-Crispy Sugar Cookies" (January 2012). The Snap! Crackle! Pop! comes from the addition of Kellogg's Rice Krispies cereal to the batter. It's a pretty easy recipe to make, just don't knock over half the box onto the kitchen floor like I did!

Rice Krispies Cookies (adapted from Food & Wine, January 2012)

Ingredients

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 teaspoon Kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups AP flour

1 1/2 cups Rice Krispies Cereal


Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

2. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugar and salt together.

3. Add the baking soda and vanilla. Beat until it's nice and smooth.

4. While the mixer's running add the flour, 1/2 cup at a time. Then add the Rice Krispies. Make sure it mixes well.

5. Place a Silpat on your baking sheet.  Take about two tablespoons of dough and fashion it into a ball. Place it on the baking sheet, make sure to space the cookie "balls" apart about 3 inches as these will be big cookies.

6. Bake for 15 minutes.

7. Remove baking sheet from oven. Using the back end of a spatula, flatten your cookies.

8. Return baking sheet to the oven and cook for approximately 25 minutes more. The cookies will have small cracks on top and the bottom will be golden brown when they're done cooking.

Sorry for the lack of posts as of late, I've been a bit under the weather. I did drag my sorry butt into the kitchen yesterday though to bake a few batch of cookies. Mr.S. is going out of town for a few days this week so I thought I'd send him off with some delicious treats- a batch of chewy peanut butter cookies as well as a batch of crispy oatmeal cookies. To be honest, I'm feeling a bit low that he's going to be away although it was my decision to skip this trip. Hopefully he'll think of me each time he bites into a tasty cookie while he's gone (and doesn't notice that I kept a few for myself). Lucky for me, Pepper's staying behind to keep me company during Mr.S.'s absence. I guess I'll just have to spoil Peppy rotten...well, more than I normally do.

This recipe is from one of my favorite food blogs Lottie + Doof. The oatmeal cookies come out pretty big so be sure to space them well on the baking sheet (I did 8 cookies per sheet). You can also jazz them up with chocolate chips, nuts or raisins if you wish; but quite frankly, I thought they were perfect with just a sprinkle of Maldon salt on the top.

Crispy Oatmal Cookies with Maldon Salt

Ingredients

1 cup AP flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

14 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats

Maldon salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a medium-sized bowl, combine : AP flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix throughly.

3. In your mixer's bowl (w/ paddle attachment), cream the butter until fluffy. Then add the sugars and cream together until light and fluffy.



4. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well. Continue to mix on medium low. At this time add in your flour mixture and combine ingredients throughly.

5. With mixer running on low, slowly incorporate the oats into the mixture in the bowl. Mix for about 20-30 seconds on low.

6. Take about 2 tablespoons of dough and fashion it into a ball shape, then squelch them down to make a cookie about 3/4 inch in thickness.

7. Place cookies on a Silpat. Make sure they're not crowded because they will spread (about 8 to a sheet is good). Sprinkle the tops lightly with some Maldon salt.

8. Bake for 13-15 minutes (rotating 1/2 through), until cookies are a golden brown color with crispy edges.

9. Transfer to a rack to cool. Repeat steps with remaining batter.

I love, love, love this recipe. It's a fun and easy cooking project to do with little kidlets that want to help you in the kitchen but it's also fab for when you're crazy grumpy with PMS and need a sweets fix STAT. Best of all, it only makes one portion so you don't have to feel guilty about indulging. All you need is a few ingredients and a microwave.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake For One (adapted from No. 2 Pencil)

Ingredients

1 tablespoon of unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon of white sugar
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
a few drops of vanilla
pinch of Kosher salt
Scant 1/4 cup AP flour
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, combine melted butter, white and brown sugars, a few drops of vanilla and a pinch of Kosher salt. Mix together well.

2. Add 1 egg yolk. Blend together.

3. Add scant 1/4 cup AP flour. Stir all ingredients together thoroughly.

4. Add 2 tablespoons of chocolate chips. Mix together.

5. Place mixture in a small microwave safe container (I used a medium-sized ramiken). Microwave for 40-60 seconds. (Take care to not overcook otherwise it'll get dry and hard.)

6. Eat while it's still warm. It goes great with a tall glass of milk.

Sometimes life's about the small celebrations just as much as it is about the big ones. It could be something simple as you hooking up your new TV all by yourself, that your kidlet learned how to do a wheelie on his bike without crashing or that your horrible boss was switched to a different department. This weekend, Mr.S. finally sold his car and whoo boy was he excited! That BMW has been a pain in his rear for the last few months and he's been wanting to 86 it for ages and get a more practical vehicle; in his case, a SUV since we haul the kidlets and their buddies around a lot. Also, it would come in pretty handy for when we go camping or on roadtrips. To celebrate, I baked him a batch of peanut butter cookies (his favorite kind of cookie). A batch all to himself. I even used "creepy peanut butter," a joke between us. It's the all natural peanut butter, you know the kind if you let it sit too long it separates and you have to stir it up? He loves the stuff. And it turned out he loved the cookies as well.

