In May of 2012 I posted a brief blog and a recipe for Coffee Cake Exceptionale, a recipe I adapted from a spiral-bound family cookbook---not MY family, but thank you, Kathy Miller of Norway, Iowa!. The original, however, is from Betty Crocker; remember these old recipe cards that came in a yellow or green box?
Anyway, Coffee Cake Excpetionale is a classic sour cream coffee cake, marvelously rich and delightfully versatile. The original recipe calls for a traditional brown sugar cinnamon filling, but over the years I have used fresh peaches sprinkled with ginger sugar and nutmeg, Solo cake filling in various flavors, pineapple ice cream topping, homemade apricot preserves, and store-bought marmalade. Leftover cranberry salad from Thanksgiving? Sure! Some slightly mushy blueberries you would hate to throw out? Don't mind if I do! Whatever fruit's in season, whatever's in the pantry, chances are you've got something that will make a great filling for this breakfast treat.
I got the recipe out again because I had to make a thank you gift for one of the guys who works in the abbey powerhouse who did me a favor. Everybody calls him Scooter, and he looks like a ZZ Top groupie, long beard. tats and all---nicest guy you'll ever meet. Anyway, I owed him a favor, and when we were talking about our various canning exploits, he told me that he had some strawberry rhubarb jam that just didn't set up. With some urging from his wife he discovered that with some ice and milk in a Bullet blender, the failed jam made a great smoothie, but he had a lot of it to use up. So I asked him to bring some in and I would use to make something yummy.
Anyway, Coffee Cake Excpetionale is a classic sour cream coffee cake, marvelously rich and delightfully versatile. The original recipe calls for a traditional brown sugar cinnamon filling, but over the years I have used fresh peaches sprinkled with ginger sugar and nutmeg, Solo cake filling in various flavors, pineapple ice cream topping, homemade apricot preserves, and store-bought marmalade. Leftover cranberry salad from Thanksgiving? Sure! Some slightly mushy blueberries you would hate to throw out? Don't mind if I do! Whatever fruit's in season, whatever's in the pantry, chances are you've got something that will make a great filling for this breakfast treat.
I got the recipe out again because I had to make a thank you gift for one of the guys who works in the abbey powerhouse who did me a favor. Everybody calls him Scooter, and he looks like a ZZ Top groupie, long beard. tats and all---nicest guy you'll ever meet. Anyway, I owed him a favor, and when we were talking about our various canning exploits, he told me that he had some strawberry rhubarb jam that just didn't set up. With some urging from his wife he discovered that with some ice and milk in a Bullet blender, the failed jam made a great smoothie, but he had a lot of it to use up. So I asked him to bring some in and I would use to make something yummy.
A mid-afternoon snack using my Great-grandma's china. I've been in coffee cake mode lately, since I just gave a demo on yeasted coffee cakes to the Home and Community Education chapter at Effingham, IL (recipe handout HERE). The one you see on the right has a salted caramel hazelnut chocolate filling (yes, JIF makes such a thing) and a light sprinkling of the kind of streusel topping you'd find on apple crisp. I served it at the HCE demo and it was a big hit. (Incidentally, special thanks to Seimer Milling and to Hodgson Mill for providing quality ingredients and some terrific goodie bags for our attendees. They are both members of the Home Baking Association--more about that organization in a future blog.)
I considered the possibility of just using my Best Ever Crescent Roll Dough, which makes outstanding breakfast rolls no matter what filling you use. But like I was in coffee cake mode and decided to save the strawberry filled swirls for some other morning. The ones here were made just like cinnamon rolls, but with strawberry pie filling mixed with fresh strawberries rolled up in the dough.
In the end I opted for good ol' reliable Coffee Cake Exceptionale, but had to sub Greek yogurt for the sour cream (we'd used up all of the latter on taco salads at lunch). If you're wondering about how much filling you need, I used a 12 oz. can of strawberry cake filling mixed with the pint of runny preserves, and had just enough. Using a more liquid filling like fruit helps keep the coffee cake more moist, too.. I also added a streusel topping, just because that's how I roll. (1/2 cup each of flour, brown sugar, and quick cooking oatmeal, mixed with 2 tsp. of cinnamon and 3 Tbs. of softened butter). The recipe makes a 9" x 13" cake, so I served half in modest portions to the brethren, then dressed up the rest for Scooter and his wife.
Need to tell a co-worker "thank you" this week? Want to show a friend or family member that you think they are "exceptionale"? Ten minutes of prep and and hour with the oven is all you need. Click HERE to get the recipe. (And for those noticed the omission of the sour cream from the ingredients, I fixed it! 1.5 cups).
God bless and happy baking!
Need to tell a co-worker "thank you" this week? Want to show a friend or family member that you think they are "exceptionale"? Ten minutes of prep and and hour with the oven is all you need. Click HERE to get the recipe. (And for those noticed the omission of the sour cream from the ingredients, I fixed it! 1.5 cups).
God bless and happy baking!
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