Category Archives: Desserts

SOUR CREAM COFFEE CAKE

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I found this fancy mesh cigarette case at an estate sale.

I don’t smoke — hardly anyone I know does.  But when I was a kid, it seemed like everybody smoked — at least pretty much everyone I knew did.

Weekday mornings in my community, women used to gather at neighboring homes for coffee klatsches — “a social gathering for informal conversation at which coffee is served.” The phrase comes from the German kaffeeklatsch — kaffee (coffee) and klatsch (gossip or noise).  These were the real housewives — stay-at-home moms, if you will — of Smithtown, New York.  Make no mistake — these were not dainty tea parties.  These coffee klatsches involved the 4Cs — coffee, conversation, cigarettes, and cake.  Hot coffee, gossipy conversation, clouds of smoke, and cake.  Delicious cake, to be specific.

Leisurely coffee klatsches are largely a thing of the past.  I saw an article suggesting that they still exist today in the form of working women getting together for coffee at a nearby coffee shop.  But it’s not the same thing — it’s a sterilized version.

Maybe when I retire I’ll try having a coffee klatsch at my house, without the cigarettes.  But I can definitely have delicious cake.  And the one that I will have is Sour Cream Coffee Cake.  The recipe is from the original Silver Palate Cookbook, and although I hadn’t made it in probably 20 years, I remembered how good it was.  Inspired by the fancy cigarette case, I made one, and my memory did not fail me — this cake, with its sweet cinnamon and pecan ribbon, is incredible.  Easy, moist, and crazy good, everyone who’s tried it asks for the recipe.  Give it a try, and invite some neighbors to your house to share it over coffee and conversation for a good old-fashioned coffee klatsch (minus the cigarettes).

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SOUR CREAM COFFEE CAKE
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Ingredients
  • 2 sticks butter, softened to room temperature
  • 2-3/4 cups sugar, divided use
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups sour cream
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups chopped pecans
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Place butter and 2 cups of sugar in a large bowl, and using an electric beater, cream together. Beat in eggs, sour cream, and vanilla. Fold in flour, baking powder, and salt, just until combined.
  3. In a separate small bowl, combine ¾ cup sugar with the pecans and cinnamon.
  4. Sprinkle a few tablespoons of the nut mixture into a well-greased 10-inch bundt pan. Cover with half of the batter and sprinkle with half of the remaining nut mixture. Add the remaining batter and top with the remaining nut mixture. Bake for one hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool before removing from pan.

Ready for the oven

Hot out of the oven

It smells soooooo good

Coffee, cigarettes, and cake — all that’s missing is conversation

RED, WHITE, AND BLUE

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This week I got carried away with red, white, and blue foods for the 4th of July.

It started innocently enough, with a bag of (arguably) red, white, and blue Veggie Straws:

Next thing I know, there’s a box of red, white, and blue Cap’n Crunch in my grocery cart:

And red, white, and blue gummy bears:

And I couldn’t very well leave the red, white, and blue Rice Krispies behind.  The Rice Krispies Treats I made with them didn’t last long:

The red, white, and blue tortilla strips are still waiting for their salad debut:

In fairness, I didn’t buy every red, white, and blue food I saw at the grocery store.  I turned my back on the pop tarts:

And avoided making eye contact with the Hostess Twinkies, CupCakes, and Ding Dongs:

In keeping with the theme, I went to a macaron class at Central Market, where we made — you guessed it — red, white, and blue macarons.  I wouldn’t normally pay for a cookie class, but I’ve never made macarons before, which I understand can be tricky (they are), and I figured a class would be more fun than sitting around watching You Tube videos on how to make macarons (it was). I learned a lot in the class — how long to beat the meringue, the texture of the folded ingredients, piping technique, etc.

 

At the end of class, I proudly carried home my red, white, and blue macarons, which my husband and son promptly devoured.

To round out the Independence Day theme, I made a few chocolate-covered strawberries with red, white, and blue jimmies:

And finally, I made a clafoutis with blueberries and strawberries that vaguely resembled a flag.  I could have piped some whipped cream stripes, I suppose, if I really wanted it to look flag-like.  But it was delicious warm out of the oven, and no one seemed to care that it only sort of resembled a flag.

After all of these patriotic foods, I think these red, white, and blue Tums may be in order.

Independence from heartburn?  Hahaha!