Brioche Raisin Snails

When looking through the many recipes in Baking From My Home to Yours, this is the one that scared me the most, with the floating islands a close second. Long after I'd made brioche (several times), pastry cream (many times) and far more complicated desserts in the book, this recipe still intimidated me.

Now that I finally have made it I don't want to suggest that it was easy, but broken up over multiple days it's definitely manageable. How I did it was to make the brioche dough one night, the pastry cream another, roll the brioche out and fill it another day, and slice and bake it on the fourth day. That taught me a good lesson, that breaking baking projects up into manageable pieces makes recipes formerly out of my reach time-wise now eminently doable.

The results were, if not swoon-worthy, quite impressive. I was impressed that I had made something quite delicious that didn't look half bad. Amazing. I wish I didn't skip soaking the raisins (I would have bypassed the alcohol and used apple or orange juice) because it would have plumped them up and helped them withstand the heat of the oven better.

This recipe is another one down in my quest to complete all of the recipes in BFMHTY. Margaret and Nancy are also playing catch up. Please visit and cheer them on in their countdowns to completion.

If you'd like the recipe for these lovely pastries, you can find it on Laurie's post here.

Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits

I've written before about my love for biscuits, and how a good one makes me wistful for the Miami of my childhood, but these biscuits were so different from what I recall from my childhood that they were enjoyed for what they were, a super treat, great spread with cold butter or warm maple cream.

With biscuits it's important to handle them gently, knead them very little, and not twist the cutter when you cut them out. That reduces the rise, and you want them to spring up and get flakey.

Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits - adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours
Printer-friendly recipe
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 10 pieces
1/2 cup cold sour cream
1/4 cup cold whole milk
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans, toasted

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda and brown sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low until the ingredients are combined and no lumps of sugar remain. With the mixer still on low, drop in the butter and mix until the mixture is pebbly (don't over-mix). You’ll have pea-size pieces, pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and pieces the size of everything in between. Stop the mixer and remove the mixing bowl.

Stir the sour cream and milk together and pour over the dry ingredients. Gently toss and turn the ingredients together with a spatula until you’ve got a nice soft dough. Add the pecans and reach into the bowl with your hands and give the dough a quick, gentle kneading–3 or 4 turns should be just enough to bring everything together. 

Lightly dust a work surface with flour and turn out the dough. Dust the top of the dough very lightly with flour and pat the dough out with your hands until it is about 1/2 inch high. Don’t worry if the dough isn’t completely even–a quick, light touch is more important than accuracy.

Use a biscuit cutter or sharp knife to cut out as many biscuits as you can. By hand or with a small spatula, transfer the biscuits to the baking sheet. (The biscuits can be made up to this point and frozen on the baking sheet, then wrapped airtight and kept for up to 2 months. Bake without defrosting–just add a couple more minutes to the oven time.)

Bake the biscuits for 13 to 16 minutes, or until they are tall, puffed and golden brown. Serve immediately with soft butter.

Daring Bakers - Cranberry Orange Apricot Bread

I have been remiss in posting Daring Bakers challenges of late, even though I've made at least two that I could never get written and posted. When I saw this month's challenge however, I knew I had to participate.

The Daring Bakers’ February 2012 host was – Lis! Lisa stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles.

This bread is one that I've cobbled together from various recipes (starting with a recipe from The Silver Palate Cookbook) over the years, completely reworking the assembly to the point that I think it's perfect. Your mileage may vary, but I encourage you to incorporate some of these techniques in your quick bread making. They've given me tender, delicious quick breads for many years now.

• MEP, or mise en place, is critical. Have all of your ingredients ready, including chopping, measuring, melting, heating, etc.
• Flavors and add ins are critical, because without them, you've made a block of cake in a loaf pan with bits of things every slice or so.
• DON'T OVERMIX. Really. My technique (I've never seen it in another recipe) is to add your mix ins when your dry ingredients are about half way mixed into the wet ingredients. This way, you don't over mix while you're trying to incorporate the mix ins. Quick bread batter quickly (no pun intended) starts to stiffen the more you mix it, making it harder to thoroughly combine the mix ins.
• Also to address the mix ins, I mix mine together in a bowl before adding them to the recipe. Again, this makes it easier to have a homogenous loaf instead of one where all the nuts are in one half and the fruit in another.
• Texture. I address this in a couple of ways. If I'm using a wet fruit, I let it drain on a dish towel before adding it. I try to use a variety of mix ins, including nuts or poppy seeds or oats or something to provide an interesting crunch to break up the monotony of the bread.
• Short on time? Muffins. A muffin is a mini quick bread.
• Plan ahead. If you want muffins for your Saturday breakfast, you can make the batter Tuesday night and freeze (well wrapped, of course) in the muffin tin. Set the muffin pan on the counter while you preheat your oven the day you plan to bake. Bake the muffins for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees F.
• I use my food processor for this bread because there's a lot of chopping, and I find frozen cranberries to be the most frustrating thing to chop by far. In this recipe I start with the nuts (if I'm using nuts), then go to the cranberries and finally the dried fruit. No need to wipe out the bowl.
• Think outside the box, er, recipe. Chopped crystalized ginger goes so well with many fruits (think lemon, orange, cranberry, banana, etc.) Likewise, chocolate will play well with many fruits (orange, raspberry, strawberry, apricot, etc.) 

Cranberry Orange Apricot Bread
Printer-friendly recipe

2 cups/280 grams unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup/100 grams sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup/60 grams walnuts
11/4 cups/138 grams cranberries, fresh or frozen

1/2 cup/75 grams dried apricots
2/3 cup fresh orange juice (I've used store-bought, and substituted POG)
2 eggs
3 tbsp/42 grams unsalted butter, melted
2 tsp grated orange zest

Grease or coat an 8 x 4½ x 3 inch loaf pan with baking spray. Place oven rack in the center of the oven and pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Weigh or measure the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl, whisk until combined, make a well in the center and set aside.

