Erin French's Glazed Butter Cake from The Lost Kitchen!

 Dear Ms. French,

Your Glazed Butter Cake has been on my mind since I binge watched your show, The Lost Kitchen, earlier this summer. The cake sounded like heaven and looked like something everyone would love. I knew instantly I needed to make it.

It took me a few months to acquire both of your cookbooks and now that it is officially "the holidays," I have a reason to make it.

Words cannot express how wonderful this cake is! A fluffy and buttery pound cake with a thick, sweet butter glaze scented with vanilla and almond extract...it truly is the quintessential dessert! I ate a slice warm with blueberries and whipped cream and it was like total bliss...the warm cake fragrant with almond and vanilla, the pops of the blueberries, and the clouds of fresh whipped cream. 

Then I had another slice all by itself and it was equally delicious, almost like stepping back in time and having the most wonderful homemade dessert made by mom or grandma. It is more than a dessert. It's comfort. It's a warm hug.

When my husband had a slice he said, "this is one of the best desserts you've ever made." Then he looked out the window and saw the neighbors raking leaves and he said "I kind of just want to go out with this cake and start giving it to everyone so they can taste how wonderful it is." 

Then he went ahead and had a second slice.

Between my husband and I we ate half the cake.

This is now my new GO TO DESSERT. I'll be making it with different flavored glazes and serving it with different fruits. If I'm called on to make something to take somewhere, it will be this cake. 

I will be singing praises for this cake for days and weeks to come. It will go down as one of my top recipes of 2024, but I will be making it for many years to come.

I am thankful for this recipe and I am thankful for you!

A Truly Devoted Cake Eater in Kentucky

P.S. I felt like this cake called for blueberries. An ode to Maine. 

 

Glazed Butter Cake

Adapted from Big Heart Little Stove

Recipe by Erin French

Serves 8-10

For The Cake

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, at room temperature, plus more for pan

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for the pan

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup buttermilk (well shaken before measuring)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For The Glaze

1 cup granulated sugar

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

Make The Cake: Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter and flour a 9-inch loaf pan, line with parchment paper, and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on high speeds until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, incorporating the first egg before adding the second one.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 

With the mixer on low, one large spoonful at a time, alternate adding the dry mixture and the buttermilk, mixing until well combined. Add the vanilla and mix just briefly to combine.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake until the cake is golden and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.

Make The Glaze: In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, butter, and 1/4 cup water and bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, whisking occasionally. Remove the pan from the heat and let the glaze cool slightly; then whisk in the vanilla and almond extracts. The glaze will cool and thicken a bit as it sits.

For a quick and rustic finish, brush the glaze over the top of the loaf in the pan. Allow the cake to cool completely, remove from the pan and slice. Or, to really allow the cake to soak up all the delicious glaze, let the cake cool in the pan until it's comfortable to handle. Remove the cake and transfer to a cooling rack set over a baking sheet, to catch the drips of glaze. Brush the glaze over the entire cake; top, bottom, and, sides. You will need to work gently and carefully, but it's worth it to get every inch of this cake covered in glaze. Repeat until all of the glaze has been used.

Let the cake cool completely, then wrap tightly and store on the counter for up to 3 days. 

Desserts To Be Thankful For @ IHCC!
 

Erin French's Apple Cider and Rosemary Sorbet From The Lost Kitchen!

Over the summer I made ten different ice creams, or frozen treats, and learned a lot! A few weeks ago I bought some apple cider and decided to pour it into my ice cream machine. The instant results were delicious, kind of like an apple cider slushy or granita. When I put away the leftovers, however, they froze solid in the freezer. I had a feeling that would happen.

That very week, I bought Erin French's The Lost Kitchen Cookbook and saw her recipe for Apple Cider and Rosemary Sorbet! Imagine my surprise when Erin added a rosemary infused simple syrup to the apple cider. Turns out the simple syrup is exactly what this needed to sweeten the dessert up and also keep the sorbet more scoopable in the freezer. Simple syrup for the win! And by the way, use ALL the simple syrup. It might seem like a lot, but Erin says when things freeze they usually require more sugar because our taste buds can't taste the sweetness as much.

