Sour Cream Pumpkin Coffee Cake

I am so done making desserts for a while. The first step for me is to remove the "sweets" blogs from the list that I follow and sign up for a few healthy ones instead. But this coffee cake is extraordinarily yummy, so it is totally worth the break in etiquette.

The first time I really paid attention to coffee cake was during seminary. Connie made this awesome coffee cake and I recently asked her for the recipe only to realize with horror that it was a combination of nothing but sugar and Crisco. So I found this recipe instead.

For some reason I have been on a pumpkin streak. Last year in November I really stocked up on canned pumpkin. I wanted to make sure I could find it during the year, and I was positive that I would eat pies and smoothies and all kinds of fantastic creations all year. Not so much. This month is the first time I have delved into pumpkin since last Thanksgiving.

Sour Cream Pumpkin Coffee Cake By Libby’s Pumpkin
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sour cream
1 3/4 cup (16 ounce can) solid pack pumpkin
1 slightly beaten egg
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Streusel (recipe below)

Cream butter, 3/4 cup sugar and vanilla in mixing bowl. Add 3 eggs, beating well. Combine flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture alternately with sour cream.

Combine pumpkin, beaten egg, 1/3 cup sugar and pie spice. Spoon half of batter into 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking dish, spread to corners. Sprinkle half of the Streusel over batter. Spread pumpkin mixture over Streusel. Carefully spread remaining batter over pumpkin mixture. Spread remaining Streusel over top. Bake at 325 degrees F for 50 to 60 minutes or until a wooden pick comes out clean.

Streusel
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup butter
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup rolled oats or quick oats or chopped nuts
Combine brown sugar, butter and cinnamon until blended. Stir in oats. Take one big bite just to make sure it is OK.

Chocolate Kissed Grain-ola

Food Storage has worked its way into my heart. It must be a parasite, boring itself into a place where it knows I will never be rid of it. Oh, well. If it is here to stay, we might as well enjoy it. Granola is a great way to use some of the food stored under the stairs.

This recipe originally came without the cocoa, vanilla, or Raspberry enlightenment. Both versions are good. It is especially good with Mom's homemade yogurt in a parfait. This granola is low in sugar and oil, and it is just as tasty as other recipes. Next time I will try it with the rolled 6-grain rolled oatmeal that Mary gave me when I helped her organize her storage room, and you could easily triple the cocoa powder without it being too overwhelming.

Homemade yogurt and blueberries make a great pairing to soften up the granola.

Grain-ola

4 C old fashioned oats

3/4 C salted sunflower seeds

1 C walnuts or macadamia nuts, halves or in quarters

1 1/2 C unsweetened coconut

1 1/2 C dried fruit, chopped (mixed berries, ginger, tropical fruit, etc.)

zest of 2 oranges

3/4 C honey

1/4 C oil

1 t vanilla

1 t cocoa (optional)

1 t Raspberry Enlightenment from Penzeys (optional)

leftover cereal (Rice Crispies, Wheaties, Bran Flakes, etc.)

Measure the oil and honey into a microwave safe dish and heat 30-60 seconds until it is warm and runny. Add the vanilla, cocoa, orange zest, and Raspberry Enlightenment to the honey and oil. This ensures it is evenly mixed throughout the batch of granola.

In a large bowl, mix the granola, nuts, and coconut. Stir in the honey mixture to evenly coat. Put onto 2 rimmed baking dishes and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Add the dried fruit and let everything cool on the sheet. Mix in any extra cereal if desired and store in an air tight container.

Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies

What's a girl to do with a husband out fishing and a sweet tooth the size of a Chipotle burrito? Make some cookies, of course. I've been eyeing a recipe from 101cookbooks for a while now, so I broke out the cookie sheets and got to work. There were a few scattered dishes in the sink, but I ignored them until the end, when they creeped up on me and multiplied until there were enough to fill two whole dishwasher loads. Good heavens. These pesky dishes. How did they all get into the sink?

I was worried that the molasses would be too strong, but it is barely noticeable. They are about an inch each, so they are extra fun.

A Gazillion Tiny Little Cookies

5 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon black strap molasses
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup sugar

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, oats, and chocolate.

In another bowl, beat the butter until fluffy then beat in the sugar and mix until it is also light and fluffy. Beat in the molasses, then the egg, mixing until both are well incorporated, scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Beat in the vanilla. Add the flour mix and stir by hand until the ingredients barely come together into a uniform dough.