In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the walnuts until coarsely chopped, and empty walnuts into a medium mixing bowl. Repeat with the cranberries, then the apricots, pulsing each individually until coarsely chopped and them transferring to the mixing bowls with the walnuts. Stir the chopped ingredients until they are equally distributed.

In a small mixing bowl or 2 cup measuring cup, add the orange juice, eggs and melted butter, then zest the orange into the wet mixture and combine.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and with a spatula, fold them together until about halfway incorporated, then add the nut and fruit mixture, folding just until combined. Make sure you're getting to the bottom of the bowl with your spatula so you don't have dry pockets of flour.

Transfer batter to the pan and bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes, or until knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove the loaf from the pan and transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Wrap in plastic wrap and store for a day or two before serving (I've never done this because it smells too good when it comes out of the oven!)

Irish Brown Bread

It is not at all unusual for me to get excited about buying ingredients, put them in the pantry and promptly forget they're there. Such was the case when I ordered some specialty flours from King Arthur. One of them is KAF's wholemeal flour.

One day I came upon the flour and found this recipe on the back of the package. It couldn't be any easier or faster, and I found the crunch and flavor of the wheatmeal flour to be addictive. I didn't dust mine with flour because I don't like getting flour on my clothes while I'm munching on bread. I think you could add raisins and/or chopped walnuts and it would be stunning.

The finished loaves were crumbly, and the rough slices were perfect with soup or just spread with sweet butter. It wasn't a huge hit at work (no chocolate!), but I think that's more a function of this being a much plainer recipe than the ones I normally bring to work. I'll definitely make this recipe again. If you'd like the recipe, you can find it here.

Orange Berry Muffins with Crumb Topping

In my continuing quest to bake every recipe from Baking From My Home to Yours, this week I'm catching up with the orange berry muffins. Practically every time I pick up this cookbook looking for something quick and spontaneous to bake, I look at these muffins, see the blueberries and turn the page. I've written before about the reason for my blueberry aversion here, but the time was here to put on my big girl apron and do it.

To get around my lack of true love for the blueberry, I also added some raspberries I froze last year when they were plentiful at the farmers markets, I included walnuts AND I topped them with a crumb topping. They were spectacular, and I didn't even care that they had blueberries in them.

This is not what I'd call a fast recipe, and you will dirty a few bowls, measuring cups, etc., but it will be totally worth it. It's much easier if you have the crumb topping pre-made in your freezer.

Orange Berry Muffins with Crumb Topping - adapted from Dorie Greenspan
Printer-friendly recipe

Crumb topping:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 pound (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, diced

Muffins:
Grated zest and juice of 1 orange
About 3/4 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
3 Tablespoons honey

1/8 teaspoon Fiori di Sicilia extract (from King Arthur Flour, optional)
1 stick (8 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup raspberries – fresh or frozen (not thawed)
1 cup blueberries – fresh or frozen (not thawed)

2/3 cup chopped walnuts

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

Make the crumb topping:

Combine the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, and the butter crumb topping ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the butter is the size of peas. Rub the mixture with your fingertips until it's in big crumbles, then set aside in the refrigerator, tightly covered, until ready to use.

Make the muffins:
Pour the orange juice into a large glass measuring cup or a bowl and pour in enough buttermilk to make 1 cup. Whisk in the eggs, honey, melted butter and Fiori di Sicilia (if using).

In a large bowl, rub the sugar and orange zest together with a spatula until the sugar is moist. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don’t worry about being thorough – the batter will be lumpy and bubbly, and that’s just the way it should be. Stir in the blueberries. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Sprinkle on the crumb mixture (you may have some leftover - just freeze if for another time).

Bake for 22 to 25 minutes (mine were done at 21 minutes). When fully baked, the crumb topping will be golden, the muffins springy to the touch and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins will come out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.

Programming note: Check back tomorrow because I'm posting a cake that will amaze you and is a lot of fun to make. In a very tortured way that leads to a lot of dishes. 

Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Scones 2.0

I don't generally repeat a recipe I've previously posted but this is a rewind week for Tuesdays with Dorie so I'm making an exception. The first time I made these scones, I didn't post the recipe because it was a bit of a mess. It's taken a few tries, but I finally got it to the point where it's almost too good to share.

These scones are oh-so-light. Normally, when I pick up a scone it feels substantial. These are feather light, and they are fluffy and tender without being like eating cake. The hazelnut flour gives them a neat flavor and texture. The chocolate chips are a nod to loving chocolate for breakfast and wanting these to be evocative of Nutella. They're perfect to enjoy in the afternoon with a cup of tea, or in the morning for breakfast. You can leave them out if chocolate chips in your scones is not your thing.

The rest of the TWD bakers have chosen other recipes to rewind in this, the next to the last week for us. You can see what they made here. Next week we will be making the last recipe in the book, which was chosen by Dorie herself. Every time I think about writing that post, I tear up.

*******

Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Scones - adapted from the chestnut scones in Baking From My Home to Yours
Printer-friendly recipe

1 large egg
3/4 cup cold heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons/210 grams all purpose flour
3/4 cup/84 grams hazelnut flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons/112 grams unsalted butter, cut into bits and chilled

3/4 cup/128 grams semisweet chocolate chips

Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.

Stir the egg, cream and vanilla extract together.

Measure the dry ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Turn the mixer to the lowest speed and let run for a minute or so to combine the ingredients. With the mixer still on low, drop in the butter and mix on low speed until the mixture is pebbly. You’ll have pea size pieces, pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and everything in between.

