Tag: coffee cake

Nancy’s Caramel Pecan Squares

Jerri and I both like to read and we value libraries, but she is more generous of her time than I am. That’s why she has been active on the Board of Directors of Friends of the Friday Memorial Library for the past twenty years or so. I just show up for the annual meeting to listen to the speaker and enjoy the snacks.

One time many years ago Nancy, who was an officer of the group, brought two plates piled high with some tasty dessert bars loaded with pecans and caramel. Those bars were a big hit, and we asked for the recipe. She emailed it to us, and here it is.

INGREDIENTS:

1 yellow Pillsbury Plus cake mix or equivalent
1/4 cup butter
4 cups pecan halves
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup butter
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup whipping cream

PROCEDURE:

Preheat the oven to 350º.  

Put the cake mix into a large bowl.  Use a pastry blender to cut in a quarter cup of butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Line a ten by fifteen-inch jelly roll pan with heavy duty aluminum foil.  Make a bottom crust by pressing the cake mix evenly into the bottom of the pan and top it with the pecan halves.

In a large heavy saucepan, combine the sugars, butter and honey.  Bring the mixture to a full boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.  Boil for three minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the whipping cream until it is well blended.  

Pour the mixture evenly over the pecans.  Bake for seventeen to twenty-two minutes or until the entire surface is bubbly.

Cool completely and cut into bars.

NAN’S NOTES: “Be sure to line the pan with wide heavy duty foil so that you have at least a two inch overhang.  This prevents spillovers, and makes cutting and removal of the bars easier. I have used half and half instead of whipping cream.  Seems to work just fine.”

MY NOTE: These bars are very rich. One and a half-inch squares are big enough. You can always take two.

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.