Black and Blue Pie

This whole post is about to get super Portland on you. Like Portlandia-esque Portland. This is a pie I made for my tattoo artist as a tip for my last tattoo. I made it with local berries. And local flour (hey Bob's Red Mill). And local butter (Tillamook). Also I'm wearing black and red flannel right now.

This pie is also super good. It looked great the first time, so I made it again. You should use whatever end of season berries you have and make this. Decorate it any way you want. Maybe put a bird on it? I dunno.

Black and Blue Pie:

Makes one 9” pie

½ recipe best pie dough in the universe

Filling-

3 c. blackberries

3 c. blueberries

2/3 c. – ¾ c. sugar (depending on how sweet your berries are)

1 tsp. lemon zest

1 tsp. fresh lemon juice

Dash nutmeg

Dash cinnamon

Topping-

2/3 c. all-purpose flour

3 Tb. brown sugar, packed

½ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. salt

Dash allspice

Dash nutmeg

6 Tb. unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

Make the pie dough! Roll it out how you do and put it in a 9-inch pie dish. Refrigerate while prepping everything else. If you have extra dough like I did after trimming, use a cookie cutter to make fun shapes with the remainder. Refrigerate alongside pie crust.

Whisk sugar, lemon zest, nutmeg, and cinnamon together. Add berries and toss to coat. Add lemon juice and toss to coat again. Let sit at least 10 minutes.

While your berries are sitting, preheat oven to 375 and make the topping. Whisk together all dry topping ingredients. Add in melted and cooled butter and mix with fingers until blended evenly.

To assemble your pie, remove formed dough from fridge, scoop in berry mixture, and sprinkle topping as evenly as possible.

Bake pie for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the filling is bubbling and your topping has become golden. If it is browning too quickly, cover top with foil. Place a baking sheet on the rack below your pie to catch any bubbly juices.

Let cool on wire rack until you can handle it enough to deliver to your tattoo artist. Or your friends out back. Or your mouth.

I really enjoyed this pie – but it was more like a cobbler because as you might see from the recipe above, I did not add corn starch to the berry mixture. Do that. Add about 2½ tablespoons corn starch to the berry mixture to help gel some of those juicy, juicy berries.

Overall, though, this was a great pie – easy to make, fun to decorate, and a great gift.

You've got a little summer left. Give this pie a try.

And now I'm done with summer pie recipes. On to the fall pies!   

Peach and Sour Cream Buckle

I'm a sucker for fruit desserts and I'm a sucker for desserts with silly names. Fool? Slump? Grunt? Buckle? Yeah, I'm all about that. Put it together and I'll make it. Tell me there's a Cascadia party and you should bring a local goodie? I guess this buckle will have to do.

It involves peaches I picked at Sauvie Island Farms. Raspberry picking was the primary goal (and I got a LOT of raspberries. Three different recipes worth plus all of the berries that ended up in my and my baby's belly), but peaches could not be ignored. What says summer like a peach? Plus I'd never picked a peach before. Other local things were the flour (Bob's Red Mill - Milwaukie, Oregon), the dairy (Tillamook - Tillamook, Oregon and Sunshine Dairy - Portland), and the eggs (New Seasons PacNW eggs). Oh, and it's delicious. And so so easy.

I followed the recommendation of using half regular granulated sugar and half brown sugar. I recommend you do too.

Peach and Sour Cream Buckle via Herbivoracious

Yield: 16 squares

For the streusel-

½ c. sugar
6 Tb. all-purpose flour
¼ tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. kosher salt or sea salt
4 Tb. (½ stick) cold butter, cut into small pieces

For the cake -
1 ¾ c. whole wheat pastry flour (regular whole wheat worked for me)
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
4 Tb. soft unsalted butter
½ c. granulated sugar

½ c. brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla
½ c. sour cream
¼ c. whole milk
3 c. peeled and sliced peaches (about 12 slices per peach)

For the streusel, mix all ingredients except the butter in a small bowl. Add the butter and work it into the flour mixture with your fingertips until it looks like coarse cornmeal, just like when making a pie crust. It is fine if there are a few larger bits of butter. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 9×9 baking pan.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

In a mixer, beat the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla until fluffy. Beat in the sour cream and milk. Gradually add the flour mixture and combine gently until just mixed, like you would for pancake batter.
Gently fold in the peaches. Your hands are probably the best tool for this. It will seem like way too many peaches. Pour the batter in the pan, and sprinkle on the streusel top evenly. Bake until browned and a toothpick comes out clean, about 40 minutes.