With the mixer still on low, pour the liquid ingredients over the mixture and mix for five seconds then add the chocolate chips and mix until the dough almost comes together; it may be sticky.

Lightly flour a work surface, and place the prepared baking sheet nearby. Before turning the dough out of the bowl, gently press any stray flour into the rest of the dough with a flexible bowl scraper if you have one or a spatula if you don't. Turn the dough onto the floured work surface, dip the bowl scraper in flour and use it to coax the dough into a neater circle about an inch high. Using a 2" round cutter, dip the cutter in flour and cut out the scones, keeping your cuts as close together as possible to minimize waste. Gather the scraps and cut as many scones as you can. Place the scones 2" apart on the prepared baking sheet and place in freezer while you preheat the oven (at this point, the scones can be frozen on the baking sheet, then wrapped airtight. You don’t need to defrost the scones before baking - just add about 2 minutes to the baking time).

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400F.

Bake the scones for 17-19 minutes, or until their tops are golden and firmish. Transfer the scones to a rack and cool for 10 minutes before serving, or wait for the scones to cool to room temperature.  Makes about 14 scones.

Honey Pecan Scones

Just like a book you read which you come to with no expectations yet end up falling in love with, these scones are a sleeper hit. I made a couple of changes, used my favorite easy mixing technique, and they were a knockout. Absolutely a top three scone, maybe top two.

I might never have gotten around to making these if Jeannette at The Whimsical Cupcake hadn't chosen them for Tuesdays with Dorie. I made them when the November recipes were first announced, and I've been craving one ever since. Try them and you will to.

Honey Pecan Scones - adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours
Printer-friendly recipe

1 large egg
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup cold whole milk
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
3/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted

Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Lightly flour a counter.

Stir the egg, honey and milk together in a measuring cup or small bowl and set aside.

Measure the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Drop in the butter and mix on low speed until the mixture is pebbly. With the mixer on low, pour in the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix until the mixture is not quite combined. You should have some streaks of flour but no pools of milk. Stir in the chopped pecans with a spatula. The flour should now be almost entirely worked in though streaks are fine (better in fact than no streaks).

Turn the dough onto your lightly floured counter and shape it into a circle about 1" high. Using a 2" biscuit or cookie cutter, cut out the scones, dipping the cutter in flour before each cut and making each cut close to the previous one; place on the baking sheet. Gently gather the scraps together and cut out the remaining scones. You should have about 12 scones.

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the tops are deeply golden and firmish to the touch. Transfer them to a wire rack. Best served warm, still delicious at room temperature.


Note: My favorite way to make scones is to cut them out, put them on baking sheets, wrap well with plastic wrap and freeze them. To bake, place a few on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake them, still frozen, for 20 minutes.

A Rant (with a Side of Cream Biscuits)

Even though I come from Florida, the land south of the South, when I was a child no self respecting cook would be without a box of Bisquick. As far as I knew, that was where biscuits came from, period. Home cooks (mostly moms in those days) had been freed from the enslavement of preparing food "from scratch" and convenience products, frozen dinners and instant breakfast (and orange juice!) were all the rage. I didn't know food came from another source that wasn't a can.

Having knocked out the basic biscuits from Baking From My Home to Yours just before my morning shower, I can scarcely understand the appeal of "instant" biscuit mix. How much more instant can it be compared to measuring out flour, salt, baking powder, butter and milk? We all fooled ourselves back then by saying things tasted just as good as homemade, but does any kid long for their mom's frozen waffles?

When I saw that Jennifer of Cooking for Comfort had selected these biscuits for Tuesdays with Dorie, I didn't intend to write a screed about convenience foods, but I can't help myself. As a society, the US has an appalling rate of obesity among children (and adults) and convenience foods aren't helping us. For all the bad press butter got even a few years ago, it turns out it's healthier for us than margarine (shudder) or that stuff in the tub. Eggs, shunned because they have cholesterol, aren't bad for us at all, and we're now told we can include them in a healthy diet. It turns out that food, the real stuff that we buy and cook ourselves, is good for us, even when it contains things we once thought were bad for us. That's because our bodies seem to find it easier to process things that are food rather than things born in a chemistry lab.

Convenience foods frequently contain ingredients that aren't nutritive, but they give the products the shelf life of plutonium. If I pull some lettuce out of the fridge that got neglected and turned brown and icky, I expect that. When I let some engineered dreck sit on the shelf for two years, then I open it and it tastes just as it would have two years earlier, that's a little scary.

I know people are busy, I get that. I am too, in fact I work two jobs myself, one of which is VERY full time. I'd rather make my own convenience foods and freeze them than buy engineered anything, so when I made these biscuits (which were great, I may have forgotten to mention that) I put a bunch in the freezer. One day when we're having chili or soup or an omelette for breakfast, I'll pull a few out of the freezer and bake them fresh. The house will smell amazing, they'll taste amazing, and all will be good in our world.

Now that's a convenience food.

Lemon Curd Scones

The old saying that necessity is the mother of invention was definitely at work for these scones. Inspired by my favorite DISCONTINUED scone at Peet's Coffee, they make use of that extra lemon curd lurking in your fridge. What, you don't have a problem with leftover lemon curd taking up valuable space? Me neither, which is why I made my go-to recipe (you can find it here) the night before I made these, but a good quality jarred lemon curd would be just fine.

My favorite Peet's lemon scone had a lemon icing, which I made, but I served some with a dollop of lemon curd instead. They were yummy and lemony without being too sweet. For me, the secret of a good drizzle is to cut out as much sugar as possible. I hate it when the taste of the sugar overtakes the flavor of the lemon.

