Cranberry Cream Cheese Coffeecake with Streusel Topping . . .

Well, the tree's finally up and twinkling away, as are the Christmas lights outside. I baked what felt like twelve thousand cookies last week, and still have tons of dough leftover in case more(!) are needed. So, yes, progress is evident around here. But I haven't yet wrapped a single gift, nor have I sent out a single card; they're on the agenda over the next couple of days. In the midst of all this bustle, I somehow decided to experiment on Saturday afternoon with a coffeecake recipe, and the results were pretty yummy (or, if you prefer, "scrummy"--sort of short for scrumptious--as my Ireland-based baking-friend, June, would say). I was particularly pleased at this cake's staying power; even this morning, it was still very moist and good.

When you're trying to figure out what to serve on Christmas morning for breakfast or brunch, a homemade coffeecake that can be produced ahead of time, and that can be counted on not to dry out before it's served, is like money in the bank. I tried a little slice this morning to see how it was holding up, and I actually think it's improved with age. Don't you love it when something you've made does that?

About this recipe . . .

My version of this recipe has three key parts: the cakey base, the cranberry filling, and a cheese-cake-like creamy filling that you drizzle beneath and atop the cranberry layer. I took many liberties in adapting it from this lovely raspberry ripple tea cake that I found in A Bloggable Life.

I offer one caveat with this recipe. Were I to make this cake again (and I definitely would) I'd absolutely use a 9" or  10" springform pan with 2" sides, versus a 10" tart pan with 1" sides. Despite the pretty scalloped edge, it wasn't big enough. I had to trim off the outer edge of my cake when it came out of the oven because it rose over the sides (I neglected to take pictures of that little episode).

Cranberry Cream Cheese Coffeecake with Streusel Topping
(For a printable version of this recipe, click here!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and lightly flour, or coat with baking spray, a 9" or 10" springform pan (not a 10" tart pan; see my note in the blog post above regarding the need for a springform pan of this size).

Ingredients for the cranberry filling:

2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
Scant 1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1 Tbsp. corn starch
1 and 1/2 Tbsp. orange juice


Ingredients for the cream cheese filling:

6 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup granulated sugar

Ingredients for the cake base and streusel:

2 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (I used unbleached.)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cold unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt (I used coarse kosher.)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup buttermilk, or 3/4 cup plain yogurt that's been thinned with a tablespoon or two of milk

To make the cranberry filling:

In a medium-size heavy saucepan, heat the cranberries, sugar, orange juice, and spices on medium heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture starts to bubble. Turn the heat down and let it simmer until it starts to thicken. In a very small bowl, mix the corn starch with the 1 and 1/2 Tbsp. of cold orange juice; stir until it looks completely smooth. Pour it slowly into the hot cranberries, stirring constantly. Raise the heat a little and keep stirring slowly until the mixture noticeably thickens up. Cook another minute or two. Take the pot off the heat and set it aside to cool.

To make the cream cheese filling:

Beat the softened cream cheese for a couple of minutes, on low speed, until smooth. Add in the lightly beaten egg. Gradually pour in the sugar, still on low speed; beat for a couple more minutes until completely smooth. Set aside.

To make the cake batter and streusel, and to assemble the cake:

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and sugar. Using a hand held pastry blender, cut in the cold butter until the biggest lumps are no larger than peas. Scoop out 1/2 cup of this mixture and set aside; this will be used for your streusel topping.

Into the large bowl add the baking powder, baking soda, and salt, stirring to distribute evenly. Hollow out a well in the middle of the bowl. In another small bowl, whisk together lightly the egg, and the buttermilk or thinned yogurt, whichever you're using. Pour this into the dry ingredients, stirring only to moisten and combine. The batter will seem pretty thick.

Spread 2/3 of the batter into the prepared pan, nudging the batter up the sides just a bit to create a rimmed effect (easiest if you use a small offset spatula, or the back of a spoon). Drizzle half of the cream cheese filling over this.

Spread all of the cranberry filling carefully over that, being careful to keep it away from the sides of the pan. Drizzle the remaining cream cheese filling over the cranberries, again avoiding the sides of the pan.

Now, gently spread the remaining batter over the top, all the way to the sides, then sprinkle on all of the streusel.

With the pan placed on a cookie sheet, bake the cake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or more, until the top looks lightly golden.

Let the cake cool on a rack for at least 15 minutes before attempting to remove the sides of the pan. Let it finish cooling while still on the springform pan's base, placed on a rack.

Stays nice and moist for two days or more if well-covered.

(If you'd like to comment on this post, or to read existing comments, please click on the purple COMMENTS below!)

Marble Mint-Milano Cake . . .