Look, this is THE FALL DESSERT OF YOUR DREAMS! Seriously, it's so easy and refreshing and delicious - literally everyone should be making it! Make it with a basic simple syrup, infuse it with rosemary for some added earthiness, scoop it into a glass and pour some Prosecco over it. Whatever you do, just make it! Its amazing!

 Apple Cider & Rosemary Sorbet

Adapted from The Lost Kitchen

by Erin French

Makes about 1 pint

Rosemary Simple Syrup (recipe follows)

2 cups apple cider

Making The Rosemary Simple Syrup: Combine 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup water, and 4 sprigs of rosemary in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Allow the mixture to boil just long enough for the sugar to dissolve, about 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool. Pour into a jar with a lid and refrigerate for up to a week  

Making The Sorbet: Combine the rosemary simple syrup and apple cider, then transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer's directions (or as I like to say, until you get the desired consistency).

 

 I Heart Cooking Clubs Welcomes Erin French!

Ina Garten's Easy Sticky Buns {An Easy and Fun Autumn Treat}!

Ina Garten's Easy Sticky Buns are the epitome of easy. There is no need to make any dough because you simply use puff pastry. Puff pastry is so easy to work with and the recipe comes together in no time.

First you make a mixture of butter and brown sugar and smear it into the bottom of a muffin tin. The butter and brown sugar mixture is topped with chopped nuts - feel free to use any nut you have. The recipe called for pecans, but I had walnuts so I used those!

Then you roll out the puff pastry dough, brush it with melted butter and top that with brown sugar and cinnamon. At this point you can add raisins or really anything else you'd like. I chose to forego the raisins.

Then you roll the dough up lengthwise and cut each roll into sixths. Place each sixth on top of the butter and brown sugar mixture with the nuts and bake!

I would advise to watch these closely. The butter and brown sugar mixture will rise up around the puff pastry and you don't want it to over cook or it will become to hard and sticky and start to take on a burnt sugar flavor. Ina says to bake these for 25-30 minutes, but I found that just under 20 minutes was the right amount of time for my oven!

These rolls are in fact sticky and delicious. Fair warning though, they are not a soft cinnamon roll sort of pastry. Instead they are buttery, flaky, crispy, sticky and almost verging on too sweet. Which reminds me to point out that you could do with using less brown sugar, especially if you don't like desserts that are cloyingly sweet. Otherwise, they are delicious and fun to make!

Easy Sticky Buns

Recipe adapted from Barefoot Contessa

by Ina Garten

Serves 12

12 tablespoons (1-1/2 sticks) butter, at room temp

1/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

1/2 cup pecans, chopped in large pieces*

1 package (2 sheets) frozen puff pastry, defrosted)

For the Filling:

2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

2/3 cups light brown sugar, light packed

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 cup raisins* 

*Note: You can make this recipe with nuts and without nuts. With raisins and without raisins. You can use pecans or walnuts, or use any nut. The point is, feel free to tuck any nut or dried fruit in this mixture. You could even sub chocolate chips or caramel chips. Make it your own!

Preheat the oven to 400F. Place a 12 cup standard muffin tin on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine 12 tablespoons of butter and 1/3 cup brown sugar. Place 1 tablespoon of the mixture in bottom of each of the 12 muffin cups. Distribute the pecans evenly between the 12 muffin cups on top of the butter and sugar mixture.

Lightly flour a wooden board or stone surface. Unfold one sheet of puff pastry with the folds going left to right. Brush the whole sheet with half the melted butter, leaving a 1 inch border on the puff pastry, sprinkle each sheet with 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon and 1/2 cup of raisins (if using). Starting with the end nearest to you, roll the pastry up snugly like a jelly roll around the filling, finishing the roll with the seam-side down. Trim the ends of the roll about 1/2 inch and discard. Slice the roll in 6 equal pieces. Place each piece, spiral side up, in 6 of the muffin cups. Repeat with the second piece of puff pastry.I

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the buns/rolls are golden brown on top and firm to the touch. Be careful- they're hot! Allow to cool for 5 minutes only, invert the buns onto the parchment paper (ease the filling and nuts out onto the buns with a small spoon) and cool completely! Enjoy!

