For National Coffee Cake Day ...

 

Photo is from Faithfully Gluten Free

 
Yes, who knew?  Yesterday, April 7, was apparently National Coffee Cake Day!   

It's a neat fact to know because we love coffeecake in this house and would be happy for a reason to celebrate. 

One practice I've been developing in recent years is the technique of turning muffin recipes into coffee cakes.  Muffins are great and we do enjoy them, but as I age I am finding it more and more trouble to spoon batter into tins or paper muffin cups.  Inevitably there are spills on the rims of the tins which need to be wiped off or they will burn.  

So I've begun working on ways to adapt muffins to coffeecakes.  Sometimes it can be done with no changes at all to the recipe proportions; other times the quantities need to be increased or at least tweaked a bit.

Years ago in Nevada we greatly enjoyed some maple apple muffins we trted at a favorite coffee shop,  We learned that these muffins were not baked in-house, but had been purchased at Costco,  One year we even bought a dozen to take home with us and a plastic box to carry them in so they could be safely stashed under the seat in the airplane.

After a bit of searching I found a muffin recipe on AllRecipes.com that tasted very much like our old favorite, and I baked them fairly often.  

Recently I got to wondering if I could turn this maple apple muffin recipe into a coffeecake.  My hubby, fast becoming the resident baker, was game to try.  This is what we ended up with:

Maple Drizzled Apple Coffeecake

1 3/4 cups flour (a bit more if you think it needs it)

1 1/3 cup quick oats

1 cup sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder 

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup melted butter

1/3 cup maple syrup 

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 1/2 cups chopped peeled apples 

Chopped pecans if desired

Glaze:

1/2 cup confectioners sugar

2 1/2 Tablespoons maple syrup 

In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.  In a small bowl, mix milk, butter, syrup, and eggs; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.  Fold in apples.  Spread batter in a greased 13 x 9 pan; sprinkle with chopped pecans if desired.  Bake at 375º for 45 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool in pan on a wire rack.  When completely cooled, combine the glaze ingredients in a small bowl and drizzle over the coffee cake.

We did add the additional 1/4 cup flour as we thought it needed it.  However, the coffee cake was a bit crumbly, so maybe another time we would add only 2 additional tablespoons.

The coffeecake might not be quite as yummy as the original muffins, but it is tasty and we have even brought it along for coffee breaks this week for the volunteer work crew!

So Happy National Coffee Cake Day to you all!  If you'd like to celebrate, even a day or two late, this just might be your recipe.

Answering just two

 

Vintage Thinking of You card sold in my Etsy shop

 No time for a long post today, and some of the Hodgepodge questions would have taken much more thought than I am capable of at the moment.  So I picked just two of the questions that I could answer quickly and easily.  Here goes:

2. Do you have a special place or organizational system for gift wrapping? Do you still buy 'real' cards to send for birthdays, anniversaries, get-well, etc? 

I keep most gift wrap, ribbon, tags, etc.  in two under-the-bed storage totes.  Everyday gift wrap for birthdays and such is in one tote. and Christmas gift wrap in the other, larger one.  I also have some smaller gift bags in each tote -- and the one with the Christmas wrappings also contains some packaging for kitchen gifts -- food-safe tissue paper, foldable cookie boxes, cookie bags, and the like.

Oh, and yes, I do still buy "real" greeting cards to send for birthdays and other occasions.  Often birthdays sneak up on me so I will resort to an e-card, but I try to keep get-well and thinking-of-you cards on hand at all times.  I will either buy them at the dollar store (where they are only 50¢!) , at Christianbook.com or sometimes at our local thrift store.  I also like to keep blank note cards on hand for writing notes of encouragement to folks.

3. It's National Banana Day...are you a fan? What's your favorite thing to make with bananas or, if you're not a cook, your favorite thing to eat that contains banana? 

I do like bananas but they need to be fairly green.  I've eaten very few bananas in the past 18 months or so, since I try to watch carbs quite carefully.  Probably my favorite way to eat bananas would be in a banana split.  

