Crumb Coffee Cake

Its good to be home and back in my kitchen ~ But I think I'm going to need another vacation from my recent vacation.

When we set out for our trip 3 weeks ago to the states to visit family I had not fully prepared myself with the amount of traveling we decided to cram into 3 weeks.  I'm still in disbelief on how many miles we drove, walked and even rowed.  We easily covered over 1500 miles, traveling to 4 different states and another country (Canada).

The best highlights of the trip were starting off in New York City for 2 nights where we walked  10 miles of Manhattan to eat at the "first" pizza place Lombardi's, checked out the Empire State Building, visited the Space Shuttle Enterprise at the Intrepid Museum, by the way free for active duty :) and hitched a ferry ride to Staten Island to catch a glimpse of the statue of Liberty.  After leaving NYC we picked up our car in Syracuse and headed south to Pennsylvania to Hersey Park and went to a Dave Matthews Concert (totally awesome!), then headed up towards Scranton to visit my brother in-law, his gf and our niece for the first time.  (This was the first 5 days)

The best bagel cream cheese in Lox in all of NY

Intrepid Museum 

Biggest Ladder Back Chair in the world

Dave Matthews 

After our time in PA we drove to Vermont to visit family, play some disc golf and had fish in chips in 

Massachusetts with Grandma.  Took a detour to Lake George and camped out for 3 nights on a island in the middle of the lake, did a little kayaking, cliff jumping (small cliff), tubing, watched an amazing electric storm on the lake..oh and was savagely attacked by mosquitos.  We kept traveling north for  a reunion in Plattsburg NY later that evening went even further north to Montreal Canada where we stayed in the historic part of downtown in a cute little hotel watching fireworks from the bridge, walking the entire city checking out local shops and restaurants and trying putine for the first time, which by the way is fries smothered in gravy and topped with cheese curds...delicious!! (All this in week 2)

Putine

Cliff Jumping Lake George 

Birds eye view of Montreal 

After our stay in Canada we left to meet up with my father in-law at his camp in the Andirondacks where we stayed a couple of nights, went canoeing, boating and thrift shopping. the last leg of our journey we headed back to Syracuse to catch up on sleep, laundry and more sleep before leaving to go back to Japan.

 All in all it was a very successfully trip, we saw a lot of family that we haven't seen an a couple of years, our rental car never gave us issues and for the most part we didn't get lost when driving all over the northeastern side of the country.

Now to the food, I made this coffee cake before I left on vacation, some co-workers were craving it, this recipe came out amazing, very light, sweet and the huge brown sugar crumbles are delicious, they were my favorite part.  Place this cake soaks up coffee like a sponge.

Crumb Coffee Cake

Adapted from Sally's baking addiction

1 Tablespoon Flour, to coat the pan
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons cold butter, lightly softened in the microwave for 20 seconds
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, spray a 9 inch springform pan with cooking spray and sprinkle the bottom of the pan with flour, tapping out excess flour.

2. Whisk the flour, sugar, salt together in a large bowl until combined.  Cut the butter into 1 tablespoon sized pieces and using your hands or a fork mix/mash together the butter and dry ingredients until it resembles a crumbly mixture. scoop out 1 cup of the mixture and set it aside.

3. Transfer the rest of the ingredients from the large mixing bowl into an electric mixer (the batter is going to be very thick and the mixer helps a lot) Add in the baking soda and powder and mix together for 1 minute. Add in the buttermilk, egg, vanilla and mix everything together on medium high speed for about 2 minutes until smooth and fluffy, the batter will look kinda of like frosting, pour the batter into the springform pan and using a spatula smooth the top of the batter until even in the pan.

4. Using your empty large mixing bowl add in the reserved 1 cup of flour mixture and add in the brown sugar and cinnamon, using a fork or your hands crumble up the ingredients together making course crumbs. Sprinkle the crumbs over the batter, pressing lightly so the crumbs stick to the batter.

5.  Bake for 50-55 minutes (mine took 50) or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, allow to cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, remove the side of the springform pan and cool completely to room temp.

French Toast Cupcakes w/ Maple Buttercream

   So I went on my first snowboarding trip in Japan and probably my last.  Snowboarding is just not meant for me, I'am a firm believer that its just one of those sports you need to start as a kid, where a couple of falls on your butt won't jack up your already bad back and leave bruises from head to toe.  

Oh did I mention that I also fell off the ski lift :/  I was so afraid of the lifts to begin with because they don't stop for you, they just scoop you up and you pray your in the right position when it arrives. So as it happened yesterday I wasn't in the right positon and that lift just knocked me off with no sympathy, I felt like I was punched in the hip by a sumo wrestler. 