Let cool for 20 minutes. Serve to fanfare and eat plenty.

Sweet Potato Blintzes with Farmer's Cheese

My son is officially in toddlerdom, especially when it comes to meal time. Things that were once beloved now are given to the dog or belong to the floor (which then goes to the dog). Sometimes within one meal a food goes from being bad to good to bad again (mac and cheese is not a floor food!). It’s hard, especially when you worked hard on something, but it’s all worth the effort in turning my child into a foodie.

These were a hit on dinner 1 and breakfast 1 and less so for dinner 2. The sauce, which is I changed to blueberry because it is a food he still very much enjoys, was always popular. So despite the potential of the dog getting a fabulous meal, I’d say these are worth the time and, as a bonus, freeze really nicely. Adults can have some too and they taste extra great when you save them from the floor.

I’m including the original cranberry syrup recipe as I made it for the first set and it really is quite good. If you decide to go the blueberry route, cut the sugar in half.

Sweet Potato Blintzes with Farmer’s Cheese via The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook:

Yield 16 blintzes

Wrappers-

1½ c. milk (whole is great, other fat levels are also fine)

6 large eggs

1½ c. all-purpose flour

¼ tsp. table salt

1 Tb. melted butter or neutral oil, for brushing the pan, plus additional for cooking blintzes  

Filling-

About 4 medium sweet potatoes

2 c. farmer’s cheese

2 large egg yolks

¼ c. sugar

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

Few fresh gratings of nutmeg

Pinch of salt

Cranberry syrup-

2 c. fresh or frozen cranberries

¼ c. orange juice

½ c. sugar

Make the wrapper batter by combining all wrapper ingredients except for butter or oil in a blender. Pour the batter into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for an hour or up to 2 days.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Bake the sweet potatoes on a tray for about 40 minutes, until soft. Let them cool in their skins. Once they’re cool, peel the sweet potatoes and mash them or run them through a potato ricer.

Preheat a medium skillet or crepe pan over medium-high heat. I don’t have a crepe pan. You probably don’t either. Don’t sweat it, your skillet is fine. Once it’s heated, brush the pan lightly with melted butter or oil. Pour ¼ cup batter into the skillet, swirling it until it evenly coats the bottom, and cook, undisturbed, until the bottom is golden and the top is set, about 2 minutes. No need to flip them. The key here is even heat and just a little bit of grease in your pan. Sounds complicated and come out perfect. Transfer the wrapper to a paper-towel-covered plate, cooked side down. Continue with the remaining batter.

Once the sweet potato puree is cool, stir in the farmer’s cheese, egg yolks, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.

If you plan to freeze these, do so before the browning step. They’ll taste great if you wait.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Put an ever-so-slightly heaped ¼ cup of filling in the center of each wrapper, and fold the opposite sides of wrapper over filling until they barely touch. If you had to read that 14 times like I did, it means take the two vertical sides of the wrapper. It’ll make sense in a second. Pull the end of the crepe nearest to you over the filling (away from you), and roll the rest of the way, to completely enclose filling, forming elongated, egg-roll-shaped packets. Reheat with the remaining blintzes and filling. Reheat your crepe skillet - or a larger one, if you want to cook more blintzes are a time - over medium heat and add more butter or oil to coat the pan. Place a few blintzes, seam side down, in a skillet, and cook them until they are golden brown and crisp, for about 5 minutes on each side. Transfer them to a baking sheet, and keep them warm in the over until they are ready to serve.

Now make the syrup. In a saucepan, over medium heat, simmer the cranberries, orange juice, and sugar together until the berries burst, about 7 to 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer for 5 minutes more. Strain the syrup into a bowl.

Serve the blintzes warm with a drizzle of cranberry syrup and/or a dollop of sour cream.

If you’re lucky, your toddler will eat them and make you feel so proud. If not, they are also great in your own mouth.   

Mini Pear Pies

The reason I hardly ever blog is I have this baby guy and he takes up a lot of my time and when he's sleeping or otherwise occupied with block stacking or chasing the dog around, I tend to zone out on silly phone games or cute pictures of animals on the Internet. So not blogging. I do think about it, though, and I continue to take pictures of the food I make (a thing I still do when not helping a baby stack blocks or be nice to the dog who puts up with a lot from a small thing that tries to climb on him all the time). Another thing I do is hang out with a great group of moms. So baking + hanging out with moms = trying to show off and bring tasty things to meet ups. I haven't done this in awhile, but this was an early hit.

I should probably try to show off again. And blog. But you know, block stacking.