If you're interested in making up a batch, they're super easy to make and only require 4 ingredients. I found the recipe on a PBS site and it makes about a dozen soft, thick, very peanuty cookies that are gluten-free. And since there's only four ingredients, this would be a great recipe to use if you wanted to bake cookies together with your kidlet.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies (adapted from PBS Parents: Kitchen Explorers Four Ingredient Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies)

Ingredients

1 cup natural peanut butter* (my current fav for this recipe is Trader Joe's Valencia Creamy Peanut Butter with Sea Salt)
1 cup granulated sugar

Last night's date night is probably one of my favorite thus far. Even though I was in the throes of a crappy summer head cold, I was bound and determined that Mr.S. and I were still going to attend the Bon Iver show at Freeborn Hall. High on Afrin nasal spray and pumped full of Target's version of Sudafed, I was ready to go and have a grand time. Drippy nose and scratchy throat be damned. Even though we were probably a good 15 years older then most of the audience (gah!), we had a fabulous time at the concert. I can't say I liked the opening band but Justin Vernon and his crew rocked the house. His music was positively amazing (especially the fast, hard version of Blood Bank) and the light show was mesmerizing. The lights at times made you feel like you were looking at a sunset, or trapped under the Earth's surface or one even reminded me of the jellyfish exhibit at the aquarium. Ok, maybe my descriptions sound a bit crazy (could have been the cold meds), but the lights like the music were awesome. Anyhow, when we got home I felt mellow but simultaneously wired...mellow from hearing a full set of Bon Iver tunes, yet wired from being at a concert. Regardless, the end result was I couldn't sleep...so I decided to put that extra energy to good use and fiddle around some in the kitchen. I had plucked a few Meyer lemons from my tree this weekend, in what I presume will be the last of this season's harvest, I paired them up with some fresh rosemary I picked up at the farmers market on Sunday and made some of these delicious Meyer Lemon and Rosemary cookies. They turned out scrumptious...not bad for some midnight baking! And yes, I did play some Bon Iver while I baked. It seemed wrong not to. :)



¾ cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla (extract or paste)

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped

2 teaspoons grated Meyer lemon zest

2 ¼ cups all purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

Sugar for dusting


Instructions

- In a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar thoroughly. Add egg and vanilla, mix well. Then add fresh rosemary, lemon zest,  salt and flour. Mix well.

- Divide dough in half and shape into two logs. Roll logs up in wax or parchment paper. Chill for at least 1 hour. (I threw mine in the freezer for an extra 15 minutes.)

- Preheat oven to 375 F. Cut logs into ¼ inch slices, roll in sugar and place on silicone baking mat. Bake for 12-13 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend...I know some of you lucky ones out there even got a 3-day weekend to boot! Mr.S. and I packed up and headed out of town for a few days to get some fresh air and meet up with some friends up in Tahoe for a couple of days for some R&R. Since I'm still swimming in all those Meyer lemons, I made a big batch of giant lemon sugar cookies. Oh my goodness ya'll, these babies are...as some of my friends would put it---"amazeballs!" Minimal ingredients, quick to make, lots of flavor, you've got to try some...get to it---scoot! (Btw, they're great on their own but even more magical paired up with some creamy ice cream.)




Lemon Sugar Cookies (recipe by Pinch My Salt)
Makes about 24 giant cookies

Ingredients

- 2 c sugar, divided

- zest of two lemons, divided (Meyers if you have them)

- 1 c butter, softened

- 2 eggs, room temperature

- 1 tsp vanilla

- 1 Tbsp lemon juice, fresh

- 2 3/4 c flour

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 2 tsp cream of tartar

- 1 tsp baking soda


Instructions

1. Prepare lemon sugar: In a mini food processor (I used my regular Cuisinart), blend 1/2 cup of sugar with 1 teaspoon lemon zest. Pulse several times until the lemon zest is incorporated into the sugar. Put sugar mixture in a shallow bowl and stir lightly with a fork to break up any clumps. Set aside.


2. Prepare cookie dough: In a medium bowl, stir together flour, salt, cream of tartar, and baking soda. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and remaining 1 1/2 cups of sugar. Blend in eggs, one at a time; add vanilla, lemon juice, and remaining lemon zest. Add the flour mixture, one cup at a time, blending well after each addition until all flour is incorporated.

3. Refrigerate dough for one hour.

4. Preheat oven to 350. Shape cookies using a jumbo cookie scoop or your hands; shape two tablespoons of dough into a ball and roll in lemon sugar. Place ball of dough on prepared cookie sheet and press down lightly with the bottom of a glass until cookie is about 1/2 inch thick. Repeat. Six cookies will fit on one 18 x 13 baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Sometimes the holidays get a little crazy and the only cookies I want to bake look something like this:

- Beat together until creamy:
8 tablespoons of butter (1 stick)  *room temp
1/3 cup of sugar

- Add and mix until completely combined:
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 egg yolk

- Add:
1 1/4 cups of all-purpose unbleached flour

- Mix well, stirring and folding, until there are no more dry patches. 

