Tag: breakfast

Georgia’s Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

Until she retired a few years ago, Jerri was an active member of the St. Croix Valley Music Teachers Association. The members are professional music teachers and performers, and most meetings feature a program of interest to people who believe that music is an important part of education.

But lest you think that music teachers are concerned only with symphonies, operas, art songs or other types of classical music, consider the fact that members took turns to provide a homemade dessert for attendees at each meeting. In addition to making sweet sounds in the studio, music teachers make sweet treats in the kitchen.

One day Jerri was so impressed with the dessert that she came home with the recipe jotted down on the back of the meeting agenda. It was a coffee cake made by Georgia, one of Jerri’s friends who taught piano in Ellsworth, Wisconsin.

INGREDIENTS:

For the streusel topping and cake:
2 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup margarine
1/4 cup butter
1 large egg
3/4 cup sour cream
1 tsp. almond extract
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

For the topping:
8 oz. soft cream cheese or Neufchatel cheese
1 tsp. almond extract
1 large egg
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup raspberry jam
1/3 cup slivered or sliced almonds

PROCEDURE:

First, soften a package of cheese. Preheat the oven to 325º and grease a nine by nine by two-inch baking pan.

Next, make the topping and batter. Start by stirring the flour and three-fourths cup of sugar together and cutting in the margarine and butter as if you were making a crumb mixture for biscuit dough. Set aside one cup of the mixture to use as part of the topping.

Mix the salt, baking powder and baking soda into the crumb mixture. Beat one egg until it is lemon colored. Beat the egg and a teaspoon of almond extract into the sour cream, then beat the liquid into the crumb mixture. Beat vigorously until you have a smooth, thick batter. Spread the batter evenly into the greased pan.

Next make the topping by stirring another egg and a second teaspoon of almond extract into the cream cheese. Stir in a quarter cup of sugar and beat until smooth and creamy. Spread the mixture over the batter.

Use a teaspoon to dab small globs of raspberry jam evenly over the cheese mixture, then sprinkle with the reserved crumb mixture and top everything with the slivered almonds.

Bake for about an hour. Test for doneness at fifty-five minutes by pressing gently with the tip of your finger near the center of the cake. If the cake springs back it is done.

NOTES: With a teaspoon of almond extract in the batter and another in the topping, this coffee cake reminds me of one of my favorite Danish pastries, but it is much easier to make. Just remember to reserve a cup of the crumb mixture before you begin adding the liquids.

Georgia’s recipe called for for cream cheese, but I prefer to use Neufchatel cheese whenever possible, since it has less fat. When I made this coffee cake, the ladies at Jerri’s bridge group said it tasted good, so the Neufchatel appears to be fine in this recipe.

Georgia noted that you can use other jams or preserves if you wish. Blueberry might be a good choice.

Lorrie’s Baked Oatmeal

Long before Jerri became my wife, when she was in high school, she had a dog named Inkabelle Susan (a.k.a. Inky). She also had a loving father who got up at dawn and left her a serving of oatmeal on the pilot light of the range every morning before he took his pickup to check on the steers in the pasture about four miles west of town.

Jerri loved her father, but she also loved Inky, so she never told her father that she really did not like oatmeal left on the pilot light but she did give Inky a nice warm serving of oatmeal in his dish every morning. Both her father and dog thought Jerri was a wonderful person.

Jerri was the starting pitcher on her high school softball team. Jerri’s father came to just about every home game to watch his daughter play the game he loved. Inky came because he loved the girl who gave him such good breakfasts. Jerri’s father sat in the bleachers and cheered. Inky came out to the pitcher’s mound and sat beside Jerri until he was led away by the umpire.

When Jerri and her parents went to church Sunday mornings in the summer, her mother and father sat in their pew and listened proudly as their daughter played the piano for the service. Inky came and sat by the pianist until he was escorted out by an usher.

And it was all because of the oatmeal.

Not long ago I asked a friend if she had any special recipes that she cooked for her family. Lorrie paused a moment, then told me that they really liked her baked oatmeal. When I confessed that I had never even heard of baked oatmeal, she said she would send me the recipe.

She did, and I made it, and both Jerri and I think it is a delicious addition to any family’s list of breakfast or brunch dishes. Made according to Lorrie’s instructions, it is a kind of oatmeal pudding with a just a hint of a crunchy texture from the steel cut oats. The oats, applesauce and fruit combine to make this a dish that tastes good and is good for you.

We used frozen blueberries for the fruit, and all I can say is if you enjoy blueberry muffins or pancakes, you’ll like baked oatmeal with blueberries.

If your oven heats quickly and you mix the dry ingredients together before you go to bed, you can have this breakfast casserole baking in ten minutes.

INGREDIENTS:

2-1/2 cups regular rolled oats
1/4 cup oat bran
1/4 cup steel-cut oats
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 cups milk
1 large egg
1/3 cup applesauce
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups fresh or frozen fruit (such as blueberries, pears, apples or strawberries)
Yoghurt or milk or cream

PROCEDURE:

Preheat the oven to 400° Fahrenheit and lightly grease a two or three quart casserole or soufflé dish.

Stir together the rolled oats, steel-cut oats, oat bran, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. In a medium bowl beat the egg until it is lemon colored, then whisk in the milk, applesauce, oil, and sugars. Stir the liquid ingredients into the dry oat mixture and mix well.

Pour the batter into the soufflé dish or casserole and bake for twenty minutes. Remove the casserole from the oven, stir the oatmeal and gently fold in the fruit. Return the casserole to the oven and bake it for another twenty minutes. Check to see if the top is lightly brown. If not, bake it for another four or five minutes..

Spoon the oatmeal into bowls and serve it warm. Pass cream, half and half, milk or yoghurt that diners can add at the table.

NOTES: This recipe makes six to eight servings. Lorrie says that you can use many different kinds of fruit. She recommended blueberries, pears, apples and strawberries as good choices. Next time I make this baked oatmeal I plan on using some blueberry craisins. If I don’t forget I will add a note to this recipe with the results of the experiment.

This recipe almost begs one to try different fruits. If you find one you like, let me know and I will share your report.