Mini Pear Pies slightly modified from Mogwai Soup:

Makes 12 mini pies

World's greatest pie dough

5 pears, pealed and chopped

½ c. sugar

Peel of one lemon

1 Tb. lemon juice

Pinch of ground ginger

Pinch of cinnamon

Pinch of allspice

2 cardamom pods, crushed

Pinch of salt

1 Tb. of corn starch

A few Tb. of water

Butter or oil

1 egg beaten with a tablespoon of water

Make your amazing pie dough. Roll it out. Let it rest in the fridge. While you prep the filling, let the dough get to room temp and then roll it out. I used a not often used martini glass (a confluence of watching a lot of Sex and the City and turning 21) to cut out the bases and a drinking glass to do the tops.

Add all the filling ingredients except corn starch to a saute pan and cook on medium heat. After 10 minutes add the cornstarch and cook for 5 more minutes, if it is thickening too much you can add a few tablespoons of water. Cool off a bit before filling your pies.

Butter or oil the cups of a 12 cup muffin tin. Push in the bottoms of the pies, curling them up over the edge about ½ inch. Put about 1½-2 tablespoons of filling into each pie. Go for too little at first rather than too much. You still need to seal them. Cover with the tops and seal the edges with a fork. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with some sugar.

Bake it at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes, checking after 20 or until nicely golden brown.

Cool in pan until you can push them out and cool on a rack. Transfer to some happy mommies or, you know, your mouth. Good times for everybody! Plus they look really fancy.

Harrison's First Birthday Cake

The biggest reason my blogging has become so infrequent is I've got this little man around that takes up so much of my time. It's fantastic. This past Friday was his birthday, so we went with the family to Lincoln City to celebrate one year of Harrison.

Of course I made him his own cake. It was a process that took a couple of weeks and lots of test cakes. Some were too snack cake, some were disgusting (that's what I get for trying sugar free), and some were just meh. But I found one that was just right and then, as I do, started to modify. I used the frosting from my favorite baby food blog/book (thanks Renai!) and along with some exploding writing icing and a bit of cinnamon, we had a cake.

Harrison tried to eat a slice whole. I'd say that's a success.

Harrison's First Birthday Cake adapted from Martha Stewart and Wholesome Baby Food:

Makes 1 9" 2 layer cake

For the cake -

1 c. all-purpose flour

1 c. whole wheat flour

1½ tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

¾ tsp. salt

¼–½ tsp. cinnamon

½ c. sugar

½ c. butter, melted

½-¾ c. yogurt

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2 ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 c.)

For the frosting -

1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened

¾ c. sugar

1/8 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1½ c. heavy cream

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 300 degrees. Butter and flour two 9x2 round cake pans. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and sugar. Blend in the melted butter, mixing together until moist. Add half of your yogurt and combine.

In a separate bowl, combine the other half of the yogurt with the eggs and blend into the flour mixture. Add the vanilla and mashed bananas. Beat for 1 minute. Divide the batter between the two cake pans and place in center of oven. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. When cake is done, top should be a golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean.

Cool cakes on a cooling rack in pans and then invert onto rack to cool completely.

While cakes are cooling, make the frosting. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, salt, and vanilla until smooth. In a small bowl, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Fold into the cream cheese mixture.

When the cake have cooled, place one top side up on a cake stand or inverted plate. Place a big dollop of frosting in the center and spread evenly across the top. This is going to be that tasty middle layer of frosting, but don't go too bananas (haha), you need enough to frost the rest of the cake. Place the other cake top side down over this frosting layer. Put a huge amount of frosting in the center of the top and spread it across and down the sides. Keep turning the cake until you've frosted the whole thing. Stick a large knife or spatula or anything long you can find to remove the cake from the plate and onto another one. This is a great two person process, so wrangle someone in to help you.

Once on the other plate, stick in the fridge for at least 10 minutes to let the frosting firm up a bit before doing any further decorating.

Slice it up and watch an adorable one year old get his first piece of cake. Also, some other people ate it, but you know, priorities. 

Cinnamon Roasted Pineapple with Macadamia Nut Cream

I love free samples. When I was a kid and we'd go to Costco, my brother and I would try to sidle in to get second and thirds of samples we really liked, not realizing it's okay to take more than one. It was pretty funny and we thought we were so sneaky.

I got this recipe from a free sample at Whole Foods. It's pretty easy and without the macadamia cream, is universally popular. Try it on a cooler day this summer (or modify it for the grill).

