Apple Bread with Oatmeal Streusel

I love having apples in the fridge, they are a perfect snack and easy to throw into a lunch. They seem to last forever in the fridge, although I usually end up eating them so fast that it doesn't matter any way. But as much as I love apples, not just any apple will do. I am very picky about which kind of apples I will buy. In the fall, when they are super fresh and straight from the orchard I love almost all of them, but golden delicious in particular are so good. But as the winter moves on, I usually end up buying just a few varieties from the grocery store, Fuji, Pink Lady, and once in a while Honeycrisp (but I don't generally feel like I should be spending $4 a pound on Honeycrisp when all the other apples cost half as much). 

A few weeks ago I accidentally picked up the wrong bag of apples. I ended up with 3 pounds of Paula Reds which I just couldn't make myself eat out of hand. They have good flavor, but are just too soft and mushy for me. Making applesauce is always an option, but this time I also decided to use some of the apples to do a little baking. While this recipe may seem like a fall recipe, I see no reason to wait until fall to bake something with apples. So grab a couple apples and head to the kitchen to throw this lovely loaf of cinnamon apple bread together. It's good regardless of the season!

This recipe starts with a wonderfully chunky streusel, and plenty of it, just how I like it. Then you just have to throw together a simple cinnamon bread, chop up an apple and mix it all together. Into the pan, streusel on top and into the oven. The bread turned out beautifully, soft and moist, studded with small pieces of apple and perfumed with cinnamon. The original recipe called for cinnamon chips which I didn't have, but I think they would have been great in this. I also ended up using almonds in the topping instead of the walnuts because that's what I had, and it was great. But walnuts would have been wonderful too, I even think it might be nice to put some walnuts directly into the bread. So as you can see, this recipe is very versatile, so give it a shot, you won't regret it. 

Apple Bread with Oatmeal Streusel
Adapted from Cookie Monster Cooking
Ingredients
For the streusel:

• ¼ cup all-purpose flour 
• ¼ cup rolled oats 
• ¼ packed light brown sugar 
• ¼ cup walnuts or whatever nut you have, finely chopped 
• pinch of cinnamon 
• pinch of salt 
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted 

For the bread:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour (I did half whole wheat, 1/2 all purpose) 
• 2 teaspoons baking powder 
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon 
• ½ teaspoon salt 
• ½ cup packed light brown sugar 
• ¼ cup granulated sugar 
• 1 large egg 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• ⅓ cup melted butter 
• ⅔ cup whole milk 
• 1 medium apple (or a couple smaller apples), chopped into small pieces, or grated

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8 ½ by 4 ½ inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

To make the streusel - in a small bowl, mix together the flour, oats, brown sugar, walnuts, cinnamon and salt until well combined. Add in the melted butter and mix until combined and evenly moistened. Set aside.

To make the bread - in a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, granulated sugar and egg until well combined (it will clump together at first but just keep whisking and it will smooth out). Add in the vanilla, butter and milk and whisk again to combine. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until just combined. Gently fold in chopped apple. 

Transfer the batter into the prepared pan and use a spatula to smooth the top. Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the top.

Bake for about 50 to 55 minutes, until a tester inserted into the middle of the bread comes out clean. If the top starts to brown too quickly, tent loosely with aluminum foil. Once the bread is cool enough to handle, gently run a butter knife around the edges of the pan to loosen. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

Pumpkin Coffee Cake with Brown Sugar Pecan Streusel

Pumpkin season is here again for the year, and I'm loving it! Fall baking is my absolute favorite, especially fall baking with pumpkin. I really do love all things pumpkin, as long as they're not over spiced. It's a pet peeve of mine when people tell me they don't like pumpkin, because it is so too spicy for them. I like to tell them that pumpkin actually has no spices, it's just a squash, they just don't like what is often put with the pumpkin. I think it's very hard to dislike pumpkin on it's own, it doesn't have much flavor, especially when baked into something sweet and buttery and delicious. Something like this absolutely fantastic coffee cake. Trust me, this one is a keeper.