September Potluck @ I Heart Cooking Clubs!
 

The Gourmet Cookbook's Ice Cream #10 {Prune Armagnac Ice Cream} And My Top Favorites From the Gourmet Ice Cream Series!

This is almost the ice cream that wasn't. I was slated to make it three weeks ago and was under the impression that I could just walk right into my local liquor store and buy a bottle of Armagnac. Boy was I mistaken! After three weeks of trying to source Armagnac, I finally gave up and decided I was making this ice cream with a substitution, Brandy! It is what it is, folks.

This recipe was a little more time consuming to make, simply because the prunes need to macerate in the brandy for at least 12 hours! Then the macerated prunes get blended with a cup of the ice cream base before being adding back into the ice cream based and stirred. Please feel free to see the picture below where I stirred the macerated and blended prunes into the ice cream mixture. I had high hopes for a beautiful deep plum colored ice cream, but this is when I realized this was not that, as they say.

 

 

Look! My ice cream is a beautiful shade of peanut butter with prune chips running throughout! From this point on, I will now refer to this as Prune Chip Ice Cream, thank you very much!  

 

In The Gourmet Cookbook, Ruth Reichl states "The brandy prevents the ice cream from being too sweet and keeps it slightly soft, with a consistency closer to that of gelato than of ice cream. This recipe comes from the Mapotel de France in the lovely Gascon town of Auch, via Gourmet reader Robert White.

 

The ice cream is in fact soft, with a whipped consistency, and little baby bits of prune chips scattered throughout, kinda remind me of how chocolate chip ice cream in appearance, but not in taste.This is most definitely an adult ice cream. You can definitely taste the alcohol and the little bits of prune chips contribute some texture and a mild prune flavor. The ice cream itself has some carmel notes, but is on the whole quite mild. I didn't mind this ice cream and it wasn't bad, but it also wasn't delicious. It is not my favorite ice cream, but I am very happy to have finally experimented with these flavors.

 

And now for the top favorite ice creams in the series! Over the past ten weeks I made ten ice creams: Vanilla Bean Ice Cream; Burnt Orange Ice Cream; Cream Cheese Ice Cream with Blueberry Swirl; Italian Lemon Ice; Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream; Chocolate Velvet Ice Cream; Lemon Meringue Ice Cream; Maple Walnut Ice Cream, Brown Sugar Rum Raisin Ice Cream; and Prune Armagnac Ice Cream. 

All of the recipes were good but my all-time favorite was the Maple-Walnut Ice Cream. I love all things maple-flavored and the flavor of the maple with the texture of the walnuts was simply irresistible. Plus, the ice cream base was smooth and velvety. Our second favorite was the Chocolate Velvet Ice Cream. It was so rich and chocolatey and did indeed have a velvety texture. And, the third favorite was the Cream Cheese Ice Cream with Blueberry Swirl. It was summery and refreshing and so easy to make. I loved the cream cheese ice cream base and the possibilities on different swirls and variations.

Runners up would be the Italian Lemon Ice...on a hot day that would be the most refreshing treat there is and it is so lemony it'll make your mouth pucker. And also, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the Brown Sugar Rum Raisin Ice Cream. That brown sugar base was really something special.

I had a very fun time trying out lots of fun ice cream recipes and will experiment with more at a later date. For now, we all need a little break from ice cream.

Prune Armagnac Ice Cream

Adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook

by Ruth Reichl

Makes 1 quart

3/4 cup (about 6 ounces) pitted prunes

1/3 cup Armagnac

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup half and half

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise

6 large egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

Pack prunes into a 1/2-pint jar and add Armagnac; it should just cover them. Cover jar and let prunes macerate at room temperature for at least 12 hours.

