Well, unless you’re mashing up two things that are great separately and gross together, like steak and whipped cream. No, thank you. But when the mash-up combines the best of both worlds, mama is happy.
What could be better than a raspberry crumb bar, you wonder? How about a raspberry crumb bar with cheesecake filling? Do I have your attention now?
The school year starts in two weeks and I’m in overdrive, but I have to pause and fulfill my civic duty. Yep, that’s right. Jury duty calls!
This is the fourth time I’ve ever been on jury duty, and the second time in two years. Lest you think I am a star juror, banish that thought from your mind. That’s not it. I must have some kind of force that emits rays to jury selection people. Otherwise, my popularity makes no sense.
Years ago, I was called to a six-week jury trial at the beginning of summer. They took four days to make a selection, and the whole time I was really worried that I would lose my entire summer vacation to our justice system. Thanks to the powers above, I wasn’t selected and my summer remained intact. But close call!
Kenny was also called to jury duty a few weeks ago, and he was so excited. Unlike me, he’s never served before, so it was a novelty for him. He went very happily and waited to be called, and…nope. They dismissed him around noon. But he can feel good that he’s off the hook for another few years. Maybe.
Whenever I have jury duty, snacks are important. They keep me cheerful during the monotonous hours of waiting for something to happen. The thing is, though, the snacks have to be easily packed. That’s where these bars come into play!
The bottom and top are made of the same crumbly oat mix (gluten-free, of course). I like to double up on the raspberry jam by first spreading some over the bottom layer, pouring in the cheesecake filling, and then dolloping some more on top, swirling it with a knife. And on top? Those miraculous crumbs!
I might have to do my civic duty for the umpteenth time in my relatively young life, but I’ll do it happily as long as I’m kept fortified. These raspberry cheesecake crumb bars should do the trick!
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350. Line an 8-inch square pan with foil and coat with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the oats, oat flour, brown sugar and salt. Add the melted butter and mix until crumbly.
- Set aside about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of the mixture. Take the remaining crumb mixture and press it firmly into the prepared pan.
- Spread the 1/2 of the raspberry jam over the bottom layer.
- In a medium bowl, make the filling. Combine the cream cheese, egg and sugar, mixing well until smooth. A fully softened cream cheese is ideal (I leave mine on the counter for an hour) to prevent a lumpy batter.
- Pour the cheesecake filling over the bottom layer. Take the remaining raspberry jam and spoon it onto the filling in even intervals. Use a knife to gently swirl the jam into the cheesecake filling.
- Crumble the remaining oat mixture over the filling layer evenly.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden. Cool completely. Chill overnight.
- Cut into squares and store in an airtight container.
Do you ever get into a breakfast rut? Because I can relate.
Over the years, I’ve cycled through so many breakfast options with the goal of keeping my first meal of the day quick to prepare and filling. Oh, and sweet. I like that shot of sweetness in the morning!
Since forever, I’ve loved cereal. And while it’s hard to beat a bowl of cereal with milk, sometimes you want a little something different. As a quick bread lover, this breakfast bread fits the bill. It’s topped with a crumbly, crunchy topping made with Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, and the recipe is easy enough to make with the kiddos!
Now that I’m at home more for the summer, I have to find ways to engage my little monsters until camp starts up in two weeks. Oh, camp. It’s the best. It’s when I finally get to take a nap.
But until then, I have a whole schedule to arrange for each day. It includes basic summer activities, like running through sprinklers, making crafts that usually turn out looking funny, and of course, an afternoon baking session. I try to find or create recipes that are pretty simple but that also involve some fun element. We can go shopping in the morning at our local Safeway and have all the ingredients ready for an afternoon baking extravaganza!
In this case, it’s easy to mix up the batter, but my kids can have all the fun of making the crumb topping. And while they do that, I can snack on Corn Flakes and have a fun moment to relax and stare at the wall. Every mom who is home all day with kids needs some quality wall-staring time.
The best part of this recipe is that in the morning when I’m rushing around trying to find clothes for everyone and make sure that nobody is beating anyone else up, this breakfast bread is ready to go. Everyone wants to eat it, everyone’s excited about eating it because they helped make it, and it tastes delightful. I mean, who doesn’t love crumb?
Cereal is the best, but being creative with it yields even better results. Kids might be happy with just cereal and milk, but adults need to go beyond and explore our inner foodies. This Corn Flake cinnamon crumb bread is just the ticket!
