The first time that I heard about apple butter, I was very confused. It’s a bit of a misnomer of course — there is no daily in this butter! In essence, it is just very concentrated apple sauce. Sort of a jam. Not even close to being a jelly. The nice thing: it works great as an addition to pies and makes a great filling for these bars. You can of course make it yourself, but it seems to be readily available in the shops these days too.
At the farmer’s market last weekend, I came across these really small plums. They are only about the size of a walnut ball, maybe even a little smaller. They were too enticing not to buy. Plum cakes are actually very common in Germany and parts of Eastern Europe, so I thought that minimum, I would make one of my standard plum cakes before I came up with the idea of making an upside down cake. Turned out lovely. All the caramel and toffee bits you see in the photos is where the butter and brown sugar leaked out of my spring form pan (advice : don’t use a spring form pan!). If you can’t find mini-plums, regular ones will work just as well.
It’s been a “bad” month for creating things. Work has been crazy busy and I have been off on some mini-adventures, which has left the cooking and baking at the margins, which I hate. Mostly because cooking and baking are my self-reliever, and when I just don’t have the time or the energy, I feel badly. That said, last night I did make these Apricot and Dried Cranberry Pinwheel Cookies. They aren’t the prettiest cookies that I have ever made (I let the butter get too soft, which in turn make the dough crumbly which in turn made it hard to roll out, and then roll together). They do taste quite lovely though.
As we march from Spring through early Summer to now the “dog days” of Summer, we move more towards stone fruits — apricots, peaches, plums and the like — which make great jam which is also the important part of my super easy to make crumble bars. There must be about 5 different versions here on the site. They are great to add to lunches or to pack into picnics!
Oatmeal Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies … I’ve made similar cookies before, but tried something new this time, instead of using butter, I made them with coconut oil with the thought that they would stay a little more chewy than crunchy. The trick though is that you absolutely have to let them chill completely after forming and before making, otherwise you will have a complete mess on your hands. Turned out pretty yummy, if I do say so myself!