Combine cream, half and half, and salt in a 2 quart to 3 quart heavy saucepan. With tip of a knife, scrape seeds from vanilla bean into cream mixture, then drop in pod. Bring mixture just to a boil and remove from heat.

Whisk together yolks and sugar in medium metal bowl. Add hot cream mixture in a slow stream, whisking constantly, then pour into saucepan and cook over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, until custard is thick enough to coat back of spoon and registers 170 on thermometer; do not let boil.

Pour custard through a fine-mesh sieve into cleaned metal bowl; discard pod. Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally, then refrigerate, covered, until cold, at least 3 hours.

Pulse prunes with macerating liquid in a food processor to a thick, slightly chunky puree. Add about 1 cup cold custard and pulse just until well combined, then whisk mixture into remaining custard.

Freeze custard in ice cream maker. Transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden.

From The Orchard @ I Heart Cooking Clubs!

The Gourmet Cookbook's Ice Cream #9 {The Best Brown Sugar Rum Raisin Ice Cream}

I know, I know. Right now you're thinking, Rum Raisin Ice Cream? And I am here to tell you YES, WE HAVE BEEN MISSING OUT FOR WAY TOO LONG!

Imagine a brown sugar ice cream base...I bet you've never had that, because I know I haven't. Well, imagine this deep rich flavorful brown sugar ice cream base with hints of boozy rum flavor and raisins that give a very chewy caramely kinda vibe. 

I can't vouch for those other vanilla ice cream-based rum raisin recipes, but I can vouch for this one with it's brown sugar ice cream base. I'm telling you right now...this ice cream is giving SO MUCH FLAVOR AND TEXTURE! It's giving fall vibes in the best way! Deep, dark notes of brown sugar, rum, caramel...it's just heavenly.

I imagine this ice cream at all the fall festivals, on all the apple pies, and every other fall dessert and/or occasion.

DO NOT CONTINUE TO MISS OUT ON THIS!

 

 Brown Sugar Rum Raisin Ice Cream

Adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook

by Ruth Reichl

Makes 1 quart

1/3 cup dark rum*

3/4 cup raisins*

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup half and half

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

Heat rum in a small saucepan until just warm. Remove from heat, add raisins, and let stand, covered, for 1 hour.

Combine cream, half and half, and salt in a 2 quart heavy saucepan and bring just to a boil.

Meanwhile, whisk together eggs and brown sugar in a large metal bowl. Add hot cream mixture in a slow stream, whisking constantly then pour into saucepan and cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until custard is thick enough to coat back of spoon and registers 170F on thermometer; do not let boil.

Pour custard through a fine mesh sieve into cleaned metal bowl. Add rum and raisins. Cool completely, stirring occasionally, then refrigerate, covered until cold, at least 3 hours.

Freeze custard in ice cream maker. Transfer ice cream to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden, at least 6 hours.

 Potluck Week @ IHCC!

The Gourmet Cookbook's Ice Cream #8 {Maple Walnut Ice Cream}

 Who doesn't love a good Maple Walnut fudge or ice cream? Especially once the weather has started to turn a little cool in the mornings and evenings? 

The Gourmet Cookbook says that to get the full impact of the maple flavor, you need to seek out Grade B syrup, which is less refined and far more powerful than the easier-to-find Grade A. It also says DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT USING PANCAKE SYRUP! I found a great bottle of Grade B available online at my market, but then I sent my husband to the store with instructions, and a picture, and explicitly said Grade B, and he still bought Grade A. At least it was a good brand and it did have a very dark color and robust flavor. You will need one whole bottle of syrup, or 8 ounces.

This particular recipe was contributed to Gourmet by Ann Patchett, the novelist! I do enjoy her books, particularly The Dutch House, and I am a lover of all books, so I was happy to see this contribution. It states that "Patchett brought us this old-fashioned dessert from a vacation at the Keeper's House, an inn on Isle au Haut, Maine." That gives me a cozy and rather authentic maple feeling!