As for baking, I like to make banana coffeecakes or muffins more than banana bread.  I'll link to a couple of favorite recipes for you.

 This Banana Split Coffee Cake is from Jocelyn at Inside BruCrew Life.  I've never been disappointed in one of Jocelyn's recipes.  I leave the glaze off this one as it's sweet enough without it.

And this Banana Crunch Cake found in an old cookbook is really tasty too!

It's a gorgeous spring day here though just a little cool still.  Have a wonderful Wednesday, all!

A berry important question

 

Image from The Graphics Fairy

I'm late, far too late, for the Wednesday Hodgepodge, so I've selected just one of the questions to answer.  I'm sure you can guess why this one appealed to me most out of all the other questions:

4. June 14th is National Strawberry Shortcake Day...are you a fan, and if so will you celebrate? How do you make yours? Have you been strawberry picking? If so what do you do with all those berries?

I am definitely a strawberry shortcake fan. 

I wasn't aware, or didn't remember, that June 14th was National Strawberry Shortcake Day.  So we didn't celebrate.   But we could have, although we were traveling that day.  Let me explain.  

We had traveled up to Boothbay Harbor, Maine, on Monday, June 12 and spent two nights at a lovely B&B with friends from Pennsylvania.  On June 14, we were heading home and passed through the city of Brunswick.  Still full from our hearty breakfast, we stopped at Dunkin Donuts for a break and an iced coffee to share.

BUT across the street was this place:

You can tell it's April, not June, in this photo of The Brunswick Diner.

where, on a rainy April day some years ago,  we ate the best strawberry shortcake either of us has ever tasted.  

It was made with baking powder biscuits, strawberries, and real whipped cream, as is the New England way with shortcake.  But there was one important and stellar detail that the Brunswick Diner added: vanilla ice cream in between the strawberry and biscuit layers.  

At home, I make my strawberry shortcake simply with biscuits, strawberries and whipped cream.

Strawberry picking?  Yes, we have often gone.  Not yet this year ... it's been a wet June and I'm not really sure what that will do/has done to the strawberry crop.  But we will very likely go strawberry picking if it's a possibility for us.

Little granddaughter Arielle had a hand (or two) in picking these

Strawberry field where we picked in 2022

What do I do with all those berries?  I usually freeze some whole.  We wash and hull the berries, then place them on a cookie sheet and freeze until solid.  Then they are transferred to zip-top plastic bags.  Now we have frozen berries that will not clump together and one can pour out whatever is needed for a recipe.

To use the fresh berries, probably my favorite thing to make would be strawberry shortcake.  To be a little more fancy, this Strawberry Lovers' Pie is another huge favorite.  

 

And this Strawberry Cheesecake Pie is another. 

Photo from Spend with Pennies.com

I also like this homemade Strawberry Pie Filling as another way to use fresh berries.  

 
And these Strawberry Muffins (or, as you will see, Strawberry Coffeecake) are also scrumptious!

And there's my answer to a berry important question. 

Raspberry Lemon Coffeecake

So in Tuesday's post I mentioned turning an old favorite muffin recipe into a scrumptious raspberry coffeecake.  It makes such a great coffeecake that I will probably not make it as muffins again, but one never knows.

The first time I baked this,  I just mixed all of the raspberries into the batter.  The second time around, I looked more closely at the muffin recipe and realized half of the berries were to be sprinkled on each layer.  I also had the inspiration to add some lemon curd.  I love raspberry and lemon flavors together, and I had part of a jar of lemon curd in the fridge just begging to be used up in some delightful baked good.  

So without further ado, here is the recipe:

RASPBERRY LEMON COFFEECAKE

Coffeecake batter:
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. melted butter
1 egg
1/3 to 1/2 cup lemon curd
1 c. whole raspberries ( I use frozen ones) divided use

Streusel topping:
1/4 c. chopped pecans
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. flour
2 Tblsp. melted butter

For  batter, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, melted butter, and egg. Stir in the flour mixture.