Cinnamon Roasted Pineapple with Macadamia Nut Cream via Whole Foods:

Serves 4

¾ c. raw unsalted macadamia nuts or cashews

1/3 c. chopped pitted dates

1 c. boiling water

1 fresh pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut into ½-inch-thick slices

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/8 tsp. sea salt

In a small bowl, combine the nuts and dates with boiling water and let soak 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Arrange pineapple in a single layer over the paper and sprinkle with cinnamon. Roast until pineapple is very tender and lightly browned, about 30 minutes.

Pour nuts, dates, and soaking water into a blender and add vanilla and salt. Blend until very smooth, about 1 minute, stopping to scrape down the sides of the blender once or twice. Serve drizzled over the warm pineapple.

This recipe hits all the key diet trends: vegan, wheat free. Don't worry about all of that. No matter what your diet consists of, there is only one word for this and that word is delicious.

BLT Sandwiches with Candied Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato Jam

Would you like to make a really involved BLT? Look no further than this ridiculous recipe. I find it funny when I post sandwich recipes because really, you know how to make a sandwich. I think of these more as sandwich inspiration. Plus, I learned how to make tomato jam AND use the frozen tomatoes in my freezer. Okay, so I made this sandwich last year. I still think about it. Also – pregnancy then baby leads to a lot of excuses and not a lot of blogging.

Moving on.

You may want to wait on this one until summer when tomatoes are the most delicious, but on the other hand, this is a bacon sandwich and you probably want it right about now. Your choice.

BLT Sandwiches with Candied Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato Jam via Serious Eats:

Makes 4 sandwiches

For the candied bacon-

16 strips thick cut bacon

1/4 c. packed dark brown sugar

3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

3/4 tsp. ground ginger

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

For the tomato jam-

3 Tb. olive oil

1 1/2 lb. cherry tomatoes, halved

3 Tb. packed dark brown sugar

3 medium cloves garlic, minced (about 1 Tb.)

1 small shallot, minced (about 2 Tb.)

2 Tb. red wine vinegar

2 Tb. Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp. red pepper flakes

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the sandwich-

8 slices brioche or other soft loaf bread

2 Tb. mayonnaise

8 thin slices cheddar cheese

4 tsp. Dijon or spicy mustard

8 small lettuce leaves (there's a long argument about why iceberg is best here, I just can't do it).

To make the candied bacon, adjust oven racks to upper middle and lower middle positions and preheat oven to 400°F. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with foil. Arrange 8 bacon strips in single layer on each sheet. Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and pepper in small bowl. Rub sugar mixture all over both sides of bacon strips and bake until crisp, 16 to 18 minutes, alternating sheets’ positions and turning bacon strips with tongs halfway through baking. Transfer sheets to cooling racks and transfer bacon to large plate. When cool enough to handle, discard rendered fat and foil.

While the bacon cooks, heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add tomatoes, brown sugar, garlic, shallot, vinegar, Worcestershire, red pepper flakes, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and cook, stirring until tomatoes are softened and lightly browned, about 15 minutes. Transfer to bowl and let cool to room temperature.

Spread both sides of each bread slice with mayonnaise. Arrange bread on now-empty baking sheets and bake until browned, turning once halfway through cooking, about 6 minutes. Transfer bread to cutting board. Spread 4 slices with mustard. Top remaining 4 slices with 1 slice cheese. Spread mustard-spread slices with tomato jam, then top with 4 slices bacon, and lettuce. Press remaining 4 slices, cheese-side down, onto lettuce. Slice on the diagonal and serve.

And now I've told you, yet again, how to make an overly complicated but still worth your time sandwich. Add avocado. Remove or change the cheese. Go crazy!

Zucchini Bread Pancakes

Zucchini – that little summer squash that overwhelms gardens and CSAs everywhere. What should you do with all of those green guys that are filling up your produce drawer? Zucchini bread is an obvious choice, but when I saw this recipe from Smitten Kitchen about zucchini bread pancakes, I was intrigued. It’s a rad new way to do breakfast, use up some zucchini, and it’s not all that bad for you. Aaron even ate them and he is a long time zucchini hater. Not bad for a morning’s work. Deb has lots of options for many of the ingredients. Below are my choices. Check out the original to make your own or just do what I did because I can tell you that these are awesome.