The maple syrup gets boiled down and reduced prior to adding the cream, milk and salt. When the maple syrup is boiling down it almost has the aroma of molasses - deep and very concentrated syrupy flavor. Do not worry if this is the case for you, because during my interim of making ice cream; I've noticed that ice cream flavors are very pronounced or strong prior to freezing in an ice cream machine. Once the ice cream freezes the flavors tend to mellow out a bit!

The second step is boiling the concentrated syrup, cream, milk, and salt and then slowly incorporating that mixture into the eggs. I'm not gonna lie here, I was very worried about what my mixture looked like when I added in the boiling liquid to the eggs. It looked a little bit like the eggs were starting to scramble and the texture was completely different than the other ice creams, but never fear because the final texture of this ice cream was so silky smooth and wonderful!

The ice cream base needs to chill for 3 hours and during this time I went ahead and toasted my walnuts. Chop the walnuts if you want to, but we opted for some whole or larger pieces of walnuts. Also the 1/3 cup called for in the recipe would be a little too sparse for us, so I toasted more to add on top!

This ice cream is so smooth and silky and delightful! The maple flavor is total perfection, not too little and not too much. The contrast of the silky smooth ice cream with the crunchy nuts is rather addictive and I found myself wanting to go back for more. I am somewhat biased to these flavors, but I can easily say this will be one of my favorite recipes from my Gourmet Cookbook Ice Cream series. I will definitely be making this again - with Grade B maple syrup that I buy with my own two hands! Ha-ha!

Maple Walnut Ice Cream

Adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook

by Ruth Reichl

Makes 1-/2 Quarts

1 cup Grade B maple syrup 

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup whole milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1/3 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

Boil syrup in a 2 quart heavy saucepan over moderately high heat until reduced to 3/4 cup, 5 to 10 minutes.

Stir cream, milk, and salt into syrup and bring to a boil over moderate heat.

Meanwhile, whisk eggs in a large metal bowl. Add hot cream mixture in a slow stream, whisking constantly, then pour into saucepan and cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until custard is thick enough to coat back of spoon and registers 170F on thermometer, 1 to 2 minutes; do not let boil.

Pour custard through a fine mesh sieve into cleaned metal bowl. Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally, then refrigerate, covered, until cold, at least 3 hours.

Freeze custard in ice cream maker until soft frozen. With motor running, add nuts, and continue churning ice cream until frozen. Transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden.

 Summer Snacks @ IHCC!

The Gourmet Cookbook's Ice Cream #7 {Lemon Meringue Ice Cream}

My family has a history with Lemon Meringue Pie. Everyone in the family loved it, but my Gramps loved it most! He used to ask for it on his birthday and then ask for it again any time we had a family holiday like Easter, Thanksgiving, or Christmas. My mom would make two Lemon Meringue Pies, one for us to eat on the occasion, and one for my Gramps to take home with him.

Each and every time I see anything having to do with Lemon Meringue Pie, it becomes rather sentimental and makes me think of Gramps. I get a vision of him sitting at the head of the table taking the first bite of Lemon Meringue Pie and leaning his head back and closing his eyes to savor it. Then he would immediately begin singing my mom's praises over the pie.

I knew without a doubt when I started my ice cream series that I had to try my hand at Lemon Meringue Ice Cream. I kept putting it off because I knew it would be tedious and time-consuming, and it was! First, you have to make the meringue, which bakes for an hour, rests for an hour in the oven, and then rests and cools on the counter for another hour.

Once the meringue cools, you cut it into bite-size pieces and set it aside. Now it's time to make the lemon custard which consists of warming milk and cream with lemon zest and sugar before mixing it into 6 egg yolks and gently warming it on the stove until it reaches 170F. Once the mixture cools you add in the lemon juice and everything gets nice and tart! Then the custard has to chill for 3 hours.After the lemon custard chills, it's time to freeze it in your ice cream machine! Once the ice cream is frozen, you add it to a bowl and stir in the meringue pieces and then put all that into an airtight container and freeze until it hardens for at least 3-4 hours!