A moist, delicate pumpkin cake topped with a hearty amount of brown sugar and pecan streusel, and finished with a simple icing. This is one of the best new things I've baked recently, I just loved it, and will probably make it again before the fall is over!

Pumpkin Coffee Cake with Brown Sugar Pecan Streusel
From Williams Sonoma
Ingredients:
For the streusel:

• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• Pinch of kosher salt
• 6 Tbs. (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
• 1 cup chopped pecans, lightly toasted (see note below)

For the batter:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup sour cream

For the glaze:

• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• 1 tsp. whole milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat an oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 9-inch springform pan or a 9-inch cake pan with 3-inch sides.

To make the streusel, in a bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Toss in the butter and, using 2 table knives or a pastry cutter, cut it into the dry ingredients until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Alternatively, whir the ingredients in a food processor. Stir in the pecans. Set aside.

To make the batter, in a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat together the butter and brown sugar on medium-high speed until well combined. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the pumpkin puree and sour cream and mix with the spatula. Stir in the flour mixture. The batter will be quite thick.

Spread half of the batter in the prepared pan. Sprinkle half of the streusel over the batter. Dollop the remaining batter over the streusel and spread the thick batter as best you can. Top with the remaining streusel. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for about 15 minutes. Remove the sides from the pan and slide the cake onto the rack.

To make the glaze, in a small bowl, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar, milk and vanilla. Drizzle over the top of the cake. Cut into thick wedges and serve. Makes one 9-inch coffee cake

Baker’s note: To toast pecans, preheat an oven to 325°F. Spread the nuts out on a rimmed baking sheet and bake, stirring often, until fragrant and lightly toasted, about 10 minutes.

Strawberry Coffee Cake

It may no longer be strawberry season, but that doesn't mean you can't keep those early summer flavors alive throughout the summer, and even the entire year, especially if you were able to freeze a couple bags of those peak season berries a few months back. This coffee cake is the perfect way to tantalize those tastebuds with the bright, summery sweetness of juicy red strawberries topping a fluffy, tender cake. The whole thing is sprinkled with a chunky, buttery streusel and baked to perfection. Invite a few friends over, brew up some coffee and you've got yourself the best kind of party.

For whatever reason, I was recently craving a tall and beautiful strawberry breakfast cake. It surprised me that so many of the recipes I came across, although they looked very tasty, were such short cakes. I wanted something with a little more stature and this cake delivered just what I was looking for. It's difficult for me to not top my breakfast cakes with a generous layer of streusel so on it went once again. I thought it was a wonderful combination, something I will return to without a doubt.

Strawberry Coffee Cake
Heavily adapted from Tidy Mom
Ingredients
Cake

• 2-1/2 cups (12 oz) all-purpose flour

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/3 cup (2 3/4 oz) greek yogurt

• 2 eggs, separated

• 1 cup milk

• 3/4 cup (5 oz) brown sugar

• 1/2 cup butter, softened

• 2-3 cups sliced strawberries

Topping

• 3 tablespoons butter, melted

• 1/4 cup (1.75 oz) granulated sugar

• heaping 1/2 cup (3 oz) flour

• pinch salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda, set aside. In a small bowl whisk together the yogurt, milk, and egg yolks. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 

Add the wet and dry ingredients alternatively to the butter and sugar mixture, starting and ending with the dry, mixing until just combined after each addition. 

Transfer mixture to a large bowl. Clean the bowl of the stand mixture and add the egg whites to it. Beat until firm peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the batter. 

Pour into greased 9 inch springform pan. Spread the strawberries on top. To make the topping, mix all the ingredients in a bowl with your fingers until crumbly. Spread on top of strawberries.

Bake for 45-50 minutes. Until lightly brown on top. Allow to cool, then remove from pan.