Things you should know if you make these:

• Flour your board (or counter) liberally as the dough is VERY wet and sticky.
• I use Ina Garten's mixer method to mix my scones, but you could use a pastry blender, two forks or your fingers if you prefer.
• Don't mix the dough until it's combined, stop when it still looks a little clumpy and floury. 
• Use a bowl scraper to transfer the dough to your WELL FLOURED work surface. Then flour the bowl scraper and use it to press the dough into a circle that's about 1 1/2 inches thick.
• I like to cut my scones with a 2" biscuit cutter (flour it before each cut) but you can cut your dough into wedges if you like triangular scones (I find the triangular ones too large).
• Brush the scones with a little cream before baking for a nicer finish, but that's unnecessary if you glaze them.

Lemon Curd Scones
Printer-friendly recipe

1 egg
1/3 cup cream

1/2 cup lemon curd
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small cubes

Extra cream for brushing (optional)

Lemon glaze (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, a silicon baking mat, or butter it lightly. Set aside.

In large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together and set aside.

In a small mixing bowl or 2 cup measure, beat together the egg, cream and lemon curd and set aside.

Working with a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, drop the butter into the flour mixture and mix on low speed until the mixture resembles a combination of oat flakes and pea-sized pieces of butter. Still on low speed, pour in the liquid mixture and mix until flour is mostly worked in. Turn off mixer, and with a few swipes of a spatula, mix in any flour remaining on the bottom of the bowl. Dough will be very wet!

Flour a counter liberally and coax your dough onto the floured surface (a plastic bowl scraper is ideal for this). Flour your hands and/or the bowl scraper, and gently pat the mound into a somewhat cohesive disk about 1 1/2" high. Flour a 2" biscuit cutter and cut out scones, flouring your biscuit cutter before each cut. Place each on the prepared baking sheet. Brush with cream if desired.

Bake the scones for about 20 minutes (check after 18 minutes if your oven runs hot), until they are nicely browned. When cool, spoon on the glaze and serve immediately.

Lemon Glaze

Juice of 1 lemon

Approximately 2 cups of powdered sugar

Combine lemon juice and 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar in a bowl, stirring and mashing any lumps until the glaze is smooth. Add additional powdered sugar to get the desired consistency. Set aside until scones have cooled, then spoon on to scones.

Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Scones

Even a trip that is ill-conceived, poorly planned, and plagued with wrong turns can get you to the right destination.

This week, the Tuesdays with Dorie bakers are making the chestnut scones from Baking From My Home to Yours. I couldn't easily find chestnut flour, so I decided to sub hazelnut flour, which I have in my freezer. I was all psyched about it once I realized I could add chocolate chips and make these taste like Nutella. That was the last good idea I had.

I weighed my dry ingredients, set them aside and went to bed. The next morning, I happened to check Twitter and read that Nancy thought almond flour was more suitable since it's fine like the chestnut flour was. Uh oh. So I quickly piled the dry ingredients (double batch) in the dry blending container for my VitaMix. I kept checking it and tamping it down. Not much was happening, so I dumped it back in the bowl. It was then that I realized I stopped just this side of making hazelnut butter. So I tried redistributing the pasty hazelnut flour with the all-purpose flour and hoped for the best.

I carefully measured out the cream, added the egg and vanilla. Then I added the butter to the flour and turned on the mixture. Then it seemed like a good idea to chat on Twitter with my Twitter buddies. By the time I remembered that the mixer was on and grinding the butter into the flour, it was too late. The butter lumps were gone. It was pretty well incorporated into the flour. Was I in the next room, unable to hear the mixer? No, I was about four feet away.

So I dumped in the wet ingredients and to my amazement/horror, the "dough" was VERY wet. Like, almost a batter. I added 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour and the chocolate chips, mixed it with a spatula and hoped for the best. Cutting out circles from a dough that is two steps away from being a puddle is challenging, but I managed to get all the scones on the sheet pans and into the freezer. I figured it would all work out if they weren't practically a liquid when they went into the oven.

The approach seemed to pay off as they came out resembling scones, though they cooked a little longer than I normally cook Dorie's scones. I took them to work, where the lovely people I work with said kind things about them. They were crumbly, but the flavor was amazing. Definitely reminiscent of Nutella. So good in fact, that I just added hazelnut flour to my grocery list. I'm going to give them another try, and hopefully not mess up the recipe quite so much this time.

I have Andrea of Andrea in the Kitchen to thank for choosing the chestnut scones this week. Although I didn't make them the way Dorie intended, I know Dorie's a fan of making do with what you have. The other TWD bakers are better at following directions than I am. You can find them here. Andrea has the REAL recipe for chestnut scones here.

Blueberry Cream Scones

Behold, the scone.  So few ingredients, so ethereal when executed well, so leaden when executed poorly. I speak from experience because my first batch was a comedy of errors. I was doubling the recipe, but forgot to double the flour until I was about to cut them out. Noting the dough was extremely wet, it dawned on me that I had left half the flour out. I mixed it in with golden raisins and all seemed fine. Knowing scones bake in the blink of an eye in my oven, I set the timer for 18 minutes, 2 less than the recipe called for. When my nose told me they were done, I peeked in at them, thought "but it's not 18 minutes yet" and left them in. Duh! They were browned and smelled done. Why didn't I pull them out??? When I did take them out, they were very brown and the golden raisins were little black knobby things. Accustomed to leaden coffee house scones, my coworkers thought they were pretty good. Tasting one, I knew all my errors cost me the fluffy, flakey texture I was seeking.

So even though I overslept yesterday morning, I was determined to make these scones again. I'd leave out the raisins, sub blueberries instead, add all the flour at the correct time, and take them out when they were done, no matter what the timer said.

This time, I was rewarded with the crispy outside and fluffy inside I was hoping for. These were fabulous, even to a non-blueberry lover like me. And who can beat a recipe you can prepare on a morning when you sleep an hour later than you planned and still make it to work in a respectable time?