This Lemon Meringue Ice Cream is dead on Lemon Meringue Pie! The lemon ice cream gets a nice yellow color from the lemon zest and the eggs and it tastes almost exactly like the lemon curd in the pie. The meringue pieces are both crunchy and crispy and also chewy. They add so much fun texture to the ice cream! I'm not sure this is an ice cream for everyone, as you really have to love lemon, but I do love lemon and I enjoyed this SO MUCH! The ice cream is incredibly creamy and smooth and those meringue pieces are simply amazing and add so much crispy-crunchety texture to the ice cream. It is a delight for the senses and I think ol' Gramps would've just loved it!

Lemon Meringue Ice Cream

Adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook

by Ruth Reichl

Makes about 1-1/2 Quarts

For The Meringue

2 large egg whites

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup sugar

For Ice Cream

1-1/2 cups heavy cream

1 cup whole milk

3/4 cup sugar

4 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest

1/8 teaspoon salt

6 large egg yolks

2/3 cup fresh lemon juice

Make The Meringue: Put a rack in middle of oven and preheat oven to 250F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Beat whites and salt in a medium bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until whites hold soft peaks. Add sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, beating at medium speed, then beat at high speed until meringue holds stiff; glossy peaks, about 1 minute. Spread meringue into a 9-inch round on parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake until firm to the touch, about 1 hour. Turn off oven and let meringue stand in oven for 1 hour. Transfer meringue, on parchment, to a rack to cool completely. Peel off parchment and, working over a bowl, break meringue into 1/2 to 1 inch pieces.

Make The Ice Cream: Combine cream, milk, sugar, zest, and salt in a 2 to 3 quart heavy saucepan and bring just to a boil, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, whisk yolks in a medium metal bowl until smooth. Add hot cream mixture to yolks in a slow stream, whisking constantly, then pour back into pan. Cook custard over moderately low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until custard is thick enough to cat back of spoon and registers 170F on thermometer; do not let boil.

Pour custard through a fine-mesh sieve into cleaned metal bowl and stir in lemon juice. Cool custard to room temperature, then refrigerate, covered, until cold, at least 3 hours.

Freeze custard in ice cream maker. Transfer ice cream to a bowl and fold in meringue then transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden, at least 4 hours.

Cook's Notes: The meringue can be made up to 3 days ahead and kept in an airtight container in a cool, dry place. The custard can be refrigerated for up to 24 hours. The ice cream can be made up to 1 week ahead. 

Beat The Heat @ IHCC!

American Cookie #10: {The Early 1990's Viral Neiman Marcus $250 Cookie} + The Final Rating For all 10 American Cookies!

 

Each week, I'm going to be highlighting a new American Cookie and sharing its history, as well as my results. This is the tenth week of baking with American Cookie by Anne Bryn, and I'm sharing The Early 1990's Viral Neiman Marcus $250 Cookie! This cookie brings us into the modern era of cookies, and while I will be making more cookies from this book, this is the end of the American Cookie series for now! 

The History of The Neiman Marcus $250 Cookie: Well, we all know the history of this cookie, right? This recipe went viral back before the internet! The urban legend says that a woman was dining at the Neiman Marcus Cafe in Dallas, TX and ordered a dessert after a dinner - the Neiman Marcus cookie! The woman thought the cookie was so amazing she asked for the recipe. She was told it was "two fifty" and it was the early 1990's, so she agreed. When she received her VISA statement a month later, she'd been charged $285 - $10 each for two salads, $20 for a scarf and $250 for the famous cookie recipe. The woman was rightfully angry and published the recipe, making its rounds in magazines, newspapers, chain letters, and plain old-fashioned word of mouth. Some say this story is nothing but a legend, but I tend to think it's probably true. I mean where there's smoke there's fire, right? 