Rhubarb Almond Crumb Cake

I have a weakness for anything cake. Cake is one of my absolute favorite things. All flavors, all occasions, breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It amazes me how many people tell me they don't like cake (traditional frosted birthday/wedding cake that is.) When people tell me this, I just assume they never have had good cake. It's true, a bad cake is just bad. Unfortunately, the majority of the cake most people eat is just plain, bad cake. But moving on, I am in the other camp on cake. I love it. I am especially a sucker for a good breakfast cake. They are so simple, easy and delicious.

In my opinion, breakfast cake is the perfect way to start a day. I found this rhubarb almond cake online a few months ago and have been wanting to make it ever since. It was the picture that got me, a tall, golden cake with a crunchy, crumbly topping. I love anything with streusel. Sometimes it can be dangerous to fall in love with a picture of a recipe, when your doesn't quite live up to the expectations you had visually. That's what happened with this cake. It didn't come out as tall as I was hoping, and the streusel topping kind of sunk, and melted into the cake. I usually like it better when streusel is almost a separate layer, all alone of top.

So I was unhappy with the look of this cake when I took it out of the oven. But have no fear, all of that changed when I finally dug in. This cake was light, yet substantial, with a wonderful tartness from the rhubarb. I cut up my rhubarb pretty small because I don't like chunks, and it kind of disappeared into the cake leaving behind the perfect amount of sourness to blend with the sweetness of the cake. And the disappointing streusel actually turned into a crunchy and sweet topping that was a perfect complement to the soft cake beneath it. This recipe taught me to not judge a cake by its cover. A plain looking cake can mask an absolutely delicious treat. The more I ate this cake the more I fell in love with it. Good thing there is plenty of rhubarb in the freezer...

Rhubarb Almond Crumb Cake
Slightly adapted from Food 52
Ingredients 
THE CRUMB

• 2 tablespoons flour

• 2 tablespoons slivered almonds

• 2 tablespoons rolled oats

• 1/4 cup brown sugar

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

THE CAKE

• Butter for greasing the pan

• 2 large eggs

• 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon almond extract

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

• 1 1/4 cup white whole wheat flour (or all-purpose)

• 1 1/2 cup rhubarb, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Directions
Heat the oven to 350°F. Butter the bottom and sides of an 8-inch, deep, fluted tart pan or an 8-inch round cake pan.

For the crumb, combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl. Using a fork or your fingers, gently work in the butter until pea-sized lumps are formed.

Combine the eggs, sugar, salt, and almond extract in a large bowl. Beat on high until the mixture triples in volume, about five minutes. Fold in the melted butter, flour, and rhubarb. Evenly spread the thick batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the top.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until the topping is deeply golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the cake from the pan when it’s completely cool.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Strawberry season is basically over, this is always a sad realization to me since strawberries are my favorite fruit. I love buying a couple quarts at the farmers market and then stuffing my face full of sweet, juicy berries because we all know that freshly picked strawberries last about a day before they start going bad. To me this means I am required to eat as many as possible because I can't let any of these early summer jewels go to waste. This is a task I attack with pleasure.

This year I definitely did my share helping out the local strawberry farmers. This sometime required me to become creative with the baskets and baskets lining my counter. I had a wonderful time figuring out what to do with all of my strawberries, what a fantastic problem! When my neighbor called and told me she had rhubarb galore and I needed to come take some off of her hands I jumped at the opportunity. I had never made a strawberry rhubarb pie, but that was all about to change. Strawberry and rhubarb are my favorite combination. The juicy sweetness of the strawberries combined with the puckering tartness of the rhubarb is a match made in heaven. I'm already looking forward to next year!

While I've been making more pies and tarts recently, I still would definitely call myself an amateur. I'm getting better, but I still have things I need to work on. Regardless, this pie turned out absolutely delicious, even if it lacks a little in the looks department. I like to think of it as rustic. In the end it really doesn't matter what the pie looks like, the most important thing is what it tastes like, and this one did not disappoint.

