Spring Coffee Cake with Cherries

Spring is fully here. The birds are everywhere singing their sweet songs. Most of the spring bulbs have finished blooming and are being followed by the first flush of roses in pink, red, white, yellow and coral. The wild flower seed I sprinkled on bare earth in January actually germinated in a few places. I’m not actually sure of their names, but they are pretty with blue, yellow, white and pale lavender blossoms showing their cheery faces.


The veggies are being planted in the garden, the grass has been mown yet again, and all of the fruit trees have finished their bloom. The blackberries along the road are in bloom now and soon the grapes will break bud as well.


Although the cherry blossoms have come and gone, it’s still a bit early for fresh cherries. Fortunately good sour cherries can be found at the store put up in glass jars in a light syrup. When you drain them, reserve the syrup for other uses…like making a cherry sauce for ice cream.

This recipe is a variation of one that my mom gave me. It used a pre-mixed biscuit mix along with yeast. You get the ease of using a quick mix along with the wonderful down home fragrance and taste of yeast. Takes a little longer than a coffee cake made just with the biscuit mix, but the flavor and tenderness are worth it. It doesn't rise very much, but the crumb is light and tender.

This is my entry in Meeta’s Monthly Mingle. It’s a cake and used a spring fruit and is delicious. Do stop by Meeta’s blog in the next little while to wish her bon voyage for a few months. Better yet, join in the Mingle!

It's also this week's entry in the Yeastspotting event, Susan of Wild Yeast's excellent collection of recipes using yeast or yeasted ingredients.





Sour Cherry Coffee Cake

1 pkg (1/4 oz.) active dry yeast
¾ cup warm water (105-115 degrees F.)
½ cup sugar
1 egg
3 tablespoons olive oil (I used Meyer lemon flavored)
½ teaspoon almond extract
4 ¼ cups biscuit mix (like Bisquick)
24 oz jar sour cherries, drained
Streusel Topping (see below)

Dissolve yeast in the warm water and proof (let sit 10 minutes to make sure yeast is active).

Combine sugar, egg, olive oil, and almond extract. Beat until thick and lemon colored, about 5 minutes. Stir in dissolved yeast and 3 ¾ cups of the biscuit mix. Knead until smooth, kneading in the rest of the biscuit mix as you go, about 25 times of kneading. Cover and let rest in a warm place for 15 minutes.

Roll out and place in a buttered 10” X 13” rimed jelly roll pan, pulling an pressing the corners to form a rim of dough.

Arrange the drained cherries on the dough in a pleasing pattern.

Sprinkle with the streusel. Let rise in a warm place 35 minutes. Bake in a preheated 350 degree F. oven for 40-50 minutes. Cut in squares to serve. Serve warm or cooled.

Streusel Topping
Mix ½ cup brown sugar, ½ cup flour, ¼ cup graham cracker crumbs, ½ cup chopped almonds, ¼ teaspoon cardamom, ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg. Cut in ½ cup cold butter with pastry blender or two knives until crumbly.

Note: I used canned sour cherries, but if you have fresh ones that would be even better. Just make sure to remove the pit, then cut them in halves and arrange on the dough, leaving some space between the cherry halves.

Lime, Coconut and More French Toast

Lime zest is so pungent, my whole kitchen smelled zesty today. Loved it!

One of the joys of blogging is visiting other blogger's sites and finding things that you just have to try. Another joy is participating in events hosted by bloggers you admire. This post is about having both happen in a delightful way.

The talented and delightful Meeta of What's for Lunch Honey? blog is hosting a monthly Mingle with a Caribbeans theme. Making the mingle even more fun is that my very favorite Caribbean area blogger, Cynthia of Tastes Like Home is part of the Mingle due to her book. Do go to Meeta's blog and find out all about it. You might just have time to join in the fun.

Another blog to visit often is Susan's Wild Yeast. Once a week she hosts the equivalent of a playground for passionate bread bakers, an event called Yeastspotting. The most recent collection on Yeastspotting included a recipe for Lime French Toast by Jan of InnCuisine blog. Never being content to leave well enough alone, and inspired by Jan's own variations on the French Toast theme, I decided to make Caribe French Toast with a host of island flavors including lime, coconut, pineapple, vanilla, rum and banana.