If you’re looking for more breakfast ideas, please visit this website for more inspiration for creative breakfast and snack creations. Hope you have some great summer breakfasts ahead of you!
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350. Coat a loaf pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine all of the cake ingredients until a smooth batter forms. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
- Make the crumb topping. Combine the dry ingredients and Corn Flakes. Using a fork, a pastry blender or your fingers, work in the butter until crumbs of varying sizes form. Set aside.
- Bake for 25 minutes until the bread is mostly but not fully baked. Sprinkle the crumb topping over the top and return the bread to the oven for an additional 15-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Cool completely. When the bread is cool, make the glaze. Combine the powdered sugar, cinnamon and vanilla, and add the heavy cream 1 tablespoon at a time until the glaze reaches a consistency that is conducive to drizzling.
- Drizzle the glaze over the cake. Let it set.
- Cut into slices, or store covered.
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I’m addicted to crumb. You show me a crumb cake and I’ll pick off the topping. It’s a dangerous game to play. Don’t hand me anything in the realm of crumb and expect me to eat it like a normal person.
When done correctly, any crumb cake or bar is overflowing with crumb. A crumb fiend like me has to be satisfied, after all. These beautiful bites of heaven are filled with raspberry jam and sandwiched with crumbly oat goodness. They’re also effortlessly gluten-free, which is the only way I wanna do it.
A lot of people who attempt GF baking really don’t understand how it works. They buy the GF flour replacements and assume that it will work out. But folks, a replacement is often a recipe for mediocrity.
That’s why it’s important to bake with unprocessed ingredients you’d use even without the gluten issue. Baking becomes a more natural experience that way, and it tastes better. In this case, I used my ever trusty oat flour (which is ground-up oats) as a base. Because really, who doesn’t love a shot of oatmeal goodness in a crumb bar?
When we don’t force things, they tend to work out better. To be honest, that’s not a lesson I’m very good at learning, but it holds true nonetheless. Some of the best opportunities that have come my way happened when I wasn’t looking for them. I count Kenny among those, as well as the program I teach in. All good stuff.
The same holds true for my brainstorming process. To get all these recipes to you three times a week while juggling a full-time teaching gig and my own children, I have to really let the flow take over. When I force myself to be creative and invent desserts, it tends to be more forced. But when I listen to my intuition, it works out a lot better.
For instance, I’ve been craving crumb bars like crazy since summer hit. I’ve made more than enough crumb bars for JAB, but I really don’t care. We’re going there again!
The gluten-free thing is just an option, but I think it works out well here. Instead of regular flour, which has no taste, oat flour lends a nuttiness to these bars that is really quite lovely. As you know, I don’t eat a GF diet, but my beloved does. So if the bars work out better this way without anyone forcing the issue, so much the better!
Sometimes it’s valuable to just sit back and let opportunity head your way. It might require some patience, but if you work hard and do your best, it will probably come sooner or later!
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350. Line an 8-inch square pan with foil and coat with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the oats, oat flour, brown sugar and salt. Add the melted butter and mix until crumbly. Add the pecans and stir until just combined.
- Set aside about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of the mixture. Take the remaining crumb mixture and press it firmly into the prepared pan.
- Spread the raspberry jam over the bottom layer.
- Crumble the remaining oat mixture over the raspberry layer evenly.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden. Cool completely. Cut into squares and store in an airtight container.
Well, sort of. I mean, I’m not ready. But this is the closest I’ll be. We can’t spend life on a beach. Or maybe we can’t. I keep wondering if I could change my life and live on a beach. I mean, they need teachers everywhere, don’t they?
While I’m contemplating a change in location, I might as well bake. In fact, it’s one of the things that keeps my life grounded. Whether I stay in colder climes or not, I will always love crumb more than anything. These bars are all about the oatmeal crumb, which sandwiches a layer of fudge. The whole thing gets topped off with M & Ms. Did I say these were happy? Or was that just too obvious?
There’s so much I can share about my vacation, but I’m going to start with the fact that whenever Kenny and I go away, our getaway quickly becomes a test of how much physical activity we can squeeze into whatever time we have. Example: in one morning we rented both kayaks and paddleboards, and this was after an hourlong workout and a long beach walk. And that was just the morning. We kept the exercise up all day long.
