Week #2: Ginger Oatmeal Cream Pies
Turning cake mix into cookies, three Black women in food, and what “home” means to us (a collaboration with Flour & Olive and Flor De La Jara)
Finding home in comfort and our craft connects us.
As mixed race and black women from different parts of the world, we each shared a short audio snippet of what home means to us:
A special thank you to Estelle for initiating this beautiful collaboration. She provided her incredible cake mixes, and Tiffany contributed her amazing, high-quality olive oil. Estelle encouraged me to play with her versatile mixes, and through this process I discovered her products truly feel like home to me. They help calm my nervous system because they are so easy the work with and they bring out my creative side even on a weeknight because they are truly made with artistic license in mind. (Check out this Orange Blossom and Thyme Pyrex Poundcake I made earlier this year using another one of her mixes.)
Transcription
Tiffany / Flor De La Jara:
When I think of home, I think of a place of comfort, love, and laughter.
It's a space to unwind with those I love and adore. Home offers a reprieve from everyday stress—a place where I can truly relax and exhale.
Estelle / Flour & Olive:
Home is so much more than a house or a place. It is a feeling of belonging that engages all my senses and makes me feel effortlessly comfortable, physically, emotionally and mentally. It is being with the people I love the most, wherever in the world that may be. It is my husband and my children, my sister and my parents. And no matter how much time has passed, home is being in Accra, the capital of Ghana, and spending time with my family and lifelong friends. It is speaking English and hearing my husband and kids speak French. It is getting into my house and having my dog standing there wagging his tail or seeing my kids huddle together and reading. It is jollof rice, plantain and beans, tarte flambe, spring rolls and burgers.
Jerrelle / The Dinner Ritual:
Home is wherever my inner child feels free to play without restriction. It’s a sanctuary where I can experiment, fail, and create again. Home holds all my tools and materials close by, ready to be used at a moment's notice, like a big, bottomless purse filled with different materials—journals, pens, books, or pantry supplies— always there in case I need to scribble down an idea, or research for hours undisturbed, or bake a craving into reality. Home feels like RISD all-nighters. Those midnight huddles in studio where we worked and created side by side. We didn’t just make our own art; we inspired each other to explore new ideas and solutions too. Home is a genuine circle of kindred spirits—artists, builders, thinkers, and pioneers who inspire and support my best work, as I do for them. Home is in the people who truly see me and encourage me to come out and play. Home is art. It’s where I rediscover myself beside others, and safely unfurl.
Ginger Oatmeal Cream Pies
Makes 12 sandwich cookies
These not-too-sweet spiced sandwich cookies were created using the award-winning gourmet cake mixes from founder Estelle Sohne paired with high-quality olive oil from husband and wife team, Jorge and Tiffany (their olive oil was recently featured on Oprah’s Favorite Things of 2024!) . For the most part I followed the recipe on the package for the additional ingredients except I subtracted 1 egg, the milk and the warm water and added oatmeal. Like all of Estelle’s cakes, these cookies are incredibly flavorful and moist.
Ingredients
Cookies
2 large eggs
¼ cup unsulphured molasses
⅔ cup Flor De La Jara Arbequina Olive Oil, or other mild olive oil
¼ cup (30 grams) finely grated ginger root
1 package Flour and Olive Ginger Cake Mix
1 cup quick-cooking oats
Filling
2 (8-ounce) packages plain cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, molasses, olive oil, and grated ginger until completely combined. Add the dry cake mix and rolled oats, and fold together to combine.
Using a 1.5-inch ice cream scoop, drop 6 mounds of batter onto each cookie sheet, leaving a few inches around each mound. Bake in two batches, as the cookies will spread, for 10 - 12 minutes, or until the cookies are domed and golden brown at the edges. Let cool for 10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. Repeat with the remaining dough.
In a mixing bowl combine the cream cheese, butter, confectioner’s sugar, and vanilla, mixing until smooth. Cover and transfer to the fridge until ready to use.
Once all the cookies have cooled, using the same 1.5-inch scoop used for the cookie dough, dollop the cream cheese filling between the center of two cookies, pressing down gently to spread the filling evenly. Serve or wrap until ready to serve.
Reflection Prompt
What does home mean to you? How do you usually carve out moments of safety in your daily life? Where exactly is your safe space? Is it a physical location or just a feeling or moment? A person? When you are in your safe space, do you notice a change in the way you move and express yourself? How can you amplify your safe space so it feels more anchored in your everyday reality? If your space is already very defined and well-used, how can you channel this energy into spaces where you don’t typically feel safe, to slowly begin expanding your safety zone?
On my “Glimmer List” this week:
Definitely Dominique Ansel's Christmas Cereal arriving in time for the holidays (Thanks, Dominique! I will be joining your beautiful tradition and eating this on Christmas Morning), a trail of “monkey brains:, the best impromptu black bean burger I ever made while also battling flu-like symptoms, snow glitter, my gingerbread house paper garland still alive (I love that my past self thought of my future self’s feelings and didn’t throw it away!) and Brett, our pizza guy, drawing a heart on the inside of our pizza box <3
Happy Holidays!
See you next week!
-Jerrelle