I love it when breakfast sort of disguises itself as dessert. Let’s talk pancakes for a moment. Serve those sweet fluffy, round cakes in the morning with a generous drizzle of maple syrup and you have breakfast . Serve something similar after dinner and it’s dessert. Let’s call them what they are – cake.

Our weekday mornings are harried with me quickly trying to stuff the kids with a bit of protein and them procrastinating over their shoes but the weekends are for lingering and indulging in the teetering line of breakfast dessert.

Fortunately our latest favorite is more breakfast than dessert as it’s fairly light on sugar, loaded with oats and topped with juicy pears whose natural sugars condense and caramelize in the hot oven. A sweet and nutty crumble nudges into the cracks and crisps in the oven creating a lovely crunch against the creamy oatmeal.

Weekends are for slowing down, taking a moment to catch your breath, feeling grateful and yes, maybe a bit of indulgence too. This recipe is one for the weekend.

Baked Oatmeal with Roasted Pears

adapted from Super Natural Every Day
Serves 6

2 cups rolled oats
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
¼ teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon chopped rosemary (optional but adds something real special)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups milk
1 egg
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla (or a vanilla bean, or both)
3 pears, cored and cut in half

Crumble Topping
½ cup walnuts (or any other nut you prefer)
1 Tablespoon butter, melted
pinch salt
1 Tablespoon brown sugar

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Butter an 8x10-inch baking dish.

Combine oats, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, rosemary and salt. Stir together. Pour this mixture into the buttered dish.
In another bowl, combine the brown sugar, milk, egg, 2 Tablespoons melted butter and vanilla. Whisk together completely. Slowly pour this over the oats.
Tuck the pears into the oats.

For the crumble: Combine everything in a small bowl then sprinkle over the top of the oats and pears.

Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the center is cooked through and the crumble is deep golden and caramelized. Let cool slightly then serve. Serve with maple syrup, brown sugar and a bit more melted butter if you’d like.

As the last of the plates were cleared grandma disappeared from the table. A moment later she returned carrying with her an aged tin box containing over 50 years of collected recipes. The lid no longer able to close as hundreds of  handwritten recipe cards and yellowed newspaper recipes packed tightly inside.

For the next hour I sat at the table oblivious to the squeals of the children around me and the conversation that continued as I tucked into the recipes already making plans to copy dozens of them. I held that box and imagined all the dinners that came from its contents. The cards themselves stained from the food that fed my dad and his four siblings.

I was holding a treasure. I felt the great value of that box and was so honored that grandma had thought to show it to me.

“Why don’t you take it?” She said.

I sat still for a moment reveling in her offer. It didn’t take much of her insistence before I held the box tighter overjoyed at this gift.

One of the reasons this blog exists is to create a similar sort of collection for my family. Instead of a tin box studded with blue and orange flowers this site houses our recipes as a sort of memoir of our meals. I am so eager to interweave in these pages the recipes that my grandma deemed worthy of feeding her family and entertaining the people who she graciously opened her home to.

Within minutes of riffling through the cards I found a recipe for Rhubarb Cake. It is no secret that I revel in the arrival of Spring mainly for the sake of Rhubarb so I knew this cake would be the first recipe I’d try.

What I find particularly endearing about these recipes is that there is little more than a list of simple ingredients. The few words written to describe the process show an assumed knowledge that is quite lost in our generation. I find the missing details freeing and the reminder that baking wasn’t always such a fearful act that required scales and a degree in chemistry. My grandmother’s and my mother knew how to bake by the feel of the batter and the way the dough reacted to their touch.

I creamed the butter and sugar by hand just as I imagined grandma did. There is something I find quite romantic about relying solely on a wooden spoon to bring a batter together. As the brown sugar and butter lightened in color and my arm felt a bit of a burn from the mixing I tossed in the remaining ingredients and sent the cake into a hot oven.

What emerged was a dense cake studded with tart rhubarb and scented with cinnamon making it the perfect cake to transition from Winter to Spring. I used its hearty texture and the presence of a vegetable as an excuse to enjoy it for breakfast – twice. And with an afternoon cup of coffee it paired quite nicely as well.

Grandma was wise to tuck this one away and now thanks to her, I’ve done the same.

Rhubarb Cake

The simplicity of this cake makes it the perfect solution when a sudden urge to bake emerges. I made a few adjustments to the original recipe - enough to make it feel more me while still maintaining the feel of grandma. 

2 cups chopped (rough 1/2") rhubarb

1/2 cup (not packed) brown sugar

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, soft

1 cup (not packed) brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup plain whole milk yogurt

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup semolina flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

Butter and flour a 8 or 9" (2" high) round cake pan.

Pre-heat your oven to 350*

In a small bowl add the rhubarb and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Let that sit for 30 minutes.

In a large bowl cream the butter and 1 cup brown sugar until light. Add the egg and vanilla. Add the rhubarb mixture and yogurt. Stir well. In another bowl whisk together the dry ingredients then add it to the rest of the ingredients stirring well to combine.

Spread in your prepared pan and bake for 50- 60 minutes or until the middle of the cake springs back when lightly pressed.

Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing from the pan and cooling completely on a wire rack.