This is a perfect dish for a brunch because most of the work is done ahead. It also looks very impressive when plated. So what makes up Caribe French Toast? A buttery syrup with both lime juice and zest, pineapple juice and a healthy dose of dark brown sugar is heated up in a pot, cooled and mellowed with coconut milk. It serves as the base for the bread to sit on.

Over the top you pour an egg rich custard flavored with vanilla, then sprinkle it with coconut.

It sits in the fridge overnight so that the bread can soak up the flavors, then bakes to a golden brown.

While the toast bakes, you make a warm banana and pineapple topping. If you desire, you can even doll it up a bit more with some rum and/or candied ginger. Sweetie said that this was world class and he really liked the haunting note that the coconut milk provided. It's a bit on the sweet side, so you could reduce the brown sugar amount or serve with something salty like bacon on the side. The soft and custardy French toast has crisp coco nutty crust and the fruit topping finishes the Caribe flavors perfectly. Take a bite and you'll feel those warm breezes on your cheek. What could be nicer?

Caribe French Toast

¼ cup (4 tablespoons) butter
½ cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons corn syrup or treacle
finely minced zest of 3 limes
juice of 3 limes (about 1/3 cup)
1/3 cup juice from drained crushed pineapple (see Compote below)
½ cup canned coconut milk
2 eggs
3 egg whites
1 cup milk
½ tablespoon vanilla
¼ cup flaked coconut
1/2 loaf French bread, cut into inch thick slices

Spray a 9×13 inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

In a medium saucepan over low heat combine the butter, brown sugar, corn syrup or treacle, lime zest and juice, and pineapple juice. Cook about 5 minutes, until the butter and sugar have melted. Remove from heat and stir in coconut milk. Cool. Pour into the baking dish.

In a mixing bowl, mix eggs, egg whites, milk and vanilla. Blend well (I whip this with an electric whisk attachment on my mixer). Arrange the bread slices in one layer over the lime mixture and pour the whipped egg and milk mixture over the bread. Sprinkle with the coconut. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes prior to baking and allow to return to room temperature.

Bake uncovered at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes or until golden brown. If needed, place under broiler to give the coconut a slight toasting. Watch so it doesn't burn.

Place 2 slices of the baked Lime French Toast on each plate. Top with Pineapple Banana Compote (recipe follows), and garnish with a bit of sifted confectioners’ sugar.

Pineapple Banana Compote
1 large banana, sliced
¼ cup (4 tablespoons) butter
½ of a 15 oz can crushed pineapple in juice, drained (use some of the juice for the French Toast), then add back in 2 tablespoons of the juice and stir
2 tablespoons dark rum (optional)
¼ teaspoon minced crystallized ginger or powdered ginger (optional)

In a saute’ pan, melt the butter. Over medium high heat cook the banana in the butter until golden and softened. Add the pineapple and stir to combine well. Heat just until the pineapple is warm. Stir in the rum and ginger (if using). Serve over Caribe French Toast. Leftovers can be used over waffles, pancakes, or ice cream.

If you know how to do flaming rum, you could bring the plates to the table, dusted with confectioners sugar and garnished with a lime slice, then flame the topping and scoop flaming spoonsful of it over the toasts.

This is going to be an entry in Meeta's Mingle and, as a tribute to Jan, in Susan's Yeastspotting.

Something New-ish

I was having lunch today with some women friends and one of them asked me how I manage to to so many things...blogging, working, watercolor, photography, P.E.O., constructions projects, cooking, baking, reading, gardening and my latest...golfing...which is the new-ish in the post title. I told her "Careful Scheduling". The truth is that I enjoy the hell out of so many things that I don't really have enough time to put into many of my pursuits...like watercolor...so I don't get really, really good at most of them. Still, life is too short, so I continue to pack in a lot of fun.

