The cool nights have been such a relief from the heartbreaking heat during the day. So, I decided to take advantage of the night and bake! Enjoying it with friends, Leila and Rosie, we had a wide variety of teas from Chado, lightly-roasted coffee beans from a recent Costa Rica trip, and, of course, some homemade Peach and Plum Crisp from 101 Cookbooks.
The Chado tea selection: Rose Sentia, Golden Monkey, Padrea. I also served a black chai (Shahrzad International) with freshly ground cardamom, the way mom always makes. Leila is Iranian, she knows, she appreciates. She drinks the tea with a sugar cube between her teeth. I love it. Rosie brought an extra tea pot so we could serve two different teas at a time. By the way, if you're in the Los Angeles area, Chado Tea Room is great.
The music selection: Jens Leckman, CocoRosie, Leonard Cohen, Feist, Ali Farke Toure, Cat Power, and Beirut.
*Thank you, Tal, for those amazing Kyocera ceramic knives!
Modifications:
What had attracted me to this recipe was the limited amount of sugar and butter. I'm tired of sugar covering up everything. The recipe calls for brown sugar, but I used organic cane sugar because that's what I had. In case you were wondering, it's fine to use either.
Also, I ended up using Kirkland instant oatmeal oats from those one-serving packages, because I couldn't be bothered to shop for something better. It turned out delicious...
Instead of regular yogurt, I used labneh, a thick creamy yogurt I love. And instead of crumbling the dough, I took chunks and flattened them since I'm a dough fiend. I love my crust. Although, once finished, I surprisingly found myself more interested in the fruit than the dough, so there may be something to the crumbling process..? Next time I'll make whipped cream.
Hope you survive the heat!