- Form 1 inch dough balls. 

- Roll in sugar and place on a parchment lined baking sheet about 1 inch apart. 

- Press your thumb in the top of each cookie to make a depression. 

- Bake cookies in a preheated 350F oven for 12 minutes. 

- Remove from the oven and fill the depressions with lemon curd. 

- Bake for another 5 minutes, or until golden brown.  Let cool before serving.

Have you ever started a project, only to find out midway through that you lack the proper tools or ingredients and that your mind's going in 20 million different directions? Yesterday was like that for me. I was super exhausted and having an unbelievable jones for some chocolate. In all my bright wisdom, I decided to start a batch of chocolate chip cookies without checking first to see if I had everything I needed (completely unlike me). After I mixed the "wet" ingredients in with the "dry" goods I noticed that the batter wasn't smoothing out and it looked drier than the Sahara. A few more flicks of the spoon and the light bulb went on above my head. I realized I had completely omitted the butter! Not having any butter ready at room temperature, I unwrapped two sticks of butter, popped them in some Pyrex and microwaved them at 2 minutes. What I got was a Pyrex measuring cup full of liquidy butter. At this point there was no turning back, I poured the goop into the bowl and stirred...and stirred. Surprisingly, it was looking pretty good. Time to add the chips. Turned out I only had half a bag of chips in the freezer, so I compensated by throwing in a handful of slivered almonds. At this point, I'm sure all my baking savvy friends are slapping their face "Home Alone" style and are trying to contain how appalled they are; but I'll be honest, despite all the issues the cookies turned out phe-nomenal! Probably one of the best batches I've ever made. Who'd have thought?

Here's the link to the original cookie recipe: Toll House Cookies

Here's my version:

Murphy's Law Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) sweet cream butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels

3/4 cup sliced almonds


Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375° F.
 
2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. 

3. Beat granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract and eggs in large mixer bowl until creamy. 

4. Place two sticks of butter in a microwave-safe container. Microwave for 2 minutes.

5. Gradually beat in flour mixture.

6. Pour butter into bowl and mix throughly with other ingredients.

7. Stir in morsels and nuts. 

8. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto baking sheets sprayed with PAM.
 
9. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown ( I went 12 minutes in my oven). 

10. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; use a spatula to remove.

PMS always seems to sneak up on me like a mugger in the night. One minute I'm laughing with my friends, sipping a cup of coffee and cuddling up to Mr. S. Then WHAMM-O! The next minute I'm sobbing into a pillow while watching a Hallmark commercial, inhaling an entire bag of Kettle Chips and glaring daggers because someone drank the last Pepsi. We've all been there. There's no way to avoid the emotional roller coaster of PMS but there are ways to subdue the beast. My "neutralizer" has always been chocolate. Mmmm, chocolate! Dark, decadent and creamy...it's like a magical elixir that smoothes things over. So next time your hormones are acting all 5150, you could just scarf down an entire Costco box of Hershey bars OR you could treat yourself to a batch of delicious Double Chocolate M&M cookies. Couple it with a glass of red wine and a couple of episodes of Glee and you'll be ok in no time.

*(Guys, if you're smart you'll have a batch of these cookies waiting on the counter every 28 days. Just sayin'.)

Mel's Kitchen Cafe Double Chocolate M&M Cookies
*Makes between 2 and 3 dozen cookies (depending on how big you make them)

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 ounces semisweet or milk chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut into eight pieces
3/4 cup M&M’s
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
- In a medium microwave-safe bowl, place the chopped chocolate and the butter. Microwave for one minute at 50% power. Stir. Microwave again for one minute at 50% power and stir well. If the chocolate is not fully melted, continue microwaving in 30 second intervals at 50% power until the chocolate and butter are well combined (don't overheat the chocolate or it can seize and turn hard and unusable). Let the mixture cool slightly, about 2-3 minutes until it is at room temperature or just slightly warm (but not hot).
- In a large bowl (or in the bowl of an electric stand mixer), combine the chocolate mixture, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Mix on medium speed until combined. Gradually mix in flour mixture on low speed. Fold in M&M’s with a wooden spoon (don't use a mixer as the M&M's will break into pieces and not stay whole).
- Line baking sheets with parchment paper, silpat liners or lightly grease them with cooking spray. Drop dough onto baking sheets by tablespoonfuls (or use a cookie scoop) spacing them about 1 1/2 inches apart. If desired, place five or six M&M's on top of the cookie dough balls (even perched slightly on the rounded sides). Bake the cookies until they have slightly flattened and there are a few cracks on the surface, about 13-14 minutes.
- The cookies will still be soft. Let the cookies sit for 2-3 minutes on the baking sheet before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely. These cookies will stay fresh in an airtight container for about 2 days. I freeze them between sheets of wax paper in a large tupperware container and they defrost beautifully at room temperature or for a few seconds in the microwave.