The golf came about because Sweetie wanted an activity we could do together that was fun and that required a little more exercise than plain walking (which I also do when I walk the dog 3-4 times a week). Due to my eye condition, I can't play sports where the ball is moving, so tennis, a favorite sport of Sweetie's, is out. Same for softball, baseball, basketball, handball, squash, badminton, and so on. Ever since Grandma L hurt herself so badly while cycling, he has been down on bicycle riding. He's not fond of water sports either. Guess we could still take up fencing or rock climbing :)

I find golf intriguing. Each swing is important. How you hold your body, how you move your wrist, the strength of the wind, the wetness of the grass...lots of things have a bearing on where and how the ball flies and where it lands and how many strokes lands it in the cup. In truth one is soon in competition with oneself, no matter who else you are playing with. I know that some people get frustrated, but (so far) I find it hilarious and true play in the best sense of the word. I played golf a long, long time ago, so that's why this isn't really new, just new-ish.

Another thing that is new-ish is happening at work. When we did the clinic on the same property, I helped to cook lunch three out of the six days. Now we are doing the clinic in the 'big city'. Last month I returned to work on Friday and made dinner from what was around in the kitchen so that the PT, doctor and PT assistant would have food fairly quickly. Friday is a late day. It was such a success that I'm making dinner for Thursday and Friday this month. Yesterday I agreed to make dinner for the doctor and a few of his friends each Tuesday. I'll get to take some of the food home for dinner with Sweetie and I'll blog about some of it, too. Sweet. On occasion work will be too busy to allow time to make dinner, but most weeks I'll get to play in that wonderful kitchen! And I'll get paid to do it. That's hard to beat.

Today's lunch was a pot luck. I offered to bring dessert. Looked through multiple cookbooks. Looked at bookmarked recipes. Just couldn't find the right thing to bring. And then I visited Laura Rebecca's Kitchen, always a fun place to visit, and saw the perfect dessert for a luncheon meant to be finger food...butter cookies dipped in dark chocolate. They are delicate and decadent and just right. I changed them a bit by making the cookies lemon flavored. The dark chocolate really brought out the lemon flavor. The dough is a bit sticky, so chilling the logs thoroughly is a must before slicing the cookies.

Meeta of What's for Lunch Honey is having one of her lovely mingles. For this one we are bringing dishes that included fruit and chocolate. If her guests enjoy these cookies as much as my lunch mates did, they will disappear fast.

Chocolate Dipped Lemon Butter Cookies adapted from a recipe from Laura Rebecca’s Kitchen which was
Adapted from a recipe originally published in Gourmet, Feb. 1999

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
zest of a lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon lemon extract

Sift flour, salt, and baking powder together in a medium bowl.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat butter until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add egg, lemon zest, lemon extract and vanilla and beat until well combined. Gradually add flour mixture, beating just until mixture forms a dough.

Divide dough between 2 large sheets of parchment or wax paper and form each half into a 10- x 1 1/2-inch log, wrapping it in the paper, and sealing the wrapped logs in a zip top plastic bag. Chill until firm, at least 4 hours and up to 5 days. (Or, dough may be frozen up to 2 months.)

Let dough soften slightly before cutting (or, if frozen, thaw). Preheat oven to 375-degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Slice dough into 1/4-inch-thick slices and place about 1 inch apart on baking sheet.

Bake cookies in batches in middle of oven until golden around edges, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely before dipping in chocolate.

In a microwavable bowl, or in a double boiler top over simmering water, place 2-3 oz. finely chopped dark chocolate. If microwaving, do so a minute at a time at half (or less) power, stirring after each time, and only until chocolate has just melted. If there are tiny lumps left, let sit a minute, then stir…they should be gone. If using the double boiler, stir just until chocolate melts, then remove from heat.
Dip half of each cookie in the chocolate, then place on parchment paper until the chocolate hardens. You can use a spatula or knife to spread the chocolate a bit if you like. This amount of chocolate will do about half the batch. Use twice as much if you want all of the cookies dipped.

Store cookies in an airtight container at cool room temperature for up to 5 days.

Yields about 50 cookies.