Dishrag 336: Becoming Baltimore - Charm City Food Hits Its Stride

In a medium pot heat cream to a scald. In a large metal bowl combine sugar, egg yolks, salt, and vanilla paste and whisk until smooth. Slowly whisk in hot cream, pass base through a chinois, add vanilla bean and chill for 4 to 24 hours. When ready to spin, remove vanilla bean and process in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

In a medium pot combine butter, sugar, half and half, and vanilla bean paste. Cook over a medium flame, stirring constantly, until mixture reaches a boil. Add whiskey, remove from heat, and cool to room temperature.

In a metal bowl combine boiling water and oats and rest 5 minutes. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine brown sugar and butter and beat until light and fluffy. Incorporate eggs one at a time, followed by vanilla bean paste, scraping sides of bowl as necessary. In a separate bowl combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Mixing on low speed, slowly add dry ingredients to butter mixture, mixing until just incorporated and scraping the bottom of the bowl to work in all the butter. Finally, add softened oats and mix just until incorporated.

Heat oven to 325F. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter and sugar and cream on low speed until well incorporated; do not incorporate air. Add flour, oats, vanilla, cinnamon, and pecans and mix just until homogenous. Mixture should resemble crumbly oatmeal cookie dough. Crumble dough onto a half sheet pan lined with parchment and bake 10 to 15 minutes, or until streusel is golden brown. Cool to room temperature, then pulse in a food processor to a coarse meal texture.

Heat oven to 325F. Arrange 6- ounce ramekins on two half-sheet trays. Pour one ounce of the Whiskey-Brown Sugar Sauce into each ramekin, then top with a layer of diced apple. Fill ramekins with Oatmeal Cake batter until they are full, then bake until cakes are golden brown, about 20 minutes, turning cakes once halfway through. Serve cakes warm, garnished with a drizzle of Whiskey-Brown Sugar Sauce, a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream, and a sprinkle of Oat-Pecan Streusel.