Zucchini Bread Pancakes from Smitten Kitchen:

Makes 10 to 12 pancakes

2 large eggs

3 Tb. olive oil

2 Tb. dark brown

¼ c. buttermilk

½ tsp. vanilla extract

2 c. shredded zucchini (from about 9 ounces whole, or 1 1/2 medium zucchini), heaping cups are fine

½ c. all-purpose flour

½ c. whole wheat flour

¼ tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

Butter or oil, for coating skillet

For the topping (optional) -

1 Tb. maple syrup

3 Tb. plain Greek yogurt

If you’re doing the topping, mix together the maple syrup and yogurt in a small bowl. There. Done.

In a large bowl, combine eggs, olive oil, sugar, buttermilk and vanilla until smooth. Stir in zucchini shreds. In a smaller bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir dry ingredients into zucchini batter, mixing until just combined.

Preheat oven to 200°F and place a tray on a middle rack. I skipped this step because even though it does ensure that your pancakes are cooked all the way through, it was already hot in my house and I couldn’t stand the idea of putting the oven on.

Heat a large, heavy skillet over medium heat. Once hot, melt a pat of butter in pan and swirl it around until it sizzles. Scoop scant ¼ cup dollops of batter in pan so the puddles do not touch. Cook until bubbles appear on the surface, about 2 to 3 minutes. Flip pancakes and cook another minute or two, until golden underneath. Repeat with remaining batter. Serve warm with maple syrup yogurt topping or butter and maple syrup or however you like your pancakes.

These do taste a lot like zucchini bread and you can almost pretend you’re being healthy. It’s pretty close.

Toasted Almond Granola

Okay, so your oven is going to have to go on for a little bit for this one. But then you can eat some delicious granola on cool, cold things like yogurt or almond milk or fro-yo. Worth it. Joy the Baker always hits it out of the park and this granola recipe is no exception. Granola is rad, but can be spendy. Not when you make it yourself! Get to it!

Toasted Almond Granola from Joy the Baker:

Makes 8 cups

4 c. old fashioned oats

1 c. slivered raw almonds

1 c. whole raw almonds

½ c. sweetened shredded coconut

1 tsp.  ground cinnamon

½ tsp. salt

3 Tb. butter

¼ c. vegetable oil

¼ c. honey

½ c. brown sugar

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Place a rack in the upper third and middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F.  Line one large or two small baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Whisk together oats, whole almonds, slivered almonds, sweetened coconut cinnamon and salt.  Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, melt together butter, oil, honey and brown sugar until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture begins to boil.  Carefully whisk together so it’s well incorporated.  Add the vanilla extract.  Pour the warm mixture over the oat and almond mixture and toss together with a wooden spoon, ensuring that all of the oat mixture gets moistened by the sugar and oil mixture.

Spread mixture onto prepared baking sheet(s) and bake for about 25 to 30 minutes, removing the oats to stir and toss on the pan twice during baking.  Remove from the oven, let cool and store in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

This is tasty times morning, noon, and night. I also mixed in some raisins, dried cranberries, and M&Ms to make trail mix to take with me when I went to Juneau last month. Perfect anytime weather food, but especially good for hot mornings.

Pear Apple Crisp

Do you want to do a quick dessert with whatever fruit you have in the house? I recommend a crisp. This one is more of a fall to early spring version, but you can make it spring to summer with strawberries and rhubarb or peaches and cherries. Or really anything that you like and looks amazing. This really is the best way to make a seasonal dessert. Adjust the spices and sugar to your liking.

Pear Apple Crisp modified from The New Moosewood Cookbook:

About 6 servings

4 peeled and sliced tart apples

2 peeled and sliced pears

2-3 Tb. lemon juice

¼ c. sugar

1¼ c. rolled oats

1 c. flour

¼ c. brown sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

A dash each of allspice and nutmeg

½ tsp. salt

½ c. melted butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine the apples and pears in a 9” square pan. Sprinkle with sugar.

Mix together the remaining ingredients (from rolled oats down) in a medium sized bowl. Distribute over the top of the fruit and pat firmly into place. Bake uncovered for 35 to 40 minutes or until the top is crisp and lightly browned and the fruit is bubbling around the edges. Serve at any temperature from hot to room. Best with ice cream.

 Super easy and you probably have a lot of this stuff already, especially if you like to bake. It packs up nicely for picnics and would be a welcome addition to any potluck. I love crisps and now I’m thinking of doing another one. I do love summer peaches!

Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake

I love Joy the Baker. A lot. This was an interesting baking experience for me because the first of these cakes I didn’t love and that surprised me. The problem was in the rolling. I didn’t roll the cake quite tight enough and it tasted really bready and not appley enough. The second one, which was devoured with my girlfriends while watching Sex and the City 2 (cocktails required. It’s BAD.), was much better. And that’s not just the cocktails talking. Do what she says and make two. And roll them tight!

Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake from Joy the Baker:

Makes 2 cakes

For the dough-

2 ¼ tsp (1 package) active dry yeast

¼ c. warm water, about 105 to 155 degrees F.

big pinch of sugar

6 Tb. granulated sugar

¾ c. (1½  sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

½ tsp. ground cardamom

½ tsp. salt

3 large eggs

4½  to 5 cups all-purpose flour

1 c. warm whole milk, 105 to 115 degrees F.

For the filling-

3 large apples, peeled and cut into small cubes (Honey Crisp for life!)

2 tsp. fresh lemon juice

¼ c. brown sugar

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. cornstarch

½  tsp. fresh ground nutmeg

pinch of salt

For the Streusel:

½  c. all-purpose flour

½ c. brown sugar

½ tsp. cinnamon

pinch of salt

pinch of cardamom

3 Tb. unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 egg and sugar for brushing and topping the dough before baking

To make the dough, in a small bowl, mix together yeast, warm water and pinch of sugar.  Stir together until yeast is dissolved and set aside for 10 minutes.  Yeast will foam up. 

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, add the sugar, butter, cardamom, and salt.  Blend on medium speed until pale in color and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Stop the mixer, scrape down the bowl, and add eggs and 1 cup of flour.  Blend on medium speed until thoroughly incorporated and creamy, about 1 minute.  Stop the mixer and add 2 cups more cups of flour, foamy yeast mixture, and warm milk.  Blend in medium speed until the flour disappears.  Mixture will be very wet. Add 1½  to 2 more cups of flour.  Blend until the flour is almost incorporated.

Dump the dough onto a lightly floured work surface.  Knead for 5 to 8 minutes by hand.  Dough will be glossy and just slightly sticky.  Place dough in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and a towel and let rest in a warm place for 1½ hours, or until doubled in size. Sometimes if my house is too cold, I’ll put the oven on warm. That usually works.

While the dough rises, make the apple filling and the streusel.

To make the apple filling, toss together diced apples, lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon, cornstarch, nutmeg and salt.  Leave at room temperature and set aside until ready to use.

To make the streusel filling:

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt, and cardamom.  Add butter and, using your fingers, work the butter into the flour mixture.  Break up the butter into the mixture, until thoroughly incorporated and crumbly.  Set aside.

Continue on with the dough. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. I didn’t do this, but even though the pans for pretty messy, they cleaned up easily enough in hot water.

When the dough has doubled in size, dump it out onto a lightly floured work surface.   Use a large knife or a bench knife to divide the dough in two.  Roll each dough piece into about a 10×14-inch rectangle.  Sprinkle with half of the streusel mixture.  Add half of the apple mixture over the apples.  Add a bit of the apple juices too. 

Starting from the longest side, begin to roll the dough.  This isn’t like a cinnamon roll, you don’t have to roll it into a super tight swirl, but as I noted, make it pretty tight or it will be too bready.  Fold in about 1 1/2 to 1-inch folds.  Keep the seam on the bottom.

Repeat the same steps for the second piece of dough.

Carefully lift roll onto the prepared baking sheet. Now is a great time to freeze or refrigerate the coffee cake  dough for later baking. If you decide to freeze the dough, place it in the fridge to thaw the evening before you’d like to bake it.  Once it’s thawed, slice it according to the above directions.  Allow to come to room temperature, and allow to rise for another 30 minutes beyond that.  Wash with egg and sugar, then bake. This is what I did with my second loaf.

If you decide to refrigerate the dough, simple take it out of the fridge, slice according to the above directions.  Let come to room temperature, then allow to rise for 30 minutes beyond that.  Brush with egg and sugar, then bake.

Take a pair of clean scissors and slice into the dough leaving about 3/4-inch of dough still attached.  Slice at 1-inch intervals.  Carefully begin to curve the sliced dough into a semi-circle/horseshoe shape.  If some of the apple juices escape, that’s ok.  Cover with a towel and let rest in a warm place for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Brush dough with egg wash and sprinkle with raw or granulated sugar.  Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until golden brown and cooked through.

Remove from the oven, allow to cool for 15 minutes before serving.  Best served warm with cocktails.  Coffee cake will last, well wrapped at room temperature, for up to 3 days. I think we may have made it through most of the movie. Maybe. I think this would be a great addition to a brunch potluck, especially if you make two and keep one in the freezer. Bam! Instant brunching.