Oatmeal Chocolate Cherry Cookies

I can't believe it's been so long since we had any cookies around here. I admit, I got so caught up with delicious summer fruit and ice cream and preserves that I forgot how nice it is to have a little portable sweet treat lying around. These are the chewy centered, crispy edged variety of oatmeal cookies which just happen to be my personal favorite and I like to sprinkle them with a little salt before heading into the oven too. If sweet/salty isn't your thing feel free to skip the step, but if you've never tried it, give it a go with a cookie or two. They would make a great lunch box dessert if you have kiddos heading off to school this fall and after you tuck one or two in their lunch boxes you can eat a few for breakfast with your morning coffee. I mean, they're made of oatmeal right?

Oatmeal Chocoalte Cherry Cookies 
adapted from BAKED
yield 18 cookies
3/4c flour
1/2t baking soda
1/2t sea salt (plus a bit more to sprinkle on top of the cookies)
1/2t cinnamon (I used Saigon Cinnamon from Penzey's that was super strong, so if you use another variety you may want a little more here)
a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1/2c butter
3/4c brown sugar
1 egg
1t vanilla extract
1 1/2c rolled oats
1/2c chopped dried cherries
1/2c chopped bittersweet chocolate or chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 375ºF

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
2. In the bowl of a standing mixer (or in a bowl with a hand mixer) cream the butter and the sugars, then add the egg and mix until combined, then add the vanilla.
3. WIth the mixer on low, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Then remove the bowl from the mixer, add the oats, chocolate and cherries and stir them in by hand.
4. Divide the mixture into 18 even balls, I used a cookie scoop about the size of a generous tablespoon and place on two parchment lined cookie sheets. Gently press the cookies down to ensure they spread and sprinkle each one with a tiny bit of sea salt.
5. Slide the sheets into the oven and bake the cookies until lightly golden on the edges and soft in the middle, about 12min. Don't forget to rotate the pans halfway through baking. Cool the cookies on the sheets for a few minutes then remove them to a wire rack and try not to eat the whole batch all at once.

These cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temp for about 3 days.

Rhubarb Cherry Jam

I know, I know, more rhubarb. More rhubarb! I promise this will be my last barb-centric post of the season, but I will not apologize for being crazy for the stuff. I am slowly trying to ease myself into summer now that it is officially here, but I can't say that I am too excited about it. Summer is not exactly my favorite season in NYC. I will never get used to the humidity that makes everything feel sticky, the sweaty walks to and from the grocery store, and let's not even talk about going to the laundromat. It may get ugly. So, I've been trying to remind myself of all of the great things that the summer brings: farmer's markets, flowers, cold brewed iced coffee, long days where the sun sets at 9, day trips upstate to cool off at a friends cabin, ice pops. To celebrate summer and say a fond farewell to spring I made this jam. It combines my favorite veggie disguised as a fruit and one of the best treats that summer offers, fresh sweet cherries. The inspiration came from the Blue Chair Jam Cookbook which I get lost in every time I crack it open and the best part is, no cherry pitting required. Now excuse me while I go eat an ice pop for breakfast.

Rhubarb Cherry Jam
adapted from the Blue Chair Jam Cookbook
yield, roughly 24oz finished jam
1 1/2 lbs rhubarb, chopped
1 lb sugar
juice of 1 large lemon
peel from one organic granny smith apple
1 lb sweet cherries

1. Put the rhubarb, sugar, and lemon juice into a large, wide, non reactive pot. I use my enameled dutch oven for jamming. Cook over medium heat until the rhubarb begins to soften and releases it's juices. Increase heat and boil the rhubarb gently until it softens, but still holds it's shape a bit.
2. Remove the pan from the heat, and using a slotted spoon, scoop the rhubarb pieces into a bowl leaving their juices behind.
3. Pour the cherries, pits and all, and the apple peel into the reserved rhubarb juice and put the pan over high heat. Cook, stirring frequently until the juices reach a full boil. Turn the heat down a little and boil the cherries until they are soft and shriveled, about 7 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.
4. Place a metal strainer over the bowl full of reserved rhubarb pieces. Using a slotted spoon, fish the cherries and apple peel out of the pan and transfer them to the strainer. Press the cherries very firmly to extract as much juice as possible then discard the left over pits and skins.
5. Add the rhubarb pieces and cherry juice back into the pan and cook over high heat until the jam has thickened, the rhubarb has lost it's shape, and the jam reaches 220 degrees, about 15 minutes. If any white foam appears on the surface of the jam, skim and discard it.
6. Pour the jam into sterilized jars and process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.

Notes:
- With the batch that I made, I filled 2 6oz weck jars, 1 8oz wide mouth jar and had a little leftover, which I ate immediately. So Good.
- I included the apple peel with the thought that the pectin would help the jam achieve a firmer set. I'm not sure how much good it did, but I find the jam to be perfectly spreadable.
- I suggest you chop your rhubarb pieces a little smaller than the ones pictured above, the large pieces of rhubarb left the jam a bit stringy. Delicious, but a little stringy.