Here's what I did that made these such a success this time:

• I cut the butter into small cubes and stuck in the freezer for 10 minutes.
• Add the butter to the dry ingredients and turn your mixer on to the lowest setting. When your mixture looks partly like small peas and partly like oats, pour in the cream mixture.
• When mixture still looks wet and floury, remove bowl from the mixer, and using a spatula, gently mix in the berries
• My triangular scones are never the same size, so I cut mine with a biscuit cutter.

These fabulous cream scones were chosen by Lynne of Cafe LynnyLu as this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe. I'm so glad I gave these another try because if I hadn't I never would have found the perfect scone recipe. Thanks so much, Lynne! Here's my version of the recipe, but if you want the original as Dorie wrote it, Lynne has it for you here. You can find the other TWD bakers and what they thought of these here.

Cream Scones with Blueberries - adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours
Printer-friendly recipe
3 tablespoons sugar

Grated zest of one lemon

1 large egg
2/3 cup/155 grams heavy whipping cream
2 cups/280 grams all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and frozen for about ten minutes
3/4 cup blueberries (or raspberries, chopped cherries, strawberries, or peaches, etc.)

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.

In a small bowl, add the zest to the sugar and with your fingers or a spoon, rub the zest and sugar together to bring out the oils from the zest. 

In a measuring cup or small bowl, stir the egg and cream together.

Add the flour, baking powder, salt and the zest and sugar mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and turn it on to the very lowest setting. Drop in the butter and mix until the mixture is a combination of pea sized pieces and pieces the size of oats.

Pour the cream mixture over the dry ingredients and when there is still both liquid and flour visible, stop the mixer. Remove the bowl from the mixer and add the blueberries. Gently mix them in with a rubber spatula. Your mixture should have bits of flour peeking out and look pretty shaggy.

Lightly dust a work surface with flour and turn out the dough. Pat the dough into a rough circle that's about 1 1/4 inches in high, and using a biscuit cutter dipped in flour, cut as many scones as you can, keeping the cuts as close as possible (a little divit on one side will disappear in the oven) and place each scone on the baking sheet. (At this point, the scones can be frozen on the baking sheet, then wrapped airtight. Don't defrost before baking- just add about 2 minutes to the baking time.)

Bake the scones for 16 to 19 minutes, or until their tops are golden brown and firm. Transfer them to a rack and cool for 10 minutes before serving, or wait for them to cool to room temperature.

Makes about 12 scones

Oatmeal Cinnamon Scones

These days, when I flip through my copy of Baking From My Home to Yours I think, I've made that, this one was good, I need to make this one again, or I had to skip this one but I really want to make it soon.

There aren't that many pages left that have recipes we haven't made yet for Tuesdays with Dorie and on some days that makes me sad but on other days excited. Excited for the ones we have left and sad because Dorie's book and this group have changed my life, and by the end of the year we will be done with the book. I have formed so many close friendships and let loose my inner baker. I get endless rewards from baking, blogging and testing my limits through this group. I will never forget the fear I felt before making the coconut-roasted pineapple dacquoise and the euphoria I felt when it was completed. That post brought me my first comment from Dorie, and words can't express how meaningful it was for me.

There are still times I don't listen to my instincts and this week was one of them. My scones were just this side of burned. Yes, I admit I didn't watch my scones (hard to do when you're in the shower) and they baked up into crispy critters. But my coworkers still enjoyed them (maple butter helped moisten them up). Although they were good, I think they would have been a lot better if I took them out of the oven two minutes earlier.

Patricia of Life with a Whisk chose this week's recipe for us. I was very grateful for an easy and adaptable one. Here's what I did:

• I used cinnamon instead of nutmeg, and it was perfect.
• Scones don't like to be handled--shaggy dough is preferable. If the dough is cohesive, your scones will be less flaky and light.
• I made one giant disk of dough instead of two, laid it on parchment instead of flouring the counter and cut it on the parchment before lifting the scones onto a prepared baking sheet. I liked the easier clean up, but this was a very moist dough and needed a little extra flour. My suggestion: go with the parchment, but give it a good dusting of flour.
• I cut my scones a little thicker than the recipe called for, which is good since they were a little overdone. 
• Make sure you check your scones early. I checked them one minute before they were supposed to be done and it was already too late.

Thanks to Patricia for hosting this week. If you'd like the recipe, Patricia will have it for you here. And if you want to see what the other bakers thought, you can find them here.

Maple Cornmeal Biscuits

Some months I make all of the Tuesdays with Dorie recipes for the month within a week of when they're announced, giving me the luxury of time to write my posts, comment on my friends blogs and generally enjoy the process.

These days, not so much. I've been working a ton (lots of 8 and 9 PM nights) and generally feeling like I'm living one of those nightmares where you run faster and faster but seemingly run in place, unable to escape the monster. It's not even my "busy" time of year yet, that time when we're closing the books for the year and getting ready for the audit, and getting through the audit, and the year-end reporting, yadda yadda.

When things are a pressure cooker get busy at work, I bake. My coworkers call it stress baking and while they are simpatico about my palpable stress, they've started tremulously asking the question "So, you're working a ton. When does the stress baking start?" For while they wouldn't wish my year-end (that's June 30th for us) workload on anyone, they don't mind that I blow off steam by getting out the flour, butter, sugar, eggs and frequently chocolate.

Let me say I am extraordinarily lucky to work with a great group of people who whole-heartedly embrace my baking. I never hear complaints. In my last job, I was confronted in the elevator by a woman who found baked goods irresistible and really wanted me to stop. So I appreciate having an audience who eats it all, without complaint, and gives me good feedback to boot.