I guess this really is my fault,  I should have known what to expect when I had my first true experience snow boarding in Alaska 4 years ago and ended up with a minor concussion, I should have known my second chance snow boarding in Japan wouldn't be any different.  It took about 2 hours to get down the mountain and I hurt my back so bad and was starting to come down with a stomach bug that I decided to throw in the towel and take a nap on a small love seat in a hotel lounge while the rest of the people on the trip were still snowboarding and the hubby went to the onsen. Oh well

After a day of being beaten up and feeling my age I decided that I owed my self a treat and made my favorite breakfast in a cupcake form.  These babies will not disappoint they literally taste like french toast with a delicious maple buttercream.  

French Toast Cupcakes
Adapted from Bakingdom
Yields: 24-28 cupcakes


For the Streusel 
Ingredients

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, sliced into chunks

Cupcake

3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sour cream
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions for Streusel

In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients and add in the cold butter using your hands to mix and squeeze the mixture together crumbling it up.  once complete cover and place in the freezer until ready to top on the batter.

Directions for the Cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line your cupcake tins with paper liners; set aside.
In your electric mixer bowl add your flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt and whisk on low speed until mixed together.  Add in your butter, sour cream  eggs and vanilla, mix well until combined and smooth about 30-45 seconds.
Place 3 tablespoons of batter into each baking cup. and divide the streusel evenly among the cupcakes and top about 1 spoonful of streusel on top of each baking cup. Bake for 18 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Before they're baked

Before they're baked

After they're baked

Maple Buttercream

Ingredients

1 cup butter unsalted at room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup maple syrup (your favorite kind, I used Mrs. Butterworth)
2 tablespoons heavy cream

Directions

In a electric mixer, beat the butter on high speed until light and fluffy, (this could take a little time about 8 to 10 minutes).

This is what the butter should look like, almost looks like fluff or whipped cream

Beat in the powdered sugar 1/4 cup at a time until all the powdered sugar has been incorporated

Add the vanilla, salt and syrup and mix until combined. Beat in the heavy cream and whisk on high for 4 minutes.

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Gingerbread Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

The hubby requested pancakes for christmas breakfast and I wanted to find something different then your basic pancake.  I happen to stubble upon a recipe for cinnamon roll pancakes which led me to another recipe for gingerbread cinnamon roll pancakes and it being x-mas and all I had to go with the gingerbread.... of course :) 

These pancakes were awesome, they not only tasted delicious but when you flip the pancake over to cook the swirl side and flip it back, it looks just like a cinnamon roll on top. The only thing is, I wish I could have shared these yummy pancakes with my family for christmas.  Though I can be happy that at least me and my husband can spend the holidays together instead of being deployed this year. I adapted this recipe a little since I didn't have all the ingredients it called for, and they still turned out superb!  and looked pretty cool too. 

Gingerbread Cinnamon Roll Pancakes 
Adapted from Recipe Girl
Yields: 6-8 pancakes
Prep: 15 minutes  Cook: 20 minutes

Ingredients

Cinnamon filling

1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Pancake

3/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons brewed coffee
2 tablespoons dark mollasses
2 tablespoons water
1 large egg
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/2 tablespoons ground ginger
1/2 tablespoons ground baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

Prepare the cinnamon filling before you make the pancakes.
- In a small bowl melt the butter in the microwave, takes about 20 - 40 seconds.
- Mix in the brown sugar and spices with a whisk, make sure that the mixture is combined well and not lumpy.
- Scoop the mixture into a small ziplock baggy and set aside (while your making the pancake batter the mixture will cool and thicken up a little)

Prepare the batter

- In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, coffee, molasses, water and egg.
- In a small bowl combine all the dry ingredients and mix well.
- Add your dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix till just combined. (don't over mix its okay if they are some lumps in the batter)

Cooking the pancakes

- Set your oven to warm or 200 degrees and add a pan into the oven, use this as a warmer tray for placing your cooked pancakes in, to keep warm while finishing the entire batter.
- Preheat a large skillet on medium heat and spray the pan with cooking spray
- Scoop a 1/3 measuring cup of batter into the skillet and spread it around a little to make a round shape
 - Take your zip lock baggy and cut a small hole in the corner and pipe a swirl onto your pancake.
- Cook the pancake for about 3 minutes until you start seeing bubbles on the side of the pancake, flip the pancake over and cook the swirl side for about 2 minutes, dont worry if you see some of the swirl mixture oozing out from under the pancake.
- Flip the pancake over to expose the swirl side and serve with syrup or they are great by themselves as well.  Enjoy.

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Red Velvet Cupcakes w/ Cinnamon Buttercream

I've felt like I've been in a food coma for the past 3 days...anyone else?  So much food, not a large enough stomach.  I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends.  I was a baking machine this week.  Since we went to a friends house for turkey day, my contribution was dessert...big surprise there lol.  So I spent all wednesday night making pumpkin cheesecake and the next morning making cupcakes.  My poor kitchen was a disatser, I wish the Keebler elf's would come at night when I'm sleeping and clean my kitchen.

