Breakfast

Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake

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It’s the most wonderful time of the year! The temperature drops, grass growth slows down, and there’s “pumpkin spice” out the wazoo! The leaves change colors; at least they do in commercials. This is Florida, after all. You can catch wafts of cinnamon brooms while walking through the store, even through your mask! Who buys cinnamon brooms?

I welcome the fall season with a warm embrace. As I begin my Saturday morning breakfast brainstorm, apples and spices come to mind. After extensive denial of the sun rising, I finally open my eyes, take in the light, and run a mental inventory check from the comfort of my blanket. I turn over and look at my phone for the time, and I know there’s no more time to piddle. I throw off the cover. It must be done with a degree of sternness to shake my slowly waking mind from slumber to alertness.  I make my way to the fridge and survey the shelves, taking note of what is available. Then I head over to the pantry to do the same, circle back around the refrigerator for good measure and then I begin to gather in preparation for my creation.

This Saturday wasn’t unlike most, but it was the first one of this fall season and I could not let the day pass without a culinary acknowledgement of its arrival.

As I made the batter for the coffee cake, my mother made the streusel to add in the middle. After whipping up the batter, I decided to butter the pan and sprinkle brown sugar and pecans in the bottom to create a candy like coating on the cake.

The cakes popped out of the pans beautifully with a deep brown and glistening sugars atop. My trash cake (made from leftover batter and streusel), came out dangerously amazing. Trash cake is what I call the little snack cake I make of the leftover batter and streusel. I tossed it in a cast iron skillet, added a couple tablespoons of butter on top of the pecan streusel topping and it baked perfectly. It was rich and nearly addictive. I should never make it in a large batch lest I make this health and fitness journey a harder challenge than it need be.

Nevertheless, the breakfast was a hit with the clan and fully welcomed the feeling of the season.

I can’t wait to see what else is in store. Do you have any plans or recipes you are looking forward to this season? Apple festivals, pumpkin patch or apple cider donuts perhaps? 

Cake

  • 1 stick butter softened
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 egg
  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • dash of nutmeg, ginger and clove
  • ¾ cup dairy Free Sour Cream
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 2 medium apples, grated
  • brown sugar
  • toasted pecans

In a large bowl mix well the butter, sugar, vanilla and egg.

In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove.

In a small bowl mic together the sour cream and water. Add half of the sour cream to the wet ingredients. Add the dry ingredients and mix making sure not to overmix. Mix in the remaining sour cream into the batter. Fold in the grated apples.

Filling

  • butter
  • flour
  • brown sugar
  • nutmeg
  • cinnamon
  • toasted pecans, chopped

Unfortunately, I didn’t record exact measurements, but I mixed and tweaked until I got a soft crumb forms.

Preheat your oven to 350. Butter the mini Bundt pan, sprinkle brown sugar and toasted pecans inside the pan.  Fill each pan about 1/3 of the way with the batter, add the filling and then fill the bundts with the natter the rest of the way.

Foreign Food and Film

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I enjoy foreign films and shows. It isn’t particularly highbrow material, but it’s entertaining nonetheless.  My favorite foreign films are those centered on food, like That Is Not What I Expected. It’s a subpar Chinese romantic comedy, but I came for the food. The film follows a quirky chef, a severe businessman, and their shared one of kind experiences with food.  Here is one of my favorite scenes from the film where the businessman goes through great lengths to make his instant ramen perfection.

You can see the clip here:

Where was I going with this? Oh yes. As I watch these films, I notice the stark contrasts between American cuisine and other countries. Our meals tend to focus more on meat and starches, especially at breakfast. We serve waffles, pancakes, cereal, biscuits, bacon, sausage patties or links, etc. I admit that these all taste great, but often it feels too heavy. I find myself seeking more out of my experience of breaking the fast. Our American breakfasts are mostly varying shades of brown. Of course, an egg adds a pop of yellow, but it’s hardly distinguishable from the subtle golden color of the waffles.

For breakfast, I want to eat something more vivid and nutritional, and there are only so many variations on sweet potato and kale. As I considered various international cuisines, I recalled my 8th grade earth science teacher, who often shared memories with us of her life in Turkey.  I grabbed my laptop, pulled up Pinterest, and searched “Turkish breakfast”. Menemen showed up repeatedly, and then I saw it. It was a vision to behold: Gimme Some Oven’s Menemen, accompanied with crusty bread.

I tossed some in some kale and mushrooms to up the vegetable content for the family and it was a success.

I also got to use my pizza stone for the first time, thanks to Ciao Florentina’s excellent recipe for Rustic Italian Crusty Bread. It was perfectly crusty and chewy.

The combination of texture and flavors between the menemen and the bread provided just the breakfast experience I’d been craving. It was as magnificent as I’d imagined.

Have you tried any new recipes? What do you have for breakfast? I’d love to hear what you are cooking up.

Carrot Coconut Pecan Muffin

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On Saturday mornings, I get a chance to flex my culinary creativity when breaking the fast. During the week, I eat breakfast to survive but, on weekends, it’s more of an epicurean experience. Recently, I woke up with a hankering for muffins, but not of the same old, tired blueberry or banana varieties.

I looked through the refrigerators to see what was on hand and stumbled across carrots and pineapple tidbits. I rummaged through the pantry and found pecans and shredded coconut. While assessing the ingredients, a light bulb went off. This combination of ingredients was reminiscent of a Hummingbird cake, one of my favorite cakes.

In our house we love flour, sugar and butter but we try to keep usage of the bleached, over-processed varieties to a minimum. So I opted for almond flour.  

This muffin is so moist, sweet, and amazing!

  • 4 c almond flour
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • ½ tsp nutmeg
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • Pinch of salt
  • ½ c coconut sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • ¼ c maple syrup
  • ½ c unsweetened coconut
  • ½ c pecans halves, chopped
  • 1 c  carrot, grated
  • Couple of tablespoons of pineapple juice

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and coconut sugar.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, maple syrup and vanilla.

Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix until well incorporated.

Fold in coconut, pecans and carrots.

Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Remove muffins from the oven and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes.

Serve with some fresh fruit to start your day off right!