We both love being fit, so when I realized that there was a barre studio across the street from our hotel, I called them and set up a class. If you don’t remember, I’m a huge barre girl. I started doing the workouts over two years ago, and I’ve stuck with them. I have my own barre at home, and I alternate cardio and barre (or do both) every day of the week.
The best (in my opinion) technique so far is Physique 57, which is one of the original barre methods. However, I tried another popular name-brand studio this time, feeling kind of guilty for cheating on P57. Don’t worry: the guilt didn’t last.
Friends who have done live barre, please share: does your studio amp the music up so loudly that you can only kinda sorta hear the instructor? Because that’s what happened in Florida. Everyone seemed to be in a state of confusion. One woman was following the next who then followed the one after her, resulting in a bizarre body game of telephone where the last person in the row (ahem, me) had to improvise a lot. And all the while, the instructor was walking around praising everyone (even me) for doing different things, not even noticing that some feet were pointed while others were flexed, or that I was making up a push-up series out of my own head.
So I apologized to the gods of Physique 57 in my head, and I’ll never cheat again. Well, probably. It’s hard to resist a barre studio on vacation, especially when you and your spouse are hell-bent on spending the day being active.
I’ll probably pick another day this week to talk about the sun and warmth, since I have to give a little time to these bars.
They’re heaven. That’s it. Oh, and no mixer. Just some microwave action!
It’s rough being back in the grind, but my baking will never desert me. Now all I have to do is think about whether life in D.C. can really trump a life at the beach!
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350. Line an 8-inch square pan with foil and coat with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the oats, flour, brown sugar and salt. Add the melted butter and mix until crumbly. Add the pecans and stir until just combined.
- Set aside about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of the mixture. Take the remaining crumb mixture and press it firmly into the prepared pan. Set aside.
- In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the filling ingredients. Heat for two minutes and stir until melted and smooth. Pour the mixture over the bottom layer.
- Crumble the remaining oat mixture over the fudge layer evenly. Sprinkle M & Ms on top at even intervals.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden. Cool completely. Cut into squares and store in an airtight container.
In case you haven’t noticed, I waited to start posting pumpkin recipes until I saw physical evidence of fall around here: leaves on the lawn, cooler morning temps, a certain zing in the air. Unlike many of my fellow bloggers, I don’t start baking with pumpkin until September. Sorry, guys. I hate the end of summer. Hate it.
But man, do I love this cake. I made a version of this a year ago, and it stuck with me. It’s the only pumpkin cake ever that I have not been able to stop eating. It’s that good. And it’s also that good for you. Plus, all of my gluten-free friends who thought that good crumb cake was a thing of the past can rejoice. It’s easy to make a good crumb topping with dietary restrictions! You just have to know how.
That’s true of so many life skills that seem hard but really aren’t that bad. I’ve been working on a book that centers on taking the stigma out of baking. You know, that perception about baking being difficult and time-consuming. Sure, it can be. But it doesn’t have to be that way. There’s always another option.
When I was a kid, my style of learning was very different from the other people in my class. The teacher would explain how to do something, and it just wouldn’t click with me. For instance, teachers taught me how to outline my essays using roman numerals and numbers, and while I dutifully constructed the outlines, they never translated into good essays. I just couldn’t see how their way of getting something done was logical, and as a result, my own confidence went down. Everyone else seemed to be doing okay, so I must have been the problem.
It wasn’t until later when I was older that I started trusting my own instincts, and that’s when I started to be successful. Instead of doing tasks the way everyone else did them, I tried them in a way that made sense to my brain. My essay outlines became organized lists of ideas, and I even pulled off an A in a math class (the highest I’d ever gotten was a C) after I found a new way to look at a formula. Suddenly, I was getting straight As every semester, and it translated to other areas of my life.
Like baking. Candy thermometers were scary and I was a poor struggling teacher (this was 16 years ago), so I learned how to make fudge without one. Creaming butter was too hard without a stand mixer (oh, how I love my Kitchen Aid now!), so I developed brownie and cookie recipes that could be made with melted butter. And when baking blogs became a thing, I started reading them religiously. I learned so much from all of you, my bloggy friends, and from trial and error day after day.
Now I’m a very different person, but I’ll never forget what it felt like to be uncertain and unsure about how to do anything. That’s why I try to make it easier for my blog audience, and why I bake for people who might not have a kitchen full of awesome equipment. And it’s why I’m writing my book.