This recipe comes from the show on TLC called George Town Cupcakes  I enjoy watching the sisters aventures in there bakery, just as much as I would probably enjoy their cupcakes.  I finally broke down and bought their  book on amazon with their most popular recipes.  I decided to try the red velvet recipe because 1 I've never had red velvet before and 2 the guys from my husbands office requested red velvet cupcakes with cinnamon frosting for their potluck at work.  Now I'm not sure if the recipe is truly the same one they use at their bakery, normally their cupcakes look very moist.  The cupcake that came out for me wasn't necessarily moist but it wasn't dry either, it was very light, fluffy and spongey. Still good and not very sweet which pairs well with the buttercream.

Red Velvet Cupcakes w/ Cinnamon Buttercream
from The Cupcake Diaries 

Yields: 12-15 cupcakes

Ingredients

3 1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temp
1 3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs at room temp
4 tablespoons red food color like McCormick
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder, shifted
1 1/2 cups whole milk (I used 2% milk) at room temp
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

Directions

- Preheat oven to 350F and line a cupcake pan with 12 paper liners.

- Sift together the flour and salt in a small bowl and set aside

- In a electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar at medium speed for 3 to 5 minutes until and light and fluffy

- Add the eggs one at a time, mixing slowly after each addition

- In a small bowl whisk together the red food coloring, vanilla, cocoa powder. Slowly add the mixture to the electric mixer with the butter and mix until incorporated

- Add 1/3 of the flour, followed by the 1/3 of the milk to the electric mixer and mix.  Repeat, stopping to scrape down the bowl as needed.  Add the last third of the flour, followed by the last of the milk and mix until incorporated.

- In a small bowl, add the baking soda to the apple cider vinegar.  It will get fizzy, at it to the batter and mix thoroughly.

- fill the cupcakes liners 2/3 full and bake for 16 to 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Cinnamon Buttercream
Adapted from Can you stay for dinner?

Ingredients

1 cup 2% Milk
5 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup butter at room temp
1 cup sugar (not powdered sugar)

Directions

- In a medium saucepan, whisk 1 cup of milk with 5 tablespoons flour. Heat over medium until the mixture starts to bubble, whisk constantly. Continue to stir until the mixture starts to thicken, it will soon thicken to the consistency of cake batter. After about 7 minutes of whisking remove the mixture from the heat and add your extract.  Transfer the mixture to a heat proof bowl and let the mixture cool completely to room temperature. (I let it sit for about 30 minutes, stirring the mix every 10 minutes to release the heat)

- In your electric mixer cream together the butter and sugar on medium high for 3 to 5 minutes the mixture should be light and fluffy and white in color. You want the sugar to be completely incorporated in the butter.

- Make sure that your milk/flour mixture is completely cooled and add it to the butter and sugar. (you don't want the milk/flour mix to be warm or it could melt the butter).  Beat all ingredients together for 1 to 2 minutes on high speed, scrapping down the side of the bowl halfway, until smooth and blended. The frosting should be light and fluffy like whipped cream.

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Gingerbread Cupcakes with Eggnog Buttercream

I've had the hardest time finding the perfect buttercream...until now!
I think I just found my go to frosting for cupcakes. I never tried a cooked frosting before, I initially thought it was too much work.  But after making another batch of powdered sugar frosting that I decided to throw away... again, I figured it was time for a change and  go outside my comfort zone.

I have to say I'm really happy I did, the cooked buttercream frosting came out smooth and creamy like whipped cream and it had a great pipping consistency.  Plus it wasn't overly sugary like you can get with powdered sugar frostings.  I will diffidently be using this recipe as my go to and can't wait to try more flavors.

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Eggnog Buttercream
Recipe from Taste of Home

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup molasses
1 1/3 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice

Eggnog Buttercream
Adapted from Can you stay for dinner?

Ingredients

1 cup eggnog
5 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup butter at room temp
1 1/4 cup sugar (not powdered sugar)

Directions

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees and fill a cupcake tin with paper liners
- In a electric mixer cream together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy about 3 minutes.
- Beat in the egg and then the water and molasses
- In a separate bowl combine your dry ingredients flour, baking soda, powder and spices
- Add your dry mixture to the electric mixer with your wet mixture and beat on medium until combined about 2 minutes.
- Fill cupcakes liners 2/3 full and bake for 20-25 minutes. (mine took 22 minutes) or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack completely.

