Cranberry Coffee Cake

This no-fail recipe is one of my breakfast items I bring to get togethers all year round. It's always delicious and everyone loves it. The sweet cake part contrasts well with the tart of the cranberries. Although you can't get cranberries all year, when they are in season, just buy a couple of extra bags. Then you can throw them, in their original bags in the freezer for later. When you want to make this coffee cake, you don't even have to defrost them, which makes them easier to mince. I promise this is what I bring home everytime...

You can use any kind of nuts you like (or omit them altogether). I've used pecans, almonds, walnuts, and even macadamia nuts. You can change the spices or even use dried apricots instead of cranberries so it's really like a basic coffee cake recipe that everyone should have in their arsenal. You can even make it the night before and store it in the fridge and then bake it in the morning. Love those kind of dishes for breakfast!

Cranberry Coffee Cake (adapted from Southern Living)

Serves 12-15

2/3 c soft butter

1 c sugar

1/2 c brown sugar

2 eggs

2 c flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 c buttermilk

Nut Crunch Topping
1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 c chopped nuts (walnuts, almonds, pecans)

1/2 c brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 3/4 c minced cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat butter until creamy, add sugars and eggs, beat again. In another bowl, mix dry ingredients: flour, cinnamon, soda, powder, and salt. Add dry mixture to butter mix in small batches alternating with buttermilk. Mix well.

Combine the nut crunch toppings: nutmeg, nuts, brown sugar and cinnamon in small bowl.

Grease 9x13 pan. Pour half of batter into bottom of pan. Sprinkle half of nut mixture over batter and half of cranberries over batter. Pour remaining batter over top and smooth out. Top with remaining nut mixture and cranberries. Bake for 35 minutes until toothpick comes out clean when poked in center. Serve warm. Can also be made the night before and stored covered in fridge until ready to bake.

Moist Chocolate Buttermilk Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

At a friend's recent baby shower I made these cupcakes. My friend requested chocolate or red velvet cupcakes. We all know the best part of the red velvet cake is the cream cheese icing, so I decided to combine chocolate and cream cheese. The buttermilk in these cupcakes makes a moist and a little tangy foil to the sweet sugar/ chocolate goodness.

The day after the baby shower, I got this wonderful package in the mail from Fat Toad Farm. It contained two jars of their caramel sauce made from goat's milk. The sauces are nothing like a caramel sauce from the store, much more viscous and a greater depth of flavor. The coffee caramel sauce is over the top delicious! I poured a little on the top of a leftover cupcake - seriously decadent! I only wish I'd gotten the caramel BEFORE the baby shower.

Chocolate Buttermilk Cupcakes
Makes 12

3/4 c flour (spooned and leveled)
3/4 c sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tbsp melted unsalted butter
6 tbsp buttermilk
1 egg
1 egg white

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard 12-cup muffin tin (or two 6-cup muffin tins) with paper or silicone liners. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. (What is the right way to measure flour? Take a spoon and spoon the flour into your measuring cup. When you get a big mound of flour in your cup, level it off with a knife so the top is flat and measures the correct amount. This process ensures you have air mixed in with your flour and you aren't using too much flour in a recipe, which is especially important in baking.)

With an electric mixer, combine cocoa and 3 tablespoons hot water until a thick paste forms (this process intensifies the chocolate flavor). Add butter, buttermilk, egg, and egg white; beat until combined. Whisk in flour mixture until smooth. Scoop batter into muffin pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting
1 pkg cream cheese, 8 oz (I use light because it's easier to beat)
1 1/2 c powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla

Beat the cream cheese until fluffy and then mix in the powdered sugar and vanilla, starting slowly so you don't end up with a white dusted kitchen. You can also make this with 4 oz of cream cheese and 4 oz of butter, but I prefer the creamier all cheese version. Frost the cooled cupcakes.

Creamy Peach Ice Cream

 

I couldn't resist.  I took the last of those amazing juicy peaches and made peach ice cream. What could be more southern, more Georgian? Creamy and delicious it was a big hit with everyone including our dinner guests!

Peach Ice Cream (adapted from Epicurious.com)
Makes about 2 qt

2 pounds ripe peaches
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 c plus 2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1 3/4 c heavy cream
1 3/4 c whole milk
4 egg yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract (or just more vanilla)


Peel peaches using method described here.
Whisk together cornstarch, and sugar in a heavy medium saucepan. Add cream and milk and bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly. Add a little of this mixture to the egg yolks in a slow stream, whisking constantly, to temper (which means you don't want to make scrambled eggs, so be careful) then pour the eggs into saucepan.


Cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, just until custard coats back of spoon and registers 170°F on an instant-read thermometer, 1 to 2 minutes (mixture will be thick). Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a metal bowl (or not, I don't) and stir in extracts. Chill custard with plastic wrap pressed over the top of it so it doesn't form a "skin" 2-4 hours.

Mix peaches in with cold custard and freeze in ice cream maker as directed. Don't serve right away unless you don't mind REALLY soft ice cream.  I find it's better to put the ice cream in tupperware and put it in the freezer overnight (or at least a couple of hours) so it hardens.