This pumpkin cake needs no mixer or any other equipment. The cake is simple to make, as is the crumb. Did you know that melted butter makes the best base for a crumb topping? Not cold butter with a pastry blender. I know that’s the prevailing wisdom, but I like my way better. And for this topping, I used certified gluten-free oat flour. It came out great, with a nuttiness of flavor that goes so well with pumpkin.
If you have to bake dessert for a GF friend this fall, make it this cake. They will not believe what you’ve done, and they’ll think it was hard. But it wasn’t, and at that point, you get to spread the gospel. Baking doesn’t have to be hard to be great!
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350. Spray an 8 x 8 square pan with cooking spray and set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients except the sugars and white chocolate chips until well incorporated. Set aside. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the eggs and sugars and mix well. Add the pumpkin and oil and stir again. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and beat until a smooth batter has formed.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Set aside while you make the crumb topping.
- In a medium bowl, mix the powdered sugar and oat flour. Add the melted butter and, using your hands along with a spatula, combine the ingredients to form large crumbs. Sprinkle the crumbs over the top of the cake.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes until the cake is done, as tested by a toothpick. Cool and then cut into squares.
For some reason, people associate Mother’s Day with brunch. Okay, I know that it’s traditional to take mothers out for brunch on the big day, but why? Don’t we rate a fancy dinner?
Listen, I’m not trying to knock brunch. The food is delicious and decadent, and it’s totally fine to feature chocolate in your pancakes, or waffles, or French toast. How could I possibly object to that? But I really, really love going out for dinner. Dinner out means one night of not having to cook for greedy little mouths.
Still, to appease you brunch fanatics out there, I made this cinnamon crumb bread. It’s pretty awesome, and to be fair, you can also have it for dessert. After dinner out.
I’m being appreciated a lot this week. Yes, Sunday is Mother’s Day, but apparently, this week is Teacher Appreciation Week. That means I got a Reese’s peanut butter cup bar in my mailbox this morning (how well they know me), chips in my box yesterday, and an apple the day before. And it’s really nice to get all the free stuff.
The thing is, I really love coming to work. People talk about how exhausting teaching is, how drained you feel at the end of the day, how demanding everyone can be. So true. But sometimes we get into such a negative place about this profession that we don’t see the great stuff. Like, how every morning, some kid I don’t know holds the door open for me to enter or exit because their parents raised them properly. How my students say “thank you” as they leave the classroom. How I laugh out loud every day so many times, even though I’m not much of a laugher. I mean, kids are funny. Even the 17 year-old ones I teach.
They are also really cool about sharing ideas. I needed some baking inspiration last week, so I asked a few about summer dessert ideas. Boy, did they step up to the plate. It turns out that teenagers really like to think about food.
And so do I, which might be why I love being a high school teacher. It’s even more exciting when ideas come by surprise, like this bread. I never thought about making it until I made these Cinnamon Donuts with Chocolate Dipping Sauce a couple of weeks back, and that formed the basis for making a bread with tons of crumb on top.
You can’t lose with crumb. You can’t lose with cinnamon. And you definitely can’t lose if you celebrate life regularly, not just on the days or weeks that are meant as designated appreciation moments. Translation? Eat dessert daily. And for you moms and teachers out there, enjoy the next few days!
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, melted butter, and vanilla. Stir the wet mixture into the dry ingredients until just combined.
- Pour the batter into the loaf pan. Set aside.
- Make the crumb topping. Mix the powdered sugar, flour and cinnamon. Add the melted butter and, using your hands along with a spatula, combine the ingredients to form large crumbs.
- Sprinkle the crumbs evenly over the cake batter.
- Put the pan in the oven and bake until done, between 40-50 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the center to test for doneness.
- Cool. Cut into slices and serve.
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If I didn’t care at all about what people want to see me bake, I’d probably make nearly every recipe on this blog related to peanut butter somehow. It is my love, and I want to honor that. But, you know, it’s not all about me. I get that. So I’ve been trying to hold it down a little, until today.
Because, because, because. Ready? CRUMBS. On peanut butter bars!
If crumbs or peanut butter isn’t your thing, run away now. And if you don’t like curly hair, ditto. Wait, what?
Okay, true story. A few weeks ago, someone I know came up to me and told me about this great straightening product I could use for my hair. I listened politely, but inside I was thinking, “You have GOT to be kidding me.”
