Oh My, That's Good Stuff!

Well, even if I haven't had much time for knitting in the past couple of days, I have been able to fulfill a little craving here and there. Yesterday's craving was for a yeasted coffee cake, which they don't really make here. They've got some sort of danish they often sell in bakeries, not to mention other pastries, but it's not quite like having a coffee cake. So, I made one myself. Actually, I made two, because the recipe made tons of dough. I guess if you're going through that trouble, you might as well go all out, right? They're huge, too. You could easily feed 10-12 people off of each of them, I think. Maybe not, though, since they're really good. Anyway, you could certainly stuff a family of four really well, that's for sure.

The first picture you see is the lattice type and this second one is the twirl or whatever it was called. I went with the lattice first, because that's what I'm used to them looking like. Turned out to be more complicated than I was in the mood for and left some scraps (which I used to make a mini one for tasting right out of the oven), though. Having decided I wasn't really in the mood to mess with all the trimming and folding necessary to make a second lattice cake, I went for the swirly one next. A lot easier, but maybe not as pretty.



For anyone interested in the details, the recipe comes from the Nov/Dec '98 issue of Cook's Illustrated. It's a litte time-consuming, because you have to refrigerate it after the first rising. That's not too complicated, though, since you can refrigerate from 4-24 hours. I just left it in the fridge overnight and finished up the process this morning. And, I can definitely say that it's well worth the extra time it might take to make it. As for the filling I used, in case anyone wants to know, it's blueberry. I actually had to throw in a few extra mixed berries to make enough filling for the recipe, but it's mostly blueberries.

My rating for this recipe would be 1 out of 1, as my husband told me last night about dinner. Not a zero, and since 1 is the best, that's really great. Didn't sound too good to me, though, till he explained that they're would have to be 0.1, 0.2, 0.3... in between. Strange rating system, I'd say. He just likes messing with me. Anyway, this was most definitely the best coffee cake I've ever had, but considering the fact that I've only ever had those industrially made ones, they may not be saying much. All I can say is that it's worth the effort to make one homemade when you bite into it fresh from the oven.