Spread half of the batter in a greased 9-inch square pan.  Place teaspoonfuls of lemon curd here and there over the batter, spacing them as evenly as possible.  Sprinkle half of the raspberries evenly over the curd/batter in pan.

Carefully spread remaining batter over the first layers, then sprinkle the remaining half cup of raspberries over the top.

For topping, combine the topping ingredients until crumbly. Sprinkle the topping over the batter/berries in pan.

Bake at 375º for 35-40 minutes or until cake tests done.

 Yield: 1 9-inch square coffeecake

Hope you enjoy this coffeecake if you try baking it!  We thought it was fantastic.

* Oh, and if you wanted to make this gluten free, you could do as I did and use the 1-to-1 gluten free baking flour for the cake part, and brown rice flour in the streusel topping. *

From the August archives, part 2

Graphic by Abby at Little Birdie Blessings

Here we go with another post containing links from the Kitchen Table archives.  Enjoy!

Shades of green, from 2012, might be a good one to start with.  Green is so refreshing, don't you think?

From 2009, A tale of four curtains is a cautionary tale about not taking on a project one is not qualified to carry out.  The voice of experience speaking here.



How about a couple of recipes?
Crab Melt Loaf and a picnic by the pond, from 2011, may give you a new idea for picnic food.


Great Garden Veggies is also a recipe I shared in 2011, wonderful for using up garden tomatoes, zucchini, and summer squash.

For something sweet, this Blueberry Almond Buckle, from 2010, will help make use of any fresh (or frozen) blueberries you'd like to use up.

Now for some simple crafting!
I'm probably a little late sharing these Citrus Coasters, although it was an August post.  But they are easy and fun to make!

Or maybe you'd like to try your hand at making felt food, as in this 2013 post:  Hamburgers, Anyone?.  It has links to instructions for several other foods, like sandwiches and ripple chips.


Lastly, Appreciating the little things (2013) is something I aim at doing every day.


Hope you've enjoyed this prowl through the August archives.  I have a third archive post planned for later.

Baking day

Last Saturday was a sort of baking day for me.  I was making a couple of different types of squares for Sunday's potluck lunch at church, and ended up trying two new recipes in addition to an old favorite.  I thought I would share the links and my thoughts on the recipes for those who may be interested.

One of my favorite sources for dessert recipes is Jocelyn at Inside BruCrew Life.  I don't think I have ever made a recipe from Jocelyn that hasn't been absolutely wonderful.  She just has a knack for putting ingredients together and her recipes work beautifully.

I looked at recipes I had saved and found these: Caramel Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars. 

Photo from Inside BruCrew Life

Oh, my!  Were these ever good!  I didn't bother with the sprinkle of sea salt on top.  It just didn't seem necessary.  I cut them in smaller squares than specified.

For the second variety of bars, I intended to make Cookie Dough Brownies, but discovered I was all out of baking cocoa.  I bake so seldom that it seems I run out of something every time I do!  Since I had already softened a stick of butter, I had to find a recipe calling for that amount, and turned to my old favorite Blond Brownies.

Photo from Taste of Home

I love this recipe because it does only call for one stick of butter (I usually use margarine, but this time I had butter on hand so used it), and it doesn't call for any ingredients I don't ordinarily keep on hand.  And it produces a lot of bars very easily.   I also cut these brownies into smaller squares than specified.  I usually do that for a potluck so people can try more than one kind if they like.

Then I also ended up making a coffeecake, just for our own breakfasts for a few days.  In perusing Inside BruCrew Life, I found a recipe that would work well to use up a couple of ingredients.  Mr. T ordinarily takes a banana in his lunch every day, and when he's not working he tends to forget about the bananas.  So I had some to use up.  This Banana Split Coffee Cake

Photo from Inside BruCrew Life

looked like a great idea to me, because it not only called for 2 ripe bananas, but also a cup of strawberry pie filling.  I seldom buy pie filling, and in fact had none on hand, but what I did have was about a cup of strawberry sauce.  It was left over from a waffle supper we had served to some of the grandkids one evening while their parents enjoyed a date night.  ("This is like having dessert for supper!", they exulted.)  So here was a great way to use up the strawberry sauce.