So when the stress baking question started surfacing, I resolved to bake more (hard to do when you're getting home at 9:30 and going back to work at 8-ish). Fortunately, the May TWD recipes had been announced and they were almost all easy, portable and suitable for breakfast.

I'm dubious about recipes that call for cornmeal if it's a departure from the norm, so I was a little wary about this one. In my pre-coffee stupor, I messed up measuring the wet ingredients and added too much maple syrup. My batter was much wetter than normal, but I went with it. It turned out just fine as the biscuits were moist, tender, flakey and delicious. I made a little maple butter to serve with them and that made the butter lovers happy.

I can't say how these keep since they disappeared in the blink of an eye. Like any biscuit, I think they should be consumed while still warm from the oven, and they taste extra yummy when shared with people you love.

Lindsay from A Little Something...Sweet is our host this week. I can't thank Lindsay enough for picking something easy and delicious to get this year's stress baking off on the right foot. If you're looking for a foolproof spin on the classic biscuit, Lindsay will have the recipe for you here.

Chocolate Chip Pecan Banana Bread

As the weather gets warmer, I am often left with spotty bananas as my warmer kitchen makes them ripen faster than we can eat them. Sometimes they get cut up for smoothies, but often they get made into banana bread.

This recipe is adapted from the Flour Bakery recipe. I recently bought the Flour cookbook and I'm discovering the wonderful recipes, which include many of the measurements in grams as well as cups.

This banana bread was delicious. The chocolate played well with the banana, pecans and slight hint of cinnamon. Healthy and delicious don't always go together but this one was a winner. Here's my take on Flour's recipe.

Chocolate Chip Pecan Banana Bread (adapted from Flour Bakery)
Printer-friendly recipe
1 1/2 cups/210 grams all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons/230 grams sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup/100 grams canola oil
3 1/2 bananas, very ripe, mashed (about 1 1/3 cups/340 grams)
2 tablespoons creme fraiche or sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup/75 grams pecans, toasted and chopped

3/4 cup/125 grams semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a 9x5" loaf pan with cooking spray.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Beat sugar and eggs with the whisk attachment of your mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and slowly drizzle in the oil. Add the mashed bananas, sour cream, and vanilla. Fold in the flour mixture, pecans and chocolate chips. Pour into the prepared loaf pan and bake for about 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes or until it tests done. Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes before turning out on the rack to cool completely (unless you don't mind if your banana bread looks as mangled as mine, which was cut 10 minutes out of the oven.)

Daring Bakers (or How I Baked a Hot Mess for My Coworkers)

The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake.

Even though we know the challenge recipe a month before the posting date, I invariably wait until the day before to bake the Daring Bakers recipe. Or I make it early in the month but wait until the 27th to write my post and can't remember much about the process. Neither of these approaches is recommended. They are called challenges for a reason.

This month, I waited until the day OF the posting to bake, and things went downhill quickly. It was our anniversary and I was a bit scattered. In fact, I forgot to add the yeast until the dough was two thirds through being kneaded. I tossed it in the mixer and hoped for the best. It took twice the usual time to double, but it did. Then M. announced we were going to the coast for lunch. I tucked the dough away in the fridge and off we went. It was a beautiful day after so many rainy days in a row, and Capitola, the little beach town we drove to, had had flooding from the rains. But we managed to find an open restaurant with a patio on the water, and we had lunch. After a bit of walking around (I just got my boot off a few days ago), we came home.

Last night, I pulled the dough out of the fridge and resumed the prep. I rolled out the dough, made the meringue and sprinkled on the filling. Rolling it up was a challenge in itself. The meringue didn’t want to roll up so I folded it more than rolled it. After forming into a roundish shape, I cut the slits, not being afraid to cut too deeply as the recipe instructed. I covered the pastries with plastic wrap, tucked them back into the fridge and went to bed.

When I woke up this morning, I turned on the oven and pulled the pastries out of the fridge. THEY WERE SITTING IN POOLS OF GOO. I knew this would happen. I know that meringue tends to weep, but this meringue cried buckets. And I wanted to cry buckets, too. After sopping up the goo with paper towels, I stuck them in the oven and hoped for the best.

They baked up nicely. I’ll never know if they were supposed to have a different flavor or texture, but my coworkers seemed to enjoy this treat. The meringue mostly melted into the pastry, and the chocolate, pecans and cinnamon gave it a lovely flavor. While it was a success in spite of my neglect, I can only imagine how it was supposed to turn out.

Many thanks to Jamie and Ria for challenging the Daring Bakers to make this coffee cake. Next month I really, really do plan to make the recipe earlier in the month. Really.

*****

I made Jamie’s version of the recipe but I’m also including Ria’s because it sounds so yummy.

FILLED MERINGUE COFFEE CAKE
Makes 2 round coffee cakes, each approximately 10 inches in diameter
The recipe can easily be halved to make one round coffee cake

Ingredients
For the yeast coffee cake dough:

4 cups (600 g / 1.5 lbs.) flour
¼ cup (55 g / 2 oz.) sugar
¾ teaspoon (5 g / ¼ oz.) salt
1 package (2 ¼ teaspoons / 7 g / less than an ounce) active dried yeast
¾ cup (180 ml / 6 fl. oz.) whole milk
¼ cup (60 ml / 2 fl. oz. water (doesn’t matter what temperature)
½ cup (135 g / 4.75 oz.) unsalted butter at room temperature
2 large eggs at room temperature

10 strands saffron for Ria’s version (Saffron might be hard to find and it’s expensive, so you can substitute with ½ - 1 teaspoon of ground cardamom or ground nutmeg. Or simply leave it plain like Jamie’s version)

For the meringue:

3 large egg whites at room temperature
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ cup (110 g / 4 oz.) sugar

For the filling:

