This weekend, my roommate, a few friends and I headed off to Portland to partake in baked goods, books and blossoms (I am Lit major, hear me alliterate). The sites were fantastic, but what truly made the trip was (at the risk of sounding trite) the company. We had a great time just throwing a frisbee around, running through playgrounds, lounging in silence on a sea of blankets while listening to Portishead and jazz and eating spaghetti with our hands.
One of the events I attended was the The Grand Central Baking Book's release party (could it be called that? A Q&A gathering with treats... well, it was a party for me). A fellow audience member posed a challenge: that a cook could afford to be creative in the kitchen, whereas a baker had to follow the rules. Without thinking, I shook my head and said, "No. No no no." I mean, if bakers didn't take culinary liberties, then what would be the point of publishing the myriad books that lined the shelves of the bookstore we were in? Sure, there are measurements that you have to follow. You can't take yeast out of a bread dough recipe and say, "Et voila! I am a maverick!" Your bread won't rise, and look where your creativity will have gotten you. However, throwing in cheddar cheese and jalapeno peppers never hurt the person who first thought to do it. Culinary creativity is empowering. We all want to know that we're unique and have the ability and willpower to exhibit something that's never been exhibited, right? If not fine tune an existing idea, practice, recipe?
It is with this mindset that I decided to try my hand at oatmeal cookies. I first thought, "Keep it simple. Just cinnamon and raisins." But that simply wouldn't do. I wanted chocolate. And not standard milk chocolate chips, but hand chopped, 72% dark chocolate. Then, I tried to think of a fruit that goes with chocolate (I know I know, every fruit. But a dried one! That would fit in a cookie!). Thus, dried cherry dark chocolate chunk oatmeal cookies were baked. I know that it's been done, and I'm sure there's a chewier, more cherry-tart, simply better recipe out there. But I started this site with the caveat that I am in no position to be a show off, that cooking and baking are among other passions to which I devote my life. However, the cookies turned out well enough and, like the stubborn, stubborn, girl that I am, will undoubtedly be fine-tuned until they're chewier and flatter, but still pack a punch.
- Ingredients for the sweet tart dough:
- 2 1/2 sticks (10 oz) butter, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted
- lightly packed 1/2 cup graham crackers, ground
- 1/2 cup sugar (I used cane sugar, brown sugar might yield a fussy, overly soft dough)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 1/2 sticks (10 oz) butter, at room temperature
- Ingredients for the pastry cream:
- 1 1/2 cups milk (I used soy)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 large egg yolks
- 1/2 cup sugar (cane, again)
- 3 tablespoons corn starch
- 3 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups milk (I used soy)
- Aaaaand 3 cups of fresh strawberries, hulled (which means just cutting out the top, leafy part. Then you slice the berries in half)
- Directions:
- You'll be making the dough first. First, (referring to the dough ingredients) cream the butter and the sugar until smooth.
- Incorporate the vanilla, graham crackers and salt. Beat eggs lightly before also incorporating into the mixture.
- Add the flour, folding the mixture gently between cups. You're going to mix the dough ONLY until the flour is fully incorporated. Place the dough in plastic wrap and let chill for 4 hours.
- Once three and a half hours have passed and your apartment is spotless/pet rocks are tended to/your nails, as well as your roommate's, are painted, you can preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and start on the pastry cream. (referring to the pastry cream ingredients)Bring the milk to a boil in a small saucepan.
- Working in a medium saucepan, whisk the yolks, cornstarch and sugar together until mixture is thick.
- Slooowly pour the milk into the egg-cornstarch-sugar situation while still whisking. Put mixture over medium heat to a boil. Whisk vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes. It is IMPERATIVE that you whisk it without stop for up to 2 minutes! Otherwise the cream will get lumpy. You'll see that it'll coagulate and smooth out after whiskage.
- After you've whisked the damn thing for a couple minutes, take it off of the heat and let cool for a bit (I only waited two minutes. I'm impatient!). Then cut the butter into tablespoon-sized chunks and incorporate with mixture, stirring slowly.
- You'll need to chill the cream before putting the tart together. I just put the cream in a ceramic bowl, sealed it with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge until the tart crust was baked. When you take out the cream, you'll need to mix it for a minute to make sure that it's still creamy and not too stiff.
- Okay. Now it's time to get the tart dough out of the fridge and into a pie tin. According to Deb's recipe, you're supposed to roll the dough between two pieces of plastic wrap. I initially tried this and was EXTREMELY frustrated. So i just crushed the dough into pieces and patched it into the pie tin (a standard 9" is what you want to be working with). Professional chefs the world over are probably screaming eloquent obscenities and throwing their computers out of their fabulous vaulted ceiling, Viking oven-equipped penthouse suites. But it worked! So do whatever the hell you want to get the dough into the tin. Just make sure that it's not too thin, because it WILL thin out in the oven.
- Once the dough is in the pie pan/galette/what have you, place aluminum foil or parchment paper over the dough (make sure it covers both the bottom and the sides, you'll be dumping stuff into it that won't be going with the pastry cream and strawberries). Pour dry beans or rice onto the aluminum foil. This is going to ensure that the sides of your dough won't fall into the bottom while the tart is baking.
- Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, then remove the foil and beans/rice. Bake for an additional 5 minutes. Let cool for 15 - 20 minutes.
- If you haven't already hulled and halved the strawberries, now would be a good time to do so. Once your dough is cool, take the pastry cream out of the fridge, mix it for a minute or two and pour it into the tart shell. Arrange the strawberries over the pastry cream and voila! Ready to serve!
- You'll be making the dough first. First, (referring to the dough ingredients) cream the butter and the sugar until smooth.
- Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature
- 2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1 egg
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
- 1/2 cup dried cherries
- 1/2 cup chocolate chunks (I handchopped Trader Joe's 72% dark chocolate)
- 1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature
- Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cream butter, eggs, vanilla and sugar until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, whisk flour, salt and baking soda together. Stir into creamed mixture.
- Stir in chocolate pieces and cherries. Deb recommends chilling the dough, which I didn't do. The cookies were still chewy, but I'm curious as to how much chewier they would be if the dough was chilled. It's up to you.
- Lightly grease a cookie sheet, or line with parchment paper. Form dough into tablespoon-sized balls and place on cookie sheet, 2 inches apart.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until edges are beginning to brown. When I looked at the first batch after 12 minutes, they still looked light, so I left them in for a few more minutes. After trying one, I realized that they were probably good to go after 11 minutes, i.e a little crispy. Don't worry if the cookie is light; you just need to make sure that the edges are a beginning to darken.
- Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 5 - 10 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cream butter, eggs, vanilla and sugar until smooth.
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