The coffeecake was delicious, too.  My hubby dearly loves coffeecake and was happy to contribute 2 of his overripe bananas to the cause.  I didn't bother with the icing on top, figuring to save a few calories.  I cut the coffeecake  in smallish squares and we enjoyed a square or two every day for breakfast.  Always a nice treat!

It's cold here today (3º -- yes, three degrees -- when I got up this morning).  The temps are not predicted to get out of the single numbers today.  More baking just might be in my future!

Pumpkin Streusel Coffeecake

Photo from Taste of Home

 While it is still October, I thought I would share my favorite pumpkin coffeecake recipe.  I found this recipe in the cooking newsletter Cook and Tell, many years ago, although I have recently seen a very similar recipe on Taste of Home's site. This is wonderful; a streusel-topped coffeecake with a layer that tastes just like pumpkin pie!

PUMPKIN STREUSEL COFFEE CAKE

Cake:
1/2 cup butter or margarine
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup sour cream
Pumpkin Layer:
1 (15 to 16-oz.) can pumpkin
1 slightly beaten egg
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
Streusel:
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 to 1 cup chopped pecans

Cream butter, sugar, and vanilla in mixer bowl. Add eggs, beating well. Sift together flour, baking powder, and soda and add them to the creamed mixture alternately with the sour cream.

In a smaller bowl, combine the pumpkin, egg, sugar and pie spice.

In another small bowl, combine all the streusel ingredients until crumbly.

Spoon half of the cake batter into a well-greased 13 x 9-inch pan. Spread the batter evenly, being sure to get into the corners of the pan. Sprinkle half of the streusel over the batter. Now spread all of the
pumpkin layer over the streusel. Next, spread the remaining cake batter evenly over the pumpkin layer. sprinkle the remaining streusel over the top. Bake in a preheated 325º oven until a toothpick comes out clean.

Makes one 13 x 9-inch coffee cake.

Enjoy!

A delicious gluten free coffeecake!

Photo from Taste of Home

A few weeks ago, long-time friends of ours were in New England for a quick visit.  Although they had very little time to visit anyone other than family, they wanted to get together with us before returning to Florida, where they now live.  We decided to get together for breakfast, either at our home or at a restaurant.  As it worked out, due to time and energy constraints on their part, we ended up meeting at a restaurant closer to where they were staying, which was just fine.

But the day before, still unsure where we would be eating, I planned a brunch menu just in case.  I took some time to hunt for a good coffeecake recipe that would incorporate some fresh blackberries we had been given.  When I saw this coffeecake recipe I'd clipped from a Country magazine years ago, I decided to try it using blackberries instead of blueberries.  And I went ahead and made the coffee cake, thinking to have that much done ahead.  Here is the link:
New England Blueberry Coffee Cake.

The recipe went together very quickly.  I try to avoid wheat, so I made this using Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten Free Baking Flour.

Photo from Bob's Red Mill

This is a terrific flour from Bob's Red Mill which is formulated so you can just use it cup for cup in baking recipes that call for regular flour.  The xanthan gum is already included in the blend.  I have tried it in cookies, brownies, bars, muffins, and coffeecake and have been very pleased with the results.  I'm so glad that I didn't throw away all of my old, wonderful recipes, because this means I can still use them!

The coffeecake turned out absolutely delicious.  It was a little on the moist/damp side, but I think that had to do with using the blackberries.  Another time I would use blueberries as the recipe specifies.  Even though our friends ended up not coming for brunch, we greatly enjoyed our time with them at Cracker Barrel -- and we enjoyed this coffeecake at home for several days!

The very BEST gluten-free coffee cake

A cookbook from my collection

Nearly two years ago, I stopped eating wheat.  No, I don't have celiac disease, nor has a doctor ever told me I'm gluten intolerant.  I stopped eating wheat as an experiment, just to see if it helped me to feel better.  It did, within just a couple of weeks.  The inflamed feeling I'd had in my stomach for a long time went away.  And then, within a couple of months, the pain in my hips and shoulders had also gone away.  That was enough for me to leave wheat out of my diet on a pretty much permanent basis.  I just feel better without it.