Jamie’s version:
1 cup (110 g / 4 oz.) chopped pecans or walnuts
2 Tablespoons (30 g / 1 oz.) granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup (170 g / 6 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips or coarsely chopped chocolate

Ria’s version:
1 cup (130 g / 5 oz.) chopped cashew nuts
2 Tablespoons (30 g / 1 oz.) granulated sugar
½ teaspoon garam masala (You can make it at home – recipe below - or buy from any Asian/Indian grocery store)
1 cup (170g / 6 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips ( I used Ghirardelli)

Egg wash: 1 beaten egg
Cocoa powder (optional) and confectioner’s sugar (powdered/icing sugar) for dusting cakes

**Garam (means “hot”) masala (means “mixture”) is a blend of ground spices and is used in most Indian savory dishes. It is used in limited quantities while cooking vegetables, meats & eggs. There is no “one” recipe for it as every household has a recipe of their own. Below, I am going to share the recipe which I follow.

4 or 5 sticks (25 g) Cinnamon Sticks (break a stick and open the scroll)
3 ½ tablespoons (25 g / less than an ounce) Cloves, whole
100 g. (3.5 oz.) Fennel seeds
4 tablespoons (25 g / less than an ounce) Cumin seeds
1 ½ tablespoons (10 g / less than half an ounce) Peppercorns
25 g (less than half an ounce) Green Cardamom pods

In a small pan on medium heat, roast each spice individually (it hardly takes a minute) until you get a nice aroma. Make sure you stir it throughout so that it doesn’t burn. As soon as each spice is roasted, transfer it to a bowl to cool slightly. Once they are all roasted, grind into a fine powder by using a coffee grinder, or pestle & mortar. Store in an airtight container and use as needed.

Directions:

Prepare the dough:

In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 ½ cups (230 g) of the flour, the sugar, salt and yeast.

In a saucepan, combine the milk, water and butter and heat over medium heat until warm and the butter is just melted. Ria’s version: add the 10 saffron threads to the warmed liquid and allow to steep off of the heat for 10 minutes. This will give the mixture a distinct aroma and flavor and a yellowish-orange hue.

With an electric mixer on low speed, gradually add the warm liquid to the flour/yeast mixture, beating until well blended. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes. Add the eggs and 1 cup (150 g) flour and beat for 2 more minutes.

Using a wooden spoon, stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a dough that holds together. Turn out onto a floured surface (use any of the 1 ½ cups of flour remaining) and knead the dough for 8 to 10 minutes until the dough is soft, smooth, sexy and elastic, keeping the work surface floured and adding extra flour as needed.

Place the dough in a lightly greased (I use vegetable oil) bowl, turning to coat all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let rise until double in bulk, 45 – 60 minutes. The rising time will depend on the type of yeast you use.

Prepare your filling:In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar for the filling if using. You can add the chopped nuts to this if you like, but I find it easier to sprinkle on both the nuts and the chocolate separately.

Once the dough has doubled, make the meringue:
In a clean mixing bowl – ideally a plastic or metal bowl so the egg whites adhere to the side (they slip on glass) and you don’t end up with liquid remaining in the bottom – beat the egg whites with the salt, first on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to high and continue beating until foamy and opaque. Add the vanilla then start adding the ½ cup sugar, a tablespoon at a time as you beat, until very stiff, glossy peaks form.

Assemble the Coffee Cakes:

Line 2 baking/cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Punch down the dough and divide in half. On a lightly floured surface, working one piece of the dough at a time (keep the other half of the dough wrapped in plastic), roll out the dough into a 20 x 10-inch (about 51 x 25 ½ cm) rectangle. Spread half of the meringue evenly over the rectangle up to about 1/2-inch (3/4 cm) from the edges. Sprinkle half of your filling of choice evenly over the meringue (ex: half of the cinnamon-sugar followed by half the chopped nuts and half of the chocolate chips/chopped chocolate).

Now, roll up the dough jellyroll style, from the long side. Pinch the seam closed to seal. Very carefully transfer the filled log to one of the lined cookie sheets, seam side down. Bring the ends of the log around and seal the ends together, forming a ring, tucking one end into the other and pinching to seal.

Using kitchen scissors or a sharp knife (although scissors are easier), make cuts along the outside edge at 1-inch (2 ½ cm) intervals. Make them as shallow or as deep as desired but don’t be afraid to cut deep into the ring.

Repeat with the remaining dough, meringue and fillings.

Cover the 2 coffee cakes with plastic wrap and allow them to rise again for 45 to 60 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).

Brush the tops of the coffee cakes with the egg wash. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes until risen and golden brown. The dough should sound hollow when tapped.

Remove from the oven and slide the parchment paper off the cookie sheets onto the table. Very gently loosen the coffee cakes from the paper with a large spatula and carefully slide the cakes off onto cooling racks. Allow to cool.

Just before serving, dust the tops of the coffee cakes with confectioner’s sugar as well as cocoa powder if using chocolate in the filling. These are best eaten fresh, the same day or the next day.

Citrus Currant Sunshine Muffins

What, no chocolate?

It happens. I've been making Meyer lemon bars and corn muffins and this savory bread, but nary a decadent chocolate recipe. Fear not. I haven't forsaken chocolate. But in the spring (or after an entire week of chocolate), my thoughts turn to fruits and vegetables and I really want it to be spring. So this week I'm willing it to be spring with this aptly named, sunny muffin.

The sunshine in this muffin refers to the generous amount of orange juice, supplemented with a touch of lemon to make it extra perky. I was prepared to be meh about these, but they were actually quite nice. One secret I can share with you is using butter to grease the muffin tins. This made the outsides crunchy, which was a perfect counterpoint to the orangy middles. I know using paper liners is easier, but the crunchy crust stole the show for me. The currants were nice, but don't make a special trip to Whole Foods as I did. Dried cranberries or chopped dried cherries would be lovely as well. I also toyed with chopped crystalized ginger, but that would take these in an entirely different direction.