Using a small cookie scoop, scoop out a level cookie scoop and tear it in half. Then roll each of those pieces into a ball and roll it in sugar. Put it on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and flatten with your fingers.

Bake for 7 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool on a wire rack.

Granola

I'm starting to accumulate quite a collection of various nuts and dried fruits that never get eaten. This weekend my goal is to get rid of as much of it as possible, and hopefully some of the oats that didn't fit into our last 5 gallon bucket will also get used.

Mom used to make granola when I was growing up. She was really good at getting big clumps to stick together. Mine seems to abhor group interaction; that is how I know it came from me. I have used the same recipe as her, but every oat of mine is a hermit, doing its best to not cling to any other oat or nut in the bunch. Oh, well. Maybe she will come and make a bunch of it for me. This isn't her recipe, it is one that I came across online.

For the fruit I used dates and cherries. Chop them up a bit before adding them to the granola. I know what you are thinking: "I don't want any dates." Relax, this isn't the kind of date that will get you served with divorce papers. It is sweet and surprisingly good. Todd eats them at work regularly, and I finally asked to taste one and was shocked when it tasted good. Plus, they are usually coated with sugar, which makes them extra yummy.


The sheet of granola is done when it is golden brown. As the granola cooked it smelled so good that our naughty little dog kept creeping into the kitchen, trying to find a morsel that fell onto the floor. He literally follows me around; it didn't take him long to figure out that I am a messy girl who likes to eat.

The smell is a combination of coconut, cinnamon, and nuts toasting. Heavenly. Seriously, if heaven is half as good as this granola I am going to wish I had changed my rascally ways.

Granola
3 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup coconut
6 tablespoons flax seeds, sesame seeds, or a combination on both
3 tablespoons sesame seeds
1/4 cup sunflower or pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup toasted mixed nuts, chopped (I used hazelnuts but almonds would be better)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup honey
1 tablespoon maple syrup - or more honey
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups mixed dried fruit (I used dates and cherries)

Preheat the oven to 375. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients except the dried fruit. Mix the salt, cinnamon, oil, honey, syrup, and vanilla in a small bowl. Stir the honey mixture into the oat mixture and stir well to incorporate.

Bake for 20-30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. If some of the granola get a little burned, gently spoon the burned pieces into the trash before stirring the whole sheet together. Let it cool completely, then mix it with an equal amount of bran flakes [or other flaked cereal], the dried fruit, and anything else that suits your fancy.

Banananana Muffins

The goal for today was to make something with pastry flour. Jeffrey was kind enough to give me a whole lotta' soft wheat (which becomes whole wheat pastry flour when ground) a couple of weeks ago, and I have been studiously putting off making anything with it.

BUT NO MORE.

Looking back at the original recipe, I made some pretty wild deviations. Here is the original. These muffins are incredibly moist, especially when you consider that there is no butter or oil. Feel free to cut back on the sugar a bit, and you don't need quite so much baking powder.

If you don't have any soft wheat or whole wheat pastry flour, go ahead and use regular whole wheat flour. Or, if Armageddon is upon us, use white flour. (Just don't tell me about it.)

Grandma Grabbert put a poem into the Burlington cookbook about following the recipe:

I didn't have potatoes, so I substituted rice.

I didn't have paprika, so I used another spice.

I didn't have tomato sauce, so I used tomato paste.

A whole can, not half; I don't believe in waste.

My friend gave me this recipe, she said you couldn't beat it.
There must have been SOMETHING wrong with it, I couldn't eat it.

So there ya have it. Not all substitutions turn out as good as these muffins. Usually (I swear it's true) I try the recipe exactly as it is the first time, so I don't end up writing off too many recipes because of my wild ideas on how to improve them before I even make it one time. But, seriously, the original recipe had an ingredient list 4 pages long. I wasn't going to embark on such a crazy adventure. So I shortened it by combining similar ingredients.

Banana Muffins

1 1/4 C whole wheat pastry flour

1 C rolled oats

1 T baking powder

1/2 t salt

3/4 C yogurt

1/4 C applesauce

1/2 C maple syrup

1 egg

1 t vanilla

2 large bananas, mashed

1/4 C chopped pecans

Mix dry ingredients together in a medium sized bowl. Mix wet ingredients together in a small bowl. Make a well with the dry ingredients and pour the wet bowl into it. Fold until barely combined and spoon into muffin cups. Sprinkle with chopped pecans. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes.