Tag Archives: Crumb Cake

Happy Thanksgiving!!

24 Nov

Thanksgiving is by far my favorite holiday (birthdays come as a very close second)! It is the one holiday where all of my family comes together and we eat all day, drink all day and have an overall amazing time.

       

This year we have 16 people coming to my parent’s house!

  • My mom, Barb,  is making 2 turkeys (one of which is obviously for the amazing midnight (or later) Thanksgiving sandwiches that are made by my Uncle Bernie). She also pretty much runs the show with beautiful flowers, tons of food and wonderful decorations
  • My sister Kim, our resident wine specialist, is bringing numerous bottles of wine.
  • My brother John will be setting up every video game we have to occupy my cousin Aiden and Zach (as well as occupy my uncle and my dad!)
  • My dad sets up the most amazing meat, cheese and cracker plate! It takes up majority of our counter.
  • My Aunt Christine and Uncle Bernie will be bringing Black & White Cookies from NY as well as a 7 layer cake and a couple dozen NY bagels (growing in Rockaway Beach, Queens, my parents have been spoiled by good bagels and sorry, but MA bagels are no match for the NY ones!)
  • Uncle Bernie will also be making his amazing Ceviche from a Stripped Bass that he caught on Monday.
  • I will be baking: Apple Pie, Rugelach, Crumb Cake and Baklava and somehow manage to make my way through Penn Station at 3pm on one of the busiest days of the year!

… And that’s just a few of the participants!

I wanted to make this entry a little different from the others by incorporating all aspects of our Thanksgiving.

A little about our cheeses:

This meal (yes, we do consider it a meal!) has become a weekly occurence in our house, but my dad definitely out does himself for Thanksgiving.

                

Meats:

  • Dried salami with herbed de Provence
  • Dried salami with garlic & herb
  • Prosciutto
  • Assortment of other Italian dried meats

Cheeses:

  • Parmigiano-Reggiano
  • Horseradish Cheddar
  • Manchego
  • Gruyère
  • Le Roulé
  • Jarlsberg
  • Gouda
  • Baby Brie
  • Smoked Mozzarella

A little about our drinks:

Thanksgiving wine is something that people have questioned in families for years….  In my opinion, you should drink what you like.  Pairing wine on Thanksgiving is a near impossible task due to the copious amounts of side dishes, before dinner appetizers and of course the main event …. the Turkey.  Beaujolais pairs best with the actual bird.  The jammy strawberry notes produced by the Gamay grape are lovely with the subtle flavors of Turkey (if you have gone with the traditional fashion of baking a turkey).  Two other wines that pair particularly well with the thanksgiving feast, if you are really concentrating on pairing the meal, are a Riesling and a Pinot noir, I would choose the 2005 Trimbach Riesling Cuvee Frederic Emile, France, Alsace and the 2007 Au Bon Climate Pinot Noir California, Santa Barbara.

This year I chose the wine according to what the family likes:

  • Moet & Chandon Imperial Champagne NV Brut
  • Veuve Cliquot Rose NV Champagne (Pink Bubbles make everything better)
  • 2010 Santa Maragarita Pinot Grigio (Because Mom like it)
  • 2010 Livio Pinot Grigio Italy, Friulano
  • 2010 MauroSebaste Barbara d’ Alba Italy, Piemonte
  • 2009 Patricia Green Cellars Reserve Pinot Noir, Oregon, Willamette Valley

          

And I cannot forget a little something from my own small collection of wine….  a 1999 Chateau Musar, Lebanon, Bekaa Valley — a Killer wine from Lebanon made of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault and Carignan, one of my personal favorites…. full of dark fruits balanced with favors of earth balanced acidity and medium tannins.

And Just for fun….. Don Julio 1942.

      

Baking!

This year for Thanksgiving, as I mentioned above, I made:

              

Apple Pie                   Rugelach                  Crumb Cake                    Baklava

Baking this year ended up being a bit of an ordeal. I had 2 days to make ALL of this! Sunday was spent recovering from Steve’s Birthday, so there was no way any baking was going to take place then. That left Monday to make the Baklava and Puff Pastry and Tuesday to make the Rugelach, Crumb Cake and Apple Pie. Jeez, it makes me tired just typing it all out! Then I brought everything to work Wednesday morning (including clothes for 4 days, and for anyone that knows me that’s equivalent to clothes for roughly 2 weeks!) and then left around 2pm for Penn Station.

Somehow I made it through the madness, spent the night in Boston, ventured home Thanksgiving morning and had a fabulous time with family and friends.

I have so much to be thankful for this year and I hope you all enjoy your Thanksgiving as much as I’ve enjoyed mine.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

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Field Access!