I know straight hair is in vogue. I think straight hair is really pretty. Occasionally, I get mine blown out, and then I don’t do it again for a while. You know why? People suddenly find me prettier. They tell me how good I look, and that I should do it all the time. Boy, do I get offended.
I AM A PROUD CURLY GIRL!!!
Whoops, didn’t mean to shout. But honestly, why do people assume that curly girls want to get rid of one of their most distinctive physical traits? Coincidentally, girls with curls often come from a background that isn’t mainstream American, so maybe there’s some other subtle shaming going on there.
Either way, I will not apologize for loving my hair the way it is. And I will also not apologize for loving peanut butter forever.
Crumbs are also high on my list, almost right up there with peanut butter. So imagine my shock when, mid-workout the other day, I thought of combining the two. Why had that never occurred to me before?!
The rest was simple. I used my favorite peanut butter cookie recipe for the base and my foolproof crumb topping. A lot of crumb toppings require cutting in cold butter, but my recipe uses melted butter and comes together in literally seconds. For this crumb, I put some peanut butter in along with the regular butter to make it even better!
Don’t apologize for who you are. If you love peanut butter, scream it from the rooftops. And if you are proud of your hair, wear it your way. Be you. Own it!
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350. Line an 8-inch square pan with foil and coat with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the eggs, butter, peanut butter, vanilla, brown sugar and sugar until creamy.
- Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Pat the cookie dough into the prepared pan evenly. Set aside.
- Make the crumb topping. Mix the powdered sugar and flour. Add the melted butter and peanut butter and, using your hands along with a spatula, combine the ingredients to form large crumbs.
- Sprinkle the crumbs evenly over the peanut butter dough.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until the crumbs begin to brown and the bars no longer jiggle.
- Cool and cut into squares. Store in an airtight container.
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Well, duh, of course you do. Produce, no matter how much you conscientiously eat, has a habit of slinking to the back of the refrigerator drawer and promptly becoming slime. And as the slime gets worse, most of us pretend it’s not there and instead focus on the bright, new fruits and veggies near the front.
Or maybe I’m just a wasteful slob. If so, tell me now. No, don’t. I don’t like painful truth. It’s much more fun to live in a world where your actions don’t result in veggie slime.
About two weeks ago, I bought a bag of Meyer lemons at a gourmet grocery store that makes Whole Foods (a.k.a. “Whole Paycheck”) look like a Safeway. I used them to accent fish and chicken, to garnish and add flavor to my tea, and most important, to make these show-stopping Meyer Lemon Pie Bars. But at the end of the day, I had two little lemons left over.
You know what they say: use it or lose it. So I used them to make this crumb cake. It’s lemon, and there’s actually zest in both the cake and in the crumb topping. The result is a tangy yet sweet happy place. The cake is light as a feather, and the crumb is plentiful, as crumb should always be.
In fact, while this cake can be eaten whenever, it screams breakfast. I do the sweet thing in the mornings, so if y’all are with me, this cake is the ticket. And if not, well, it works just as well when you get the munchies at three in the afternoon. I’m actually in both camps here. Sugar all day!
Lemony desserts are where it’s at right now. Nothing helps beat the winter blues more than bright citrus. And when there’s crumb with little yellow flecks of zest to be eaten, you know it’s the best!
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350. Line an 8 x 8 square pan with foil and coat with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a bowl, mix the dry cake ingredients together. Set aside.
- In another bowl, mix the eggs, lemon juice, lemon zest, milk, and melted butter. Be sure the butter is cooled, or it will scramble the eggs.
- Add the flour and mix thoroughly. Pour the batter into the pan and set aside.
- Make the crumb topping. Mix the lemon zest and sugar with your hands. Add the butter, lemon juice, and flour. Mix with your hands until crumbs form. Allow the crumbs to be different sizes, from big to small.
- Sprinkle the crumbs onto the batter and bake for 25-30 minutes until the center is firm and the edges are golden.
- Cool completely. Cut into squares.
As someone who bakes regularly, I don’t often buy dessert. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t reallyreally want to. There are very few desserts that I have a physically hard time turning away from at the store, but babka is one of them. I love babka. Deeply. Passionately. How could I not? If you’ve ever had babka, you know what I mean.
It’s yeasty, and soft, and excellent with a hot cup of tea or coffee. Plus, if you make it right, you can underbake it just a bit to make the dough pull slightly as you dig in. And if you really do it right, you can pile beautiful crumbs on top.
