Perfect Plum Torte

It's plum season here at Casa de Valley Writer. Our little plum tree is a superstar producer this year:

Last year, I discovered this terrific torte recipe to use up some of those little jewels. The tartness of the plums combined with the sweet, moist cake is just perfect for a light dessert or a yummy coffee cake-alternative for breakfast. 

Calling it "coffee cake" makes me feel better about eating cake for breakfast!

Adapted from The New York Times, here's my recipe for the:

Perfect Plum Torte

(Makes 1 9" torte)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar 
1/2 cup salted butter, softened
1 cup unbleached flour, sifted 
1 tsp. baking powder 
2 eggs 

1 tsp. vanilla12-14 small plums (about 1-2" in size), pitted and cut in half

2 Tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Method:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Line bottom of 9" cake pan with parchment paper and grease sides with oil.

In a large bowl, beat butter and 3/4 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Add sifted flour, baking powder, eggs and vanilla. Beat just until smooth.

Spread the batter into the prepared cake pan. Top with plum halves, placed skin-side down.

Mix remaining 2 Tbsp. sugar with 1 tsp. cinnamon and sprinkle over top.

Bake at 350°F for 40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. 

Cool 15 minutes before removing from pan. 

Homemade Wheat Crackers -- with a kick!

This weekend we found ourselves overstocked on hummus and completely out of crackers -- a very sad situation indeed. Not wanting to drive to the store, I decided to make my own homemade wheat crackers. We like things spicy around here, so I kicked them up with some cayenne, but that's a totally optional ingredient. Here's the full recipe:

Homemade Wheat Crackers
(Adapted from AllRecipes.com; makes about 35 crackers)

Ingredients:
3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cayenne powder
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 cup water
sea salt, for sprinkling

Method:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a medium bowl, stir together white whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. cayenne powder. Slowly mix in olive oil and water and stir just until dough comes together. 

Place the dough on a long sheet of parchment paper. Roll out into very thin (almost as thin as the paper) rectangle (or as close as a rectangle as you can get!).

Cut the dough into squares and sprinkle with sea salt.

Carefully transfer the dough (still on the parchment paper) to a large baking sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350°F until evenly browned. Some thicker crackers (such as those in the center) may need to go back into the oven for 5 minutes or so to full crisp up. 

Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

Beer-Braised BBQ Chicken

Disclaimer: I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Smart & Final #CBias #SocialFabric.

We eat a lot of chicken for dinner in this household. But to avoid the "chicken again?!?" comments from the peanut gallery (aka my husband), I try to shake up what cuts I use instead of always going for the default boneless skinless chicken breast. With grilling season upon us, bone-in cuts are especially appealing. They tend to hold up better on the grill, keeping their moisture and resisting over-cooking. For this recipe for Beer-Braised BBQ chicken, I used chicken leg quarters, which are the thigh and drumstick portion. The dark meat works great with the beer & BBQ flavors.

Ingredients:
2 First Street chicken leg quarters
1 (12 oz.) bottle beer [I used a lager]
1/2 cup BBQ sauce, divided
2 Tbsp. First Street apple cider vinegar

Method:
This recipe has two stages, but I promise both are easy. To start, we place the chicken leg quarters in the crockpot and cover with 1/4 cup BBQ sauce and a bottle of good quality beer:

Cook for 3-4 hours on low, then transfer the chicken to a medium hot grill. Baste frequently with a grilling sauce made from 1/4 cup BBQ sauce and 2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar (I find most BBQ sauces are too thick for basting; the vinegar cuts this down).

After about 15-20 minutes of flipping and basting every few minutes, the chicken is grilled to perfection and ready to enjoy!

The ingredients for this recipe were purchased at Smart & Final. First Street chicken leg quarters will be on sale next week for $0.89/lb at all Smart & Final stores. #ChooseSmart