24 Aug

The past several days have been a whirlwind to say the least!

There have been crazy thunderstorms, an earthquake, a Dragon Boat Race and, to top off the excitement, I got to meet the Yankees!

This past Saturday the Candlewood Lake Authority held their 3rd annual Dragon Boat Race in CT and I was part of 1 of the 18 teams to take part! It was a fun day of food, fundraising and rowing.  You’ll notice too in the picture below that Boat 1 is in first place… That was my team!!

 

Then on Tuesday, my family came to NY to visit and through a wonderful foundation called Project Sunshine we won the auction for Field Access tickets to Yankee Stadium. Growing up in New Jersey and my parents being from Queens, we are life long Yankee fans! To have Field Access was like a dream come true! I was able to meet my FAVORITE Yankee Nick Swisher who signed my shirt and gave me a hug! I was also able to meet, Joe Girardi and Francisco Cervelli and I even had the privilege to try on the 1996 World Series ring!!

And that was only Tuesday…

Now, to get back to the real reason you’re visiting, my baking!

A couple of weeks ago I made a Crumb Cake for my colleague Joe’s birthday at work. Well, my Dad’s two favorite things are Baklava and Crumb Cake and when he saw my post that week he was hoping for some left overs, but I have a pretty hungry office so unfortunately he didn’t get a piece. I felt pretty bad, so when I found out my family would be coming into the city for a couple of days I decided to surprise him with his very own tray of crumb cake!

I’m thinking my next treat will be salty, sweet and savory and I’m not even going to use an oven! Can anyone guess what it’ll be?? Check back soon!

Enjoy!

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New York Crumb Cake

8 Aug

The best way to start off a morning is with a good cup of coffee and a big slice of crumb cake. Growing up my family always had a box (or 2!)  of Entenmann’s Crumb Cake in the house, and my goal with baking today was to create a cake that matched up to my childhood memories. One of my family’s dogs, a Swiss Mountain Dog named Katie, would always try to nudge her way into the pantry doors, mostly for whatever food she could find, but one day she succeeded and made her way to the crumb cake. We caught her and expected to see only crumbs left, but to our surprise she actually only found the time to eat the crumb topping and confectioners sugar off the top, which is the best part!

I don’t usually mention my office reviews here on my blog, but this time I decided to share that when I brought this crumb cake into work for my colleague Joe’s birthday Monday morning it instantly became a favorite. My colleagues all seem to enjoy anything I bring in, but their 2 favorites now are the Baklava (which is requested on a weekly basis!) and this crumb cake!

I hope you enjoy it as much as my collegues have! Let me know what you think!

What You’ll Need:

For the Cake:

  • 1 1/4 Sticks (10 Tbs) of Unsalted Butter, room temperature
  • 1 1/2 Cups of All-Purpose Flour
  • 1 Tsp of Baking Soda
  • 1 Tsp of Baking Powder
  • 1/2 Tsp of Salt
  • 1 Cup Granulated Sugar
  • 3 Large Eggs
  • 1 Tsp of Vanilla Extract
  • 1 1/4 Cups of Sour Cream

For the Crumb Topping

  • 3 Cups of All-Purpose Flour
  • 1 Cup of packed Light-Brown Sugar
  • 1 Tbs of Cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 Tsp Salt
  • 3 1/2 sticks (1 3/4 Cups) Unsalted Butter, room temperature

To Prepare

  • Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F
  • Generously butter a 13″ x 9″ pan

Directions:

Cake:

Mix together, in a medium bowl, the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt until combined and set aside.

In a large bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (if you don’t have an electric mixer you can use a rubber spatula), beat the butter and sugar until it is light and fluffy, roughly 4 minutes on medium speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Add in 1 of the eggs and beat until just incorporated. Repeat with the remaining 2 eggs being sure to add them one at a time. Once the eggs are added mix in the vanilla. Add in the flour mixture and then the sour cream and beat until just combined. Make sure to continue to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed so that all of the mixture is fully combined.

Spoon the batter into the prepared baking pan and smooth with an offset spatula.

 

Crumb Topping:

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt until combined. Cut the butter into tablespoon sized pieces and knead it into the recipe. The intention here is to maintain small, but visible “pearls” of butter. Use the same technique as you did with the Chocolate Chip Shortbread. This topping can be refrigerated in an air tight container for up to 2 weeks if you don’t have time to bake the cake the same day.

Once the crumb topping is completed and the cake is spread in the cake pan, sprinkle the topping evenly over the batter.

Bake the cake until it’s golden brown and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes. Be sure to rotate the pan half way through baking to ensure even baking throughout. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool when done. Before serving, dust with confectioners’ sugar.

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Enjoy!!

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