Cinnamon-Streusel Coffee Cake Recipe

When I'm stuck inside I have this incredible urge to bake. It relaxes me, and my family loves the treats. I was dreaming about the smell of cinnamon wafting through the house. The smell of fresh baked goods just makes everything feel normal and fine and awesome for just a moment in time.

My grandmother used to bake all the time. She would be in her kitchen all-day wearing her fancy ruffled apron with her hair up in a tight bun. She made cakes and pies with recipes from her Methodist church ladies group cookbook. The kitchen was her happy place. Now it's my happy place. Enjoy this throwback to another era cake. It's still a winner.

Cinnamon-Streusel Coffee Cake

Streusel Topping:
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 t. salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 T cinnamon
6 T unsalted butter, melted
Mix in a bowl. Set aside.

Filling:
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 1/2 T. cinnamon
1 t. unsweetened cocoa powder (optional)
Mix in a bowl. Set aside.

Cake:
12 T unsalted butter at room temperature
1 t. salt
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
2 1/2 t. baking powder
2 t. vanilla extract
3 large eggs, at room temperature (I only had medium eggs on hand.)
3/4 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
10oz almond milk or milk
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Lightly grease a 9" x. 13" pan.

1. Mix the topping and filling in separate bowls and set aside.
2. To make the cake: In a large bowl beat the butter, salt, sugars, baking powder, and vanilla until well combined and smooth.
3. Add eggs one at a time. Stir until combined after each egg.
4. In a separate bowl whisk together sour cream and milk.
5. Add the flour to the butter mixture alternately with the milk/sour cream mixture. Mix gently to combine.
6. Pour/spread half the batter (~3 cups) into the prepared pan spreading all the way to the edges.
7. Sprinkle the filling evenly on the batter.
8. Spread the remaining batter atop the filling. Use a table knife to gently swirl the filling in the batter as though you were making a marble cake. Don't combine the filling - just swirl. You want layers.
9. Sprinkle the topping over the batter in the pan. (You don't have to use all the topping. I will cut back a little bit next time.)
10. Bake the cake until it's dark golden brown around the edges and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50-60 minutes. When pressed gently in the middle the cake should spring back.
11. Remove from the oven and let cool 20 minutes before serving. (torture waiting!!)
12. Serve cake from the pan.

Recipe source: King Arthur Flour

Yo, Oxi Clean!!

True story. It's Monday morning (yesterday). Everything is going just fine until I take a sip of coffee in the car. I can feel it drip on my pants before it even hits the fabric. Not good! I'm wearing white pants today. grrrr.

It's one spot. I have a little spray bottle of Oxi Clean in my desk drawer. I'll deal with it when I get to my office.

I pull into the parking garage. Park. Get my purse, briefcase and coffee. I'm not going to drink it until I can tighten down the lid. I'm not even out of the garage and I feel coffee on my hand again. No!!!! Yes, this time it has dribbled all down my pant leg.  Great.  I have a client meeting this afternoon. 

I get to the office grab my little spray bottle and head right to the bathroom. I spray it all over my pants. It's not working. I spray. I dab with water. Great. It's not coming out.

I read the back of the package. It has a list of items that it "works great on." The first one listed is COFFEE. Uh huh. I'm really glad I didn't spill any of the other things that "It works great on" which happen to be grape juice, tea, wine, ketchup, chocolate, blueberries and strawberry jelly. For directions it says:

1) Wipe excess residue

2) Spray Oxi Clean over entire stain

3) Blot to remove excess moisture. Wait a few seconds and watch stain disappear.

4) If needed, repeat.

It says I can watch it disappear.  Well, I'm staring at my pants right now and I still see it. It has not disappeared before my eyes. Humph. Me not happy. 

It also has an 800# to call if you have a really tough stain. Well, I do. But they are probably going to tell me to throw my pants in the wash which is a brilliant idea - If I wasn't sitting here at my desk. So I'm not calling.

Maybe I need to try one of those Tide sticks.  You know the one that Kelly Ripa has on TV? Where she rubs it on the stain and voila! stain is all gone. 

Wait, isn't that what Billy Mayes used to do with Oxi Clean. Was I tricked?

No, I think anything that sounds too good to be true is. And having my coffee stains miraculously disappear before my eyes was definitely a long shot.

Oh well. Hopefully no one will be looking at my pants.

UPDATE:  I'm happy to report the stains came out in the wash. I did soak all the spots with another stain remover when I got home. Just to be sure.

Fresh Roasted Coffee

There's nothing better than a good cup of coffee in the morning. We like to brew coffee at home over buying it at a coffee shop. It's just more convenient. We grind the beans each morning and brew just enough to fill our two mugs with coffee for the ride to work.

When we were in Hawaii we took a tour of Kauaii Coffee Company and bought a bunch of coffee to bring home. Yum. We didn't buy enough, because it's all gone. We were thinking about ordering more, when we heard about another coffee roaster here in the Bay Area.

Blue Bottle Coffee Co. is based here in Oakland, Ca. All their coffee is organic. You can pick it up at the roasting plant or you can have it delivered. They ship the same day it's roasted. We just got our first delivery last week. I could smell it when I walked up to the front door.

Don bought two different types.

• Chapada Diamantina - from Brazil
• Bella Donovan - their most popular blend

We made the Chapada Diamantina this morning. Mmmm, mmmm.  It was rich with a lot of body.  Not bitter.  It's $18.75/lb - which is not cheap, but I've always found you get what you pay for something. Cheap coffee is not a good idea. 

I learned a LOT about coffee when I worked at Einstein Bros. The biggest lessons I learned: 

1. The brewing water has to be HOT. Many home coffee pots don't get the water hot enough
2. Don't store coffee in the freezer. Beans don't like moisture.  Store it in the pantry. 
3. Make sure you're using the right amount of coffee. Part of the reason people like Peet's and Starbucks is that they use the right amount of coffee.  Blue Bottle recommends 3-4 T per 8 oz of water. (We don't use quite that much.)
   

I would love to hear from other coffee lovers. What coffee do you like?