Either way, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies were immensely popular in the late 1980's and early 1990's and this cookie has both oatmeal and two different types of chocolate: milk chocolate and semisweet. Plus, it has nuts...you can chose, walnuts or pecans!

My Results: This is essentially an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie with nuts and while I really enjoyed it, it is not my favorite oatmeal chocolate chip recipe. I do like how the edges get crisp while the interior of the cookie stays chewy. I also like the two different types of chocolate, which added a deeper dimension of chocolatey flavor. The nuts were a nice addition, adding extra crunch and a touch of saltiness, but overall I prefer my oatmeal chocolate chip cookies without nuts. I am, however, very happy to have finally tried this recipe, especially since I've been hearing about it ever since I was a teenager! It was a fun recipe to make for that reason!

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5! A really good solid oatmeal chocolate chip cookie, one that anyone would be happy to eat and enjoy! This recipe is truly good, but in the grand scheme of things, it is a busy cookie with the oats and the two chocolates and the nuts. Plus the cookie is crisper than we normally like. Our favorite is a really fat and thick oatmeal chocolate chip recipes from Ruth Reichl's The Gourmet Cookbook. Saying all that, this recipe is a very good cookie and certainly one that I will be proud to share with family and friends.

I'm going to be rating all the cookies with the five-star format, one-star being the lowest and five-star being the highest! 

The Final Rating For All 10 Cookies, from Best to Least Favorite:

First I'd like to say that baking these cookies and learning the history taught me so much and has been such a fun journey! My cookie venture began with the very first known American Cookie, the Dutch Tea Cookie dating to the early 1600's and ended with a more modern cookie, The Neiman Marcus $250 Cookie from the early 1990's. The history of cookies and baking in America is quite fascinating and it was fun to see how ingredients progressed over time. I would wholeheartedly recommend Anne Bryn's cookbook, American Cookie to anyone who loves baking and/or history! The recipes were all fantastic, with the exception of one, and I think any baker would love the book. There are hundreds of other recipes and this is certainly not the last you'll see of the book here on my blog. Saying that, we are quite worn out on cookies and have been eating one or two and happily giving them to family and friends for some time now. 

It was very hard to rate them all, but we did our best. Family and friends who have tasted and tested all the cookies are in agreement with the number one cookie and the two lowest rated cookies, but the other recipes in the middle fluctuated depending on who you asked. I did my best to rank them according to popular opinion, but ultimately I ordered them best I could. Most of us preferred a chewy or softer cookie and that played into the ranking a lot. We also seemed to also prefer a more basic and simple recipe, finding loaded cookies and cookies with lots of ingredients more towards the bottom of the list.

And now for the ranking! (Click on any bold recipe title to be directed back to the original post)!

1) Ruth Wakefield's 1930's Era Chocolate Crunch (Chip) Cookies - This is probably the best chocolate chip cookie recipe I've ever made and I even made these gluten free the first time around. These were my family's favorite and I've made them every week since!

2) 1727 Ursuline Anise Cookies - I made this cookie because it originated in New Orleans at the Ursuline Convent (which I've visited) and I LOVE New Orleans! I don't even like anise, but this cookie was the surprise of the bunch! Soft and chewy, with a slight anise-flavor that was so very subtle and pleasant, and the icing was just delicious. This is a new all-time favorite that will be made over and over in my kitchen.

 

3) 1886 Vanilla Wafer Cookies  -  These cookies smell intoxicating while baking in the oven and had the whole house smelled of vanilla. They taste like vanilla cake straight out of the oven when they're warm, but as they cool they firm up and make great ice cream cookie sandwiches. We really loved these, devoured them, and want to make them again and use them for a homemade banana pudding! I also want to make the Chocolate Wafer Cookies from the book.