Buttercream Directions

- In a medium saucepan, whisk 1 cup of eggnog with 5 tablespoons flour. Heat over medium until the mixture starts to bubble, whisk constantly. Continue to stir until the mixture starts to thicken, it will soon thicken to the consistency of cake batter. After about 7 minutes of whisking remove the mixture from the heat and add your extract.  Transfer the mixture to a heat proof bowl and let the mixture cool completely to room temperature. (I let it sit for about 30 minutes, stirring the mix every 10 minutes to release the heat)

- In your electric mixer cream together the butter and sugar on medium high for 3 minutes the mixture should be light and fluffy and white in color. You want the sugar to be completely incorporated in the butter.

- Make sure that your milk/flour mixture is completely cooled and add it to the butter and sugar. (you don't want the milk/flour mix to be warm or it could melt the butter).  Beat all ingredients together for 1 minute on high speed, scrapping down the side of the bowl halfway, until smooth and blended. The frosting should be light and fluffy like whipped cream.

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Apple Crisp for 2!

You ever have one of those mornings from the minute you wake up everything you touch self destructs. When I have mornings like that right from the start, my first initial thought is" oh man something bad is going to happen today"  because it always starts with the small things.  Like when I was making my husband breakfast, I went into the fridge to grab some salsa and ended dropping 6 eggs on the floor, cracking all but 1.  Next, not even 10 minutes later after making him breakfast, I take my english muffin out of the toaster and start to butter one side and ended up throwing the other end on the dirty kitchen floor that I haven't started cleaning yet from yesterday.... I think I should just stay indoors today because who the heck knows what could happen to me if I walk out my front door.

If you ask me if I would like a slice of Apple Pie or Apple Crisp, 9 times out of 10 I will always pick Apple Crisp.  For me the crust just gets in the way, I prefer the crumbly oaty topping on a crisp.  Also crisp are super fast and easy to whip together.  Just dice an apple up, add your sugar and make your topping in less then 15 minutes and pop it in the oven while you eat dinner.  After dinner you have a delicious hot apple crisp for dessert.  Don't forget to top with some whip cream or ice cream :)

Apple Crisp for 2
Oishii Treat Original

Ingredients

1-2 Apples cored and diced
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
sprinkle of ginger and nutmeg

Crumble Topping

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
4 tablespoons cold butter

Directions

- Preheat your oven for 350 degrees

- In a small bowl add your diced apples, lemon juice, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger, mix well
- In a food processor or blender add your ingredients for the topping, make sure to cut the cold butter up, it helps mix better.
- In two ramekins, evenly divide your diced apples up and top with your crisp. Bake for 30 minutes

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Apple Pie

There is nothing better than your house filling up
with the aroma of delicious homemade apple pie.  Oh man does it smell good in my house, forget about candles I'm just going to make pie whenever I want my house to smell like christmas.  So for this delicious apple pie, we  procured our apples from an orchard in Aomori Japan.  We recently went on an apple picking tour and had the chance to pick apples at a local orchard and eat as many as we could before our picking time was up.  I have no clue what's in the soil here in Japan. But these are some massive apples!
It took only 3 to fill the pie; talk about your giant apples.


Apple Pie
Adapted from Tikkido

Ingredients for Crust

4 cups flour
1 1/3 cups cold butter
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 table spoon cinnamon
12 tablespoons cold water
3 tablespoons vodka

Directions

- Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
- Next using a sharp knife cut your butter into small grape sized cubes and add it to the flour mixture
- In a separate small bowl combine your cold water and vodka
- Using your hands mix and squish the butter and flour together for a couple of minutes.
- Add 2 tablespoons of water mixture to your flour and combine with your hands
- Keep adding water 2 tablespoons at a time until you start forming a ball of dough.
- You most likely will not need to use all of the water to make the dough, just keep adding 2 tablespoons at a time until the dough starts forming.
- Once you get a ball of dough, flour a flat smooth surface and divide your dough in half.
- Roll out half of your dough large enough to fill a pie pan.  cut away excess dough from the edge of your pie pan
- Save the other half of your dough when you are ready to add it to the top of your pie. put the crust and dough into the fridge until your ready to add your apples

Ingredients for Filling

3 large apples or if you dont have mutan apples like mine 4-5 apples any kind
1/2 sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons cold butter

Directions

- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees
- peel and slice your apples and add it to a large bowl
- Drizzle your lemon juice over apple slices and combine (i used my hands to mix the apples)
- add your sugars, cinnamon and nutmeg to the apples and mix
- add the flour and mix into your apples
- Add your apple mixture
- slice your cold butter and add it to the top of the apples
- roll out the other half of your dough and top your pie.
- cut off excess dough from the edges and using your fingers pinch together the top and bottom dough around the rim together forming a ruffle effect.
- Slice a few vent holes in the top of the crust to allow steam to escape while baking
- Bake for 40 minutes, once done allow to cool on a wire rack. once cool enough transfer to fridge to allow the juice to firm up and thicken.  serve with some vanilla ice cream and whip cream