At first, I didn't bother with learning how to bake gluten free.  I just didn't eat anything with wheat or barley in it.  I didn't want to buy a bunch of expensive ingredients and go to the trouble of learning a new way to bake if this experiment didn't work out.  By now, though, I've learned to make gluten-free all-purpose flour and I am doing a lot more baking than I did.  I like to keep my GF baked goods in the freezer and just pull out a muffin, a cupcake, or a cookie as needed.

Back at Easter time, I found this amazing blog: The Baking Beauties  while searching for a gluten-free cinnamon roll recipe.  I found this recipe: Best Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls  and it is absolutely fantastic.

So, when I was craving coffee cake a couple of months ago, I revisited Jeanine at The Baking Beauties .  Her site did not let me down!  I just wanted a simple, plain coffee cake with a yummy, crunchy streusel topping.  And this is the recipe I found:  gluten free cinnamon bun cake</>.  It is, quite simply, the perfect gluten free coffee cake.  Exactly what I was looking for.  The cake is nicely textured and the topping is absolutely wonderful.  I cut it in squares and freeze it, then microwave a square for 30 seconds when I want coffee cake.  My hubby loves this cake too and comments that one would never know it is gluten free.  He's right!

I should note that I have never added the icing drizzle on top.  I think the coffee cake is just perfect without it.

I have also made a variation of this cake by sprinkling fresh blueberries on the top before adding the topping.  I'm sure it would be good with raspberries or apples as well, maybe even peaches.  A keeper recipe for sure!

Coffeecake recipes (Easter breakfast, part 2)

I had also signed up to bring some sort of baked goods for the Easter breakfast which followed our outdoor sunrise service.  I've brought many sorts of baked goods over the years, from doughnuts to cheese Danish, but this year I wanted to bring coffeecake because it is less labor intensive.  And I wanted to bring 2 kinds of coffeecake -- one gluten free and one not -- so that I could enjoy some of it too.  For the regular recipe, I tried a variation on a crescent roll Danish square recipe I've made in the past.  Here it is:

(Photo from grouprecipes.com)

CINNAMON CREAM DREAM
2 8-ounce pkg. crescent rolls*
2 8-ounce pkg. cream cheese, softened (I used Neufchatel)
1 cup sugar
1 stick butter, melted
1/3 cup sugar mixed with 1 tablespoon cinnamon

Grease a 13x9-inch baking pan.  (I used baking spray.)  Preheat oven to 375º.  Open 1 package of crescent rolls and press the dough into the prepared pan, pressing seams together.

Blend the cream cheese and sugar together well; I used an electric hand mixer. Spread this mixture over the dough in the pan.  Open the second package of crescent rolls and cover the cheese mixture with the dough, pinching seams and edges.

Spread all the butter over the top of the dough, as evenly as possible.  Sprinkle all of the cinnamon-sugar mixture evenly over the top.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

Cut in squares to serve.  Store any leftovers in the refrigerator.

*  My hubby picked up the crescent rolls for this recipe.  He got a store brand -- as I asked -- but mistakenly chose a variety called "Big'n'Buttery" or something like that.  There are only 6 rolls to a package (rather than the usual 8) and the package weighed more.  Think it might have been 12 ounces or more.  I decided that in this recipe it probably would be an asset rather than a problem, so this is the variety of crescent rolls I used.  I did bake it for at least 30 minutes, maybe more, since it was thicker than the ordinary crescent rolls.  I didn't taste these, but those who have say they turned out delicious.

I found the recipe in the April 2010 issue of Cook & Tell and the photo at grouprecipes.com.

Now, for the gluten-free coffeecake.  It took awhile to find a good recipe because many called for a gluten-free baking mix or cake mix, which I did not have on hand.  But then I found this one:  Gluten Free Cinnamon Swirl Coffeecake and oh my, I am glad I did.

