Saturday, September 16, 2017

Nicole’s Plum Pie

This is a fantastic dessert! To make it, I adapted one of my all-time favorite cake recipes: Company Plum Cake . 



I increased the ingredients by 1-1/2 times, omitting the cake’s glaze. Why did I do this? The cake is small, which means that much of it is an edge piece.





The pie is generous, with only a small amount of edge and plenty of moist, delicious plums. Judging by my taste testers’ comments, the idea to switch up the cake to a pie worked! Even though I’ve made and enjoyed this cake for four decades, I found the pie superior. 


Nicole’s Plum Pie:


To Prepare Streusel Topping:


3/4 c. (180 mL) brown sugar, packed

1-1/2 (7 mL) tsp. cinnamon

1/3 c. (80 mL) butter or margarine, softened


In small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon until thoroughly mixed. Using a fork, cut in butter or margarine until well-mixed and crumbly. Set aside.


To Prepare Pie:


¼ c. + 2 tbsp. (90 mL) butter or margarine, softened

1-1/2 c. (375 mL) granulated sugar

3 large eggs, separated

2-1/4 c. (560 mL) all-purpose flour

1-1/2 tsp. (7 mL) baking powder

3/4 c. (180 mL) milk

About 15 prune plums, halved and pitted


Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. Spray-grease 10-in. glass pie dish. Cream butter and sugar until no grainy texture remains when you rub creamed mixture between thumb and index finger. Add egg yolks, continuing to beat well. Combine flour and baking powder in a separate bowl. Add flour mixture into butter-egg mixture in alternate thirds with milk. In another bowl, whip egg whites until stiff, gently folding into batter. 


Pour batter into pie dish, smoothing with spatula. Place halved prune plums lightly onto batter. Sprinkle Streusel Topping over plums. Bake 45-to-55 min. Best served warm. Makes 8-to-10 servings.


Note: This pie is very moist. It may slop over its dish during baking. Place foil or another oven protector over rack before baking. 


Thursday, September 14, 2017

Triple-Chocolate Chocolate Cookies

If you don’t eat cookies often, you may as well have outstanding ones when you do. These are soft and chewy and really quite extraordinary. 


Triple Chocolate Chocolate Cookies:
Excellent in every way!



Triple-Chocolate Chocolate Cookies:


1-1/4 c. (300 mL) butter or margarine, softened

2 c. (500 mL) granulated sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

2 tsp. (10 mL) vanilla extract

2 c. (500 mL) all-purpose flour

1 tsp. (5 mL) baking soda

1/2 tsp. (2 mL) salt

3/4 c. (175 mL) cocoa powder, sifted

1 c. (250 mL) semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 c. (250 mL) white chocolate chips


Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. Line ungreased cookie sheet with parchment paper. 


In large mixing bowl, beat butter or margarine, adding granulated sugar a little at a time until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, mixing well. In small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, cocoa powder. Gradually add to mixer bowl, beating well after each addition. Stir in chocolate chips.


Drop by teaspoonsful onto large cookie sheet. Bake 8 or 9 min. Cookies will be soft, rising during baking and flattening as they cool. Makes 4-1/2 dozen.