Store well-covered for up to three days.

I do enjoy this time of the year with all the excitement of the holidays and the need to bundle up when exiting our warm haven. The hours that are spent indoors baking sugary sweets and coming in from the cold to have the brisk chill be washed away with a steaming cup of hot chocolate.

Even still there are times when I long for the t-shirt wearing days of Summer. I anticipate the coming warm months (in my case, being from the Seattle area, it is probably more accurate to say weeks) filled with long walks, digging in the dirt and eating fresh picked raspberries by the bucket loads.

The most anticipated event of the Summer for me is the Saturday mornings spent perusing the produce loaded Farmer’s Market. Wondering what lovely items will be destined for dinner this week, filling the empty crevices of the stroller with local, cheese and butter and picking out a warm baguette with the best intentions to save it for dinner which inevitably is eaten before we are back home. And of course for us no trip to the market would be complete without treating ourselves to a heaping bag of fresh-made kettle corn.

I am a sucker for all things sweet and salty. Really. Could there be anything better? The sugar ever so slightly adhears to the perfectly popped kernal of corn. A thin blanket of sweetness covering what’s underneath from the gentle sprinkling of salt. We savor our snack as we soak up the sun, select our produce and walk home satisfied until next Saturday.

Recently, while feeling the bone inhabiting chill, I longed for this sweet taste of Summer and to my surprise it suddenly dawned on me that I can recreate it quite easily in my very own kitchen. I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of making it myself before. I guess the guy wearing something similar to a gas mask standing over a huge kettle stirring the kernels with what appears to be an ore didn’t seem translatable in my own kitchen. But let me tell you it can be done and I am going to even go so far as to say that it can be done better!

The ingredients are extremely simple but it can be a bit tricky as once the popping begins it goes rather quickly and the line between delicious and burnt is very fine. But please don’t let that disclaimer scare you off, I have made this several times since my happy discovery and although there was some smoke and the need to scrub the pan with a bit more than elbow grease, the results were always worth the small amount of trouble and danger.

Kettle Corn

adapted from Hillbilly Housewife

• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup popcorn kernels
• Salt to taste (I recommend Fleur de Sel)

Over a medium-high flame, heat the canola oil in the bottom of a heavy 3-quart saucepan. Sprinkle in 2 or 3 popcorn kernels. When the kernels pop add the sugar, and then the remaining popcorn. Cover with a good lid. Shake the pan over the heat while the popcorn pops. When the popping stops, remove the pan from the heat. Immediately pour the hot popcorn into a bowl.  The popcorn will be hot and sticky so be very careful not to burn yourself. The popcorn should be lightly coated with a beautiful amber caramel. Salt the kettle corn to taste and serve. Makes a large bowlful that doesn’t stick around long.

Kettle corn is even more enjoyable when you wash it down with a Cuba Libre.

A blondie is simply a variation of a brownie but contains no chocolate…. so it really is something quite different than a brownie. The similarity comes through in the method and also all the ingredients, excluding chocolate of course, are similar but the blondies primary flavor comes from brown sugar. As with brownies a multitude of mix-ins can be added and slight variations to the ratio of ingredients can be manipulated to alter the end product. You can cajole your blondies to be more cakey, chewy, crispy… or whatever you desire.

Usually I am a purist when it comes to blondies and brownies. Added ingredients are merely a distraction from the pure flavor and texture that I crave… but again this particular craving urged me to include milk chocolate chips. If you know me at all you know that milk chocolate is not typically in my vocabulary. Most often chocolate isn’t chocolate unless it’s bittersweet. I don’t know what came over me that day but it was super sweet blondies laden with milk chocolate chips that I desired and who am I to say no to my cravings?

One other note…. I made these two days in a row (don’t worry – I shared them with a multitude of people) The second time I made them I was short an egg…. since I am using my own chicken eggs they are quite a bit smaller than conventional eggs (they are also a beautiful blue/green color – I really must show you soon). So the first batch I used four of my eggs and the second time I only used three but I also increased the amount of butter. The second batch was my favorite. They were super chewy!

So if super sweet is what you crave… please try these.

Another add-in suggestion, which is what we would do at Spago. Once blondies are baked and cooled poke multiple holes in bars then fill the holes with caramel sauce. Warning – this version is ridiculously sweet!!! but so delicious.

Blondies with Milk Chocolate Chips

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter 

1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar

1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar

2 large eggs (or four eggs from a bantam chicken)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3/4 cup milk chocolate

For chewier version decrease eggs – I used three small instead of four so I don’t know exactly how much the recipe would change if you eliminated an entire egg… if you try this please let me know how it goes. I also increased the butter by two tablespoons bringing the total up to 12 tbl.

METHOD

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 12-inch square baking pan. Mix flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon baking soda in medium bowl. Melt butter in large saucepan over low heat. Remove saucepan from heat. Add sugar and whisk to blend. Whisk in eggs and vanilla extract. Gradually stir in flour mixture (batter will be thick). Spread batter in prepared pan. Sprinkle with chocolate chips  Bake blondies until tester inserted into center comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 25 minutes. Cool blondies in pan on rack. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and let stand at room temperature.) Cut into squares and serve.