Note: This is a rough estimate of my strawberry rhubarb pie recipe. It was delicious, but it could definitely have used more filling, both strawberries and rhubarb. Feel free to play around with the quantities, increasing the filling until you are satisfied with it.

For the topping: this time around I didn't melt the butter, but for future use I probably would. I think you get bigger chunks of streusel then. Also, if you are a big streusel fan (like me) you'll want to increase the amount of streusel. Try doubling it perhaps!

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Ingredients

Pie

• 1/2 recipe Pate Brisee (or your favorite pie dough)
• 1 3/4 cup chopped rhubarb
• 4 cups sliced strawberries
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons Yukon Jack Liquor (or whatever you happen to have in your cupboard, this was what was in mine!)

Topping

• 3 tablespoons room temperature butter
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup flour
• pinch salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Make the filling: Mix together rhubarb, strawberries, granulated sugar, brown sugar, cornstarch, vanilla, and liquor. Set aside.

Make the crust: Roll out pate brisee to a 1/8-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Fit dough into a 9-inch pie plate. Place in refrigerator or freezer for 15-30 minutes, until well chilled. 

Drain excess juice from the rhubarb/berry mixture. Pour filling into chilled pie crust. Bake pie for 45-55 minutes, until crust is well browned. Remove from oven and cool. Enjoy with vanilla ice cream or lightly whipped cream. 

Sour Cherry Coffee Cake

It's the Fourth of July, what better way to celebrate then with a beautiful and delicious breakfast treat? Last week I went up to Traverse City for a couple of days and came back with some cherries, so I knew this breakfast would be featuring some delicious summer cherries. I'd always wanted to visit Traverse City, but before this past week I had never made it there, even though it is just a few hours away. In case you don't know much about Traverse City, it is the self proclaimed cherry capitol of the world. They are especially well known for their tart cherries, growing 70-75 percent of tart cherries that are grown in the US. Cherry season was just starting last week, so I of course had to visit the local farmers market and buy a couple baskets of cherries. I got some delicious, sweet black cherries, as well as a few tart cherries that were perfect for this patriotic breakfast treat.

This cake turned out beautifully! The perfect thing for a summer holiday breakfast. The only extra effort involved pitting the cherries. I don't have a cherry pitter so it took me a few extra minutes, but nothing too extreme. Once that was done, it was easy to whip together the rest of the cake and the streusel topping. I absolutely love anything with streusel on top. It adds such a nice texture and sweetness to the top, yum!

I baked my cake in a 9-inch springform pan and it turned out great. A springform pan makes it really easy to get the cake out of the pan after it cools. Then it's a cinch to cut out some slices and dig in. This coffee cake was the star of a delightful holiday breakfast.

 Beautiful red sour cherries

 Put together the topping first, then set aside

For the cake, start by getting your dry ingredients mixed

Then it's time for the butter

and sugar

 Cream them together until light and fluffy

 Next is vanilla

 and two eggs

 Pour it into your prepared pan

 Smooth the batter out

 Then it's cherry time

 Spread the cherries out on top of the batter

 Look at all those delicious cherries!

 Then top with the streusel 

 Time for the oven

 Baked to golden perfection!

 It's time for breakfast

 Cut a nice big slice

 Look at the cake/cherry/streusel goodness

 It's time to eat!

Sour Cherry Coffee Cake
From Lottie and Doof
Ingredients
For the topping:

• 2 ounces (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for dish
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dish
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the cake:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 2 cups fresh sour cherries, pitted

Directions
Preheat oven to 350° F. Butter a 9-inch round baking dish, dust with flour, tap out excess.

In a medium bowl, stir together butter, flour, sugars, salt, and cinnamon. Set topping aside.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and granulated sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Working in alternating batches, add flour mixture and buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour. Beat until just combined. Pour into prepared dish, and smooth with an offset spatula. Dot top with cherries, and sprinkle with crumb topping.

Bake until golden and a tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Let cool before cutting.