Confession time: Within me lurks a baking snob. Yes, it's true. The snob doesn't surface all that frequently but occasionally, when she does, I find it expedient to discourage her from voicing her icy opinion. What provokes her to make an appearance? The presence of prefabricated, industrially produced food often does it. And the effect is magnified for the snob when she's faced with prefab foods that have been used as an integral ingredient in otherwise homemade baked goods. 

You know what I mean. Besides obvious items like cake mixes and canned frosting, there's the cake that relies heavily on Milky Way bars for its existence and notoriety. Or the cake that shamelessly makes use of 7-Up in its batter. Then, of course, there's the thorny problem of all that scary dye that puts the red into red velvet cake. (Where does that red stuff come from anyway?)

Is the snob ever justified in her view? I suppose so. I mean, it's a free country, right? But what makes her think she's any different, or better, than the rest of us? What's the snob's problem? Is she a just a high-brow faker, or does she simply have lofty baking standards? Hmm . . . that's one to ponder.

In any case, it's clear that the stiff-neck often doesn't have a leg to stand on. And this is one of those instances. Why? Because this recipe takes its very essence from a package of store-bought cookies. Cookies that I freely admit I love. 

That's right. I have a soft spot for Pepperidge Farm mint milanos. There are actually very few mass-produced cookies that I find even remotely tempting, but these fragile mint and chocolate-filled treats have the power to stir me. Not only delicate themselves, they're also delicately packaged. Smooth and tender-crisp, they seem to begin melting just as you first bite into them. And the mint tastes natural, not overdone. So, as you can imagine, I had to completely overrule the snob when I saw this recipe. 

I silenced her.

About this recipe . . . 

Coming to us from the glossy, glorious pages of Lora Brody's book, Chocolate American Style, this cake showcases milano (mint or otherwise, you choose your favorite variety) cookies perfectly. 

 

The only aspect of the recipe that I changed involved upping the amount of sour cream slightly, and rewording the instructions. Other than that, I was faithful to the original. This, by the way, is an exceptionally worthwhile book for any baker who's also a chocolate lover. It's dreamy.

 

Marble Mint-Milano Cake

(For a printable version of this recipe, click here!)

One 7.5 oz. package of Pepperidge Farm mint-milano cookies (or the flavor of your choice)

9 oz. unsalted butter, very soft (divided use: 6 Tbsp., and 12 Tbsp.)

2 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 and 3/4 cups All-Purpose flour (I used unbleached)

1 and 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt 

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 and 1/4 cups granulated sugar

4 extra-large eggs at room temperature

1 cup and 2 Tbsp. good quality sour cream

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9" springform pan; cover the bottom with a parchment paper circle, and butter the parchment. 

Over a medium bowl, break up the cookies into pieces about 1/2" in size. Using your hands, quickly mix the 6 Tbsp. of soft butter into the cookie pieces, just enough to coat them. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.

Melt the chocolate in a small bowl set over simmering water, or carefully and slowly in your microwave. Keep the melted chocolate slightly warm; don't let it cool and harden.

Put the sugar and 12 Tbsp. of butter in the large bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. 

Add in the eggs one at a time and  beating well after each. Still on medium-high, beat in the sour cream and the vanilla extract. 

On low speed, add in the flour mixture and mix just to combine. Don't over beat.

Pour 3/4 of the batter into the prepared pan and smooth it out with your spatula. 

Into the remaining batter, pour the melted chocolate and stir until no white batter is visible. 

Dollop the chocolate batter here and there onto the top of the batter already in the pan. Using a couple of knives, make a few criss-cross motions to marble it into the bottom layer of batter. 

Sprinkle the broken cookie pieces evenly over the top of the chocolate batter, and gently press them in slightly. 

Bake the cake until the top is golden, and the cake springs back in the center when lightly pressed. In my oven this cake took barely 45 minutes, but Lora Brody's recipe recommends 60 minutes. Just keep checking on it, and if it appears to be browning too quickly, lightly cover the top with foil. Let the cake cool for about 20 minutes in its pan on a rack before removing the sides of the pan. Cool the rest of the way on a rack. 

 

(If you'd like to comment on this post, or to read any existing comments, please click on the purple COMMENTS below!)

Fresh Cranberry Kuchen . . . a Coffeecake that's Worth the Wait!

They're unimposing little berries, firm and shiny. We find them fresh on market shelves only in the fall, for a couple of months. Kind of easy to forget about them the rest of the year. Oh, they pop up now and then in dried form, in salads or maybe in something like biscotti, but that's not quite the same. I think absence probably makes the heart grow fonder with an elusive fruit like this one. They play hard to get, not through any fault of their own, but just by their very nature, quite literally.