Lauryn of Bella Baker chose this recipe for the Tuesdays with Dorie bakers to make this week. It's from the epic book Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. Lauryn will have the recipe for you (I just realized I overbaked mine when I saw her lovely muffins), and you can find the other TWD bakers here. Thanks, Lauryn, for choosing a recipe so evocative of the warmer weather we're all hoping for.

Great Grains Chocolate Chip Muffins

Who says chocolate can't be good for you? Or that things made with whole grains are boring?

Not these delectable muffins. Christine of Happy Tummy selected Great Grains Muffins for the Tuesdays with Dorie bakers to make this week. They looked good to me as is, but in case you're new around here, I like adding chocolate to almost anything I bake. These were no exception. When armed with a muffin with chocolate chips, it's a happy morning. A muffin made with whole wheat, cornmeal, oats, maple syrup and dried blueberries with chocolate chips? It's going to be a great day!

These muffins were even good after several days of sitting in my car. I ate one for dinner on my way to an evening event and it was still moist and delicious, and, of course, chocolaty.

Stop by and visit Christine. She'll have the recipe for you. And you can see what the other bakers thought by checking them out here.

Walnut Chocolate Dried Cherry Bars

Breakfast on the go is a challenge for many of us. While I normally eat at my desk during the week, weekends are a blur with errands and other commitments. I'm always looking for a quick, healthy grab-and-go breakfast I can eat in the car as I run my errands. Less time spent on errands means more time to relax with my honey!

These bars integrate whole grains, nuts, dried cherries, with little chocolate thrown in for extra deliciousness. Chocolate for breakfast seems so decadent, but with these healthy bars, a little chocolate for breakfast is a doable treat to start the weekend off right.

Heide of Chez Zero picked these bars for Craving Ellie in My Belly this week. You can find the original recipe here, but here's my version.

Walnut Chocolate Dried Cherry Bars -  adapted from So Easy
Printer friendly version
1 cup quick-cooking oats (regular oats are OK, too)
3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour or regular whole-wheat flour
1/4 cup toasted wheat germ
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup canola oil
1 egg
1 egg white
3/4 cup chopped dried tart cherries
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts 

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, wheat germ, cinnamon and salt.

In another bowl, whisk together the honey, applesauce, oil, egg and egg white until well combined. Stir in the oatmeal mixture until well combined. Add the dried cherries, walnuts and chocolate chips.

Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper or coat with cooking spray. Spread the mixture into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool completely and cut into 12 bars, about 4 by 1 1/2 inches each.

Pecan Honey Sticky Buns

Before we start thinking about the new year, and returning to a modicum of restraint in the butter and sugar department, behold:

Nothing healthy about these babies. Loads of butter and sugar and oh-so-delicious as a result.

I had planned to make the Brioche Raisin Snails for the Tuesdays with Dorie rewind this week, but I ran out of time and made these instead. I still have 1/2 recipe of Dorie's brioche in the freezer, so the snails may make an appearance soon.

I made these over a couple of days: the brioche dough on Saturday, rolled them out and made the topping Monday night, and rose and baked them Tuesday morning. There weren't many people at work today, so there were just enough to go around. Warm, soft, ooey gooey with honeyed pecans clinging to them, these could be the best part of my work week!

This is a great do-ahead recipe. You could even make the glaze, roll and cut the rolls and freeze them in the pan ready to proof. Perfect when you want to make a little something special for breakfast, or to reward yourself for all the closets you plan to clean out on January 1st.

Lots of TWD bakers are making recipes they've missed or really loved this week. Check out what they made here.

Cardamom Crumb Cake

Two days ago, it hit me.

This is not the last week of the month.

I know, I know, at this time of the year it's kind of a "duh!" that I don't have a better grasp of the calendar, but I don't celebrate Christmas so I don't have that great an awareness that the clock is ticking down to Saturday. I thought this week was the week we could do a rewind for Tuesdays with Dorie, and I looked forward to the relaxed posting deadline for the...that I plan to make. No, I'm not telling you what it is. You'll have to come back next week.

Two days ago, I was checking the TWD website and was startled to see the P&Q for Cardamom Crumb Cake. What?!? Oh yeah, it's NOT the last week of the year. Bummer.

Frankly, the recipe didn't thrill me. Cardamom, walnuts, coffee and orange are all things I like, but I couldn't imagine how they would work together. But I trust Dorie and I know she has a terrific palate, so I went with it. And I expanded the panoply of flavors by using some leftover crumb topping from this fruit crumble. That crumb topping is decidedly cinnamon, but cinnamon plays well with the other flavors. Plus, I'm lazy. But you already knew that.

Fortunately, this is a really easy recipe to throw together, and Dorie has thoughtfully arranged it in such a way to minimize dirty dishes. I added chopped walnuts to my leftover crumb topping and sprinkled it over the batter. Dorie gives perhaps the best piece of advice about crumb toppings that I've even seen: lightly press the crumbs into the batter. Brilliant! No more crumbless crumb cake.

Please excuse my iPhone photo. We've had practically zero natural light in the Bay area recently as a series of storms marches through, and I couldn't wait any longer to head into work this morning.

This cake was liked by my tasters, but wasn't wildly popular. I thought the flavor combination was interesting and tasty, and a crumb topping is hard to beat. It was fun to be able to throw it together at the last minute.

Our host this week was Jill of Jill's Blog. I love Jill, she is unusually funny and still visits me even if I can't visit her, like for the past month while I've been trying to get over tendonitis in my right wrist. Jill has the recipe for you here.

Find out how the rest of the Tuesdays with Dorie bakers liked this one, too. You can find them here.