Imagine a cinnamon bun with a crumble topping, and you’ll see why I’m feeling the love this morning. Plus, the babka is filled with lots of cinnamon and cinnamon chips. If you’ve never had a cinnamon chip, well, yeah. You need to change that right now. Hershey’s makes them, and they’re divine.
The dough for this babka is made in the bread machine. I throw in the ingredients, set it to the dough cycle, and then put the finished dough in the fridge overnight. The next morning I can roll it out (it rises perfectly over the course of the night in the cool temp) and get it in the oven. Hello, breakfast!
If you’re a crumb fiend, a cinnamon roll fiend, or just a fiend for the best breakfast ever, these are right up your alley. And if you see a babka at the grocery store, you can avoid it without feeling any remorse because this one is just better!
Ingredients
Instructions
- Add the dough ingredients to the bread machine pan according to manufacturer’s directions and set to the dough cycle. When the dough is finished, allow to rise for one hour in a greased bowl until doubled in size. If you don’t have as much time, put the dough in the bowl and allow to rise overnight in the refrigerator. It will rise on its own in the fridge and be ready to go the next day!
- When the dough is ready, make the cinnamon filling. Pour the cinnamon chips into a bowl. Mix in the sugar and cinnamon. Pour the melted butter over the mixture and stir until all the ingredients are mixed.
- Preheat oven to 350. Coat a 10-inch springform pan with cooking spray.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into a large, thin rectangle. Sprinkle on the filling evenly, making sure the edges are covered. Starting with the long side of the rectangle, roll up the dough to make a long, thin roll. Using a sharp knife, cut into 1 and 1/2-inch thick slices.
- Place the rolls flat into the prepared springform pan.
- Make the crumb topping. Mix the powdered sugar and flour. Add the melted butter and, using your hands along with a spatula, combine the ingredients to form large crumbs. Sprinkle the crumbs evenly and liberally over the babka, even between the crevices in the dough.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes until the crumbs are turning golden and the dough is browning. It’s very important not to overbake the babka because that dries out the dough. I like mine a little tiny bit underbaked in the middle, but not everyone is into that!
- Cool the babka completely. Then, release the sides of the springform pan. You can serve the babka or wrap it up and freeze it.
The other day, I was reading a student’s poem, which was basically a praise of winter. It was a really nice poem, and I enjoyed it. At the same time, there was a voice inside me saying, “You’ve gotta be kidding me.” I mean, she didn’t mention anything about the pain of winter.
Yes, I said pain. Cold hurts. And I don’t even feel like eating ice cream, which is just wrong. All I want to do is curl up under a blanket and eat lots of crumb cake.
A world without crumb cake would be a terrible place. It’s one of those sneaky desserts that’s actually more addictive than chocolate. I’ve never met a soul that doesn’t love crumb cake.
That said, it’s extremely unhealthy. Sometimes, up to a pound of butter makes its way into the cake. The base has a bunch of butter, and then you need a bunch more to make those amazing crumbs that get piled on top. And there are times when I’m all ready to bring on the crumb!
But not right now. As much as I hate the crazy push to suddenly be healthy in January, I do respect other people’s resolutions to a certain degree. I mean, who am I to turn my nose up at someone trying to get healthy? So with that in mind, I created a lighter version of the typical crumb cake, and it turned out nicely!
Instead of butter in the cake base, I used canola oil. And as much as I love a cake that’s more crumb than cake, I held back and halved the amount of crumb that usually goes on top. It’s still deliciously rich, but there’s a lot less of it. And the cake itself is not tremendously sweet, so it works really well for breakfast.
Even though winter is a total drag, curling up under blankets with dessert is one of the saving graces of colder weather. Don’t let your resolutions get in the way of the simper pleasures. Just lighten it up!
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350. Line an 8 x 8 square pan with foil, leaving enough to hang over the sides. Coat with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In one bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, eggs, milk, and vanilla. Stir in the dry ingredients. The batter will be thick, almost like dough. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan and set aside.
- Rinse out your smaller bowl.
- To make the crumb topping, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon and flour. Stir in the melted butter, mixing with your hands until crumbs form. Sprinkle the crumbs over the batter.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes until the crumbs turn golden at the edges and the cake is done.
- Cool. Cut into squares and serve.
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