4) Dutch Tea Cookies (Oldest Cookie in America, circa 1609-1664) - This was the first cookie in America and also the first cookie I made in the American Cookie series. Four ingredients: butter, sugar, flour, and water - no egg or leavening. Surprisingly delicious when you think about how simple the cookie is. These were akin to a shortbread cookie, crisp on the edges and soft in the center and I can see how they would pair very well with tea. I bet they were very popular back in the times!

 

5) 1891 Snickerdoodle Cookies  - Simplicity is beginning to be a key factor in rating these cookies and these were one of my husband's favorites. He loved how soft they were and the subtle flavor of the cinnamon and sugar. He wanted me to rate these higher, but this is after all my list.

 

6) 1917 WWI Era Banana Drop Cookies - These cookies are like eating soft chewy banana bread in cookie form. We gobbled them up very quickly. Plus, this was one of my favorite history stories.

7) Early 1990's Viral Nieman Marcus $250 Cookie - This is a great cookie, but it was a little too busy for us to be a top favorite. We decided that if we wanted a chocolatey cookie, we wanted a plain old chocolate chip cookie. However, if you love a crisper oatmeal chocolate chip cookie with nuts, then this would be a top recipe for you!

8) 1961 School Lunch Peanut Butter Cookies - We love peanut butter cookies, and this was a good, solid recipe but it was also more on the subtle side. The peanut butter flavor wasn't very pronounced. I had a batch of these and a batch of Ruth Wakefield's Chocolate Crunch Cookies at the same time and everyone kept going for the Chocolate Crunch Cookie. 

9) Revolutionary War Era Joe Frogger Cookies (aka Molasses Spice Cookie) - This was a good solid cookie recipe, if you like Molasses Spice Cookies. I knew I had to include this recipe as molasses spice cookies are a HUGE part of cookie history. We ate them and enjoyed them, but I knew going into it that this wouldn't be a favorite based on our personal taste. We simply don't care much for spice cookies or desserts.

 

10) 1939 Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies - I never thought this recipe would end up at the very bottom of the list, but it sure did. This was the only cookie recipe from the book that I didn't care for. The cookies came out too oatemealy, were tough, and just didn't have the right amount of sugar. We didn't care for them at all, which is a shame because an oatmeal raisin cookie is up there on the list for me! 

and now back to the recipe for...The Viral Neiman Marcus $250 Cookie!

The Neiman Marcus $250 Cookies

Adapted from American Cookie

by Anne Byrn

Makes 7 to 8 dozen 2" cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature

1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2-1/2 cups old-fashioned oats*

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

4 ounces semisweet or milk chocolate, grated

1-1/2 cups chopped walnuts or pecans

Notes: Old-fashioned oats are called for in this recipe and that is why you pulse them in the food processor to break down the oats into a flour-like texture. If you have quick-cooking oats on hand that is okay too. Just skip the step of pulsing and add them straight to the dough. Additionally, the author suggests you can use any kind of chocolate in this recipe, but I stuck with the chocolate as written in the recipe, using a mix of semisweet and milk chocolate and I have to say I do think it yields a more flavorful cookie.

Place a rack in the top third of the oven and preheat the oven to 375F. Set aside 2 ungreased baking sheets (I use parchment paper).

Place the soft butter and sugars in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until creamy, 1 to 2 minutes. Turn of the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, and add the eggs and vanilla. Beat on low speed until combined and smooth, 1 minute.

In a food processor fitted with a steel blade, pulse the oats until finely ground, 10 to 15 seconds. Transfer the oatmeal to a medium-size bowl and add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to combine the dry ingredients, and dump the oatmeal-flour mixture into the bowl with the batter. Beat on low speeds until just combined, 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Fold in the chocolate chips, grated chocolate, and nuts. Drop the batter by heaping 1" tablespoonfuls, 2" apart on the baking sheets. Place in the oven.

Bake the cookies until they just begin to crisp around the edges but are still a little soft in the center, 8 to 10 minutes. Let rest on the pan for 1 minute, then transfer with a metal spatula to a wire rack to cool. Repeat with the remaining cookie dough. Store the cookies in an airtight container.