Why do we seem to suddenly care for them so much in autumn? Is it just a superficial attachment? Or is it that their mere presence reminds us of those elaborate and boisterous Thanksgiving dinners that were such an integral part of the holiday mosaic when we were kids? Perhaps. I don't recall my mother ever cooking with them, though. Oddly, we always had the jellied cranberry sauce from a can, the kind that would wobble out onto a plate like a toddler losing his footing on a patch of ice. I say "oddly," because just about every other item on the table would have been prepared from scratch, without a doubt. Why not homemade cranberry sauce too? Hmmm . . . another one of life's great mysteries that must go unsolved.

Well, getting to the point of this post, I've been on the hunt lately for a really good cranberry coffeecake recipe. As you may know, I made one last weekend that didn't work out well at all, so I tried a new one yesterday. This kuchen is a German coffeecake that I found on AllRecipes.com. I like this particular site a lot because of its format (easy on the eyes, not too crowded with extraneous junk, simple to navigate so there's no frustration factor) and the fact that there are usually several really constructive readers' comments associated with each promising recipe (they're not all promising, but many are). This recipe is credited within AllRecipes to a contributor named Linda Bright and she notes, "This German coffee cake has been served at family breakfasts for more than five generations. There is no recipe requested more by our large family." So, I figured if five generations craved it, that's a strong enough recommendation for me.

It's made with a yeast dough, but one that's not in the least intimidating. You don't have to knead it, you don't have to roll it out, you don't even have to pray or curse or throw anything. Isn't that great? Yeah, I know. Basically, no panicking involved whatsoever. My kind of yeast recipe.

It's not all that attractive in the assembly stage, and when it came out of the oven my first thought was, "Gosh, that looks like the top of a cheese pizza . . . is that how it's supposed to look?" I wondered this because the top doesn't brown especially evenly, like a regular cake would. It was fine though, and tastes very good.

I plan to continue the quest for interesting cranberry recipes this fall. They're incredibly good for you, you know, and I love their sweet-tartness. Those babies are stuffed with antioxidants, and it's no wives' tale that they help prevent UTI's (that would be the dreaded urinary tract infection, ladies). Plus, there are only 46 calories in a cup of raw, fresh berries (not that you'd want to eat them raw--way too tart!). Researchers even believe there's a component in cranberries that can help prevent cavities! Who knew? Crazy, isn't it? But in a good way.

The only thing I didn't like about this recipe was that it made a truckload of dirty bowls and utensils. (It's the kind of recipe that makes you want to write a love poem to your high-capacity dishwasher.) The only thing of any real substance that I've changed about the recipe is to cut it in half. The version on AllRecipes makes two 9" x 13" pans, and unless you've got about 14 kids, I don't recommend having two pans of this stuff at your disposable--too dangerous, because it's too good.


Cranberry Kuchen

(For a printable version of this recipe, click here!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9" x 13" x 2" pan.

1 package active dry yeast (2 and 1/4 tsp.)
1/8 cup warm water (105 degrees to 115 degrees)
1/2 cup warm milk (110 to 115 degrees F)
1/8 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/8 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 of one large beaten egg
1 and 3/4 cups All-Purpose flour

CRANBERRY SAUCE:
1 cup water
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries (I used fresh)

EGG MIXTURE:
4 eggs, large
6 Tbsp. evaporated milk
6 Tbsp. granulated sugar

TOPPING:
1 cup All-Purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water. Add the warm milk, butter, sugar, salt, egg and 1 cup of flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Do not knead. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.


For the cranberry sauce, in a saucepan, bring water and sugar to a boil. Add cranberries. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat; set aside. (I put mine in the fridge for a while, in a clean bowl, to help it cool a bit.)


For the egg mixture, in a medium bowl combine the eggs, evaporated milk, and sugar; beat well.


Pour half of the egg mixture into your greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking pan. Set the remaining egg mixture aside.


Punch the dough down, and dump it into your pan, right on top of the egg mixture. Pat the dough out over the whole length and width of the pan. It will look kind of messy and gross (see the photo below).


Spoon the cranberry sauce evenly over the dough. Drizzle with the remaining egg mixture.


For the topping, combine the flour and sugar in a bowl. Cut in the cold butter until crumbly. (You can always do this step when the dough is rising, to get it out of the way, if you'd rather not do it at the end). Sprinkle mixture evenly over the top.



Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned. (See, it kinda looks like a pizza, doesn't it?)

Cool on a wire rack. Serve warm or cold.


(If you'd like to comment on this post, or to read any existing comments, just click on the purple COMMENTS below!)

If you liked this, you might also like . . .
-- Cherry Streusel Coffeecake
-- Cinnamon Streusel Cake