(Photo from Gluten Free Easily)

I followed the advice to  test carefully with a toothpick for doneness; this is important here especially because when sliced, the center of the coffeecake doesn't look completely done.  But it is done if it has passed the toothpick test, and it is delicious.  This makes 2 loaf pans of coffeecake, most of which I have left for myself (it's in the freezer) because most people ignored the gluten-free offering.  My hubby, however, finds it absolutely habit-forming and thinks it is  one of the best gluten-free recipes I have tried so far.   This entire site -- Gluten Free Easily -- is new to me but I am very impressed with what I've seen so far.  If all of the recipes are as good as this one, I'll be returning to this site again and again.

Maybe your family would like to try one or both of these coffeecake recipes.  See what you think!

Banana Coffeecake with Chocolate Chip Streusel

 

I love a good coffeecake, and so when I wanted to use up some overripe bananas, I went looking for a banana coffeecake recipe.  This one , which is originally from Bon Appetit, and which I found on Epicurious, appealed to me.  After reading some of the reviews, which stated that the coffeecake was too sweet and that the streusel didn't hold together well, I made a number of

changes, so I am going to post it here as I prepared it.  

BANANA COFFEECAKE WITH CHOCOLATE CHIP STREUSEL

1 cup chocolate chips (6 oz.)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1 Tblsp. ground cinnamon
1 Tblsp. canola oil

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
3 ripe bananas, mashed
3 Tblsp. buttermilk
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350º.  Spray a 9-inch square pan with baking spray.  In a small bowl, combine the chocolate chips, brown sugar, walnuts, cinnamon and oil; set this streusel mixture aside.

Place flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in sifter and set aside.  In large mixing bowl, combine the butter, sugar, and egg in large bowl and beat with electric mixer until fluffy.  Beat in mashed bananas, buttermilk, and vanilla.  Sift in dry ingredients and blend well.

Spread half of the batter in prepared pan.  Sprinkle with half of streusel.  Repeat with remaining batter and streusel.  Bake coffeecake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 45 minutes.  Remove from oven and cool in pan on rack.

Now for the review.  We thought this was delicious and a wonderful use for overripe bananas.  I would definitely make this again.  Next time, though, I plan to use the mini chocolate chips as I just like them better in a streusel topping.  And I will probably use less than 1 cup.  I added the oil to the topping to help it hold together and that did work well, but I think perhaps using 2 Tblsp of softened butter and maybe 1/4 cup of  flour would work even better.  To my mind, streusel toppings that contain no flour just don't work as well.  I would definitely use the whole 1 Tblsp. of cinnamon, though, as that added a wonderful flavor dimension.

Favorite Ingredients Friday for April 10

This is the Easter edition of Favorite Ingredients Friday, and I am late getting this posted, so thought I would share an easy yet festive coffeecake which uses ingredients you probably have on hand. Wonderful for Easter breakfast. I just put one of these in the oven to take to the breakfast at church tomorrow.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COFFEECAKE

Topping:
1/2 c. flour
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. softened margarine
1/2 c. chocolate chips

Cocoa Layer:
3 T. cocoa
1/2 c. sugar

Batter:
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. softened margarine
2 c. flour
1 c. sour cream
2 large eggs
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla

For topping, combine flour, sugar and margarine in small bowl until crumbly. Add chocolate chips and set aside.

For cocoa layer, combine ingredients in small bowl; set aside.

For batter, combine sugar and margarine in large bowl; beat until blended. Increase to high; beat until light and fluffy. Reduce heat to low, add remaining ingredients, and beat 3 minutes.

Heat oven to 350º. Grease a 13x9” pan or a 9” tube pan.

Spread half of batter in pan; sprinkle with half the cocoa layer. Repeat layers. Sprinkle topping layer over all.

Bake 50-55 minutes. For tube cake, cool in pan 10 minutes before removing to rack. 13x9” cake will be cut in squares and served from the pan.