The Crumb to My Coffee Cake

There's no better time than brunch time for a post about coffee cake. Especially since every Sunday morning has me craving a hearty breakfast from Maxim's (on Capital Drive in Brookfield - go there!), which always comes complete with a hefty slice of their cinnamon coffee cake on the side. It doesn't matter if you order an omelet, a stack of pancakes, a dish of fruit-filled crepes, or good old fashioned eggs and bacon ... the coffee cake is ever-present! It's an act of extreme willpower to abstain from eating it. And I didn't think it was possible for anyone to compete with it ... until yesterday.

I didn't set out on a mission to reproduce Maxim's coffee cake or a batch of cake that could rival it. I set out on a mission to use a few overripe bananas that had been hanging out on the kitchen counter. Normally, I would have reverted to my standby Betty Crocker banana bread, but yesterday I encountered a dilemma: I had only one egg and my bread calls for two. Oh, and dilemma number two: our milk was expired.

Faced with these challenges, I rifled through my stacks and stacks of cookbooks, determined to come up with something. Then I pulled the Taste of Home cookbook off the shelf (for the first time in years, probably) and turned to the index. Banana coffee cake ... that seemed intriguing.

It calls for no milk. Good.

It calls for two eggs. Bad.

But it also calls for a 9x13-inch pan.

So genius struck. Let's use one egg and make it in an 8x8-inch pan! Thus, I halved the recipe and Bill and I and our coffee cake lived happily ever after.

I'm warning you now. It is addicting. You will stand over the pan, armed with a knife, obsessively saying, "Just one more sliver .. .one more sliver" until you find half of the cake gone. It's moist. It's crumbly. It's banana-y and cinnamon-y. It's everything the ideal coffee cake (which I thought had been perfected by Maxim's) is destined to be.

Next time I'll just double this version and make the full recipe. Let's go stock up on eggs.

Banana Coffee Cake
Ingredients:
For the Cake
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 banana, mashed
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/8 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

For the Topping
1/4 cup chopped or slivered almonds
1/4 cup toasted coconut
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon sugar

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Liberally coat an 8x8-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside.

Beat cream cheese, butter, and sugar until well-combined. Add the banana, egg, and vanilla and mix well. Add flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Stir until just combined.

In a small bowl, combine all 4 topping ingredients. Toss to mix. Sprinkle half of the topping in the batter and give it a couple quick stirs to combine. Spread batter in prepared dish. (The batter will be thick so, if necessary, use a rubber spatula sprayed with cooking spray to spread the batter all the way to the edges of the dish.) Sprinkle remaining topping evenly over the batter. Bake 25 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack, then slice and serve. Or just eat it standing over the dish, like we have!


By the way, the topping ingredients listed here represent my own (slightly tropical) concoction. The original recipe calls for chopped pecans, cinnamon, and sugar, but I was out of pecans and running low on almonds. I decided to bulk it up with a little coconut and it was an excellent choice!

My Bread is B-A-N-A-N-A-S Part III

That's right, I said Part III. And technically, it should be Part IV or V, but I haven't been keeping very good track. I obviously make a lot of banana bread. Specifically, I make a lot of Betty Crocker's banana bread, but certainly not because I'm stuck in a rut.

I tried a Jamaican Banana Bread with a coconut-rum glaze even before I started documenting my culinary adventures here. It was good. Then I tried Banana-Oatmeal Coconut Crumb Muffins. They were also pretty good. I've even made Bananas Foster Bread, which should have been the most incredible loaf ever but it was just ok. No matter what, I keep coming back to Betty's recipe because it's hands down, no contest the best I've ever had.

When I found this Ultimate Banana Bread recipe from America's Test Kitchen on The Feed, I began to wonder if they possibly could have topped my favorite recipe. And actually, since I worship at the ATK altar, I was sure they had. But sadly, that wasn't the case. I love you, ATK, but even with the innovative approach (microwaving bananas to release their juices?!) and the promising pictures, you couldn't beat Betty.

It's not that this recipe wasn't good. It's a perfectly fine loaf of banana bread. But it doesn't rise as high, it's not as dense and moist, and the crumb isn't quite as sweet as my go-to recipe.

Ultimate Banana Bread
Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 ripe bananas
1 stick butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 eggs
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons sugar

Directions:
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl.

Place bananas in a microwave-safe bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and cut several steam vents in plastic with paring knife. Microwave on high until bananas are soft and have released their juices, about 5 minutes. Transfer bananas to fine mesh strainer, place over medium bowl, and allow to drain, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. (You should have about 1/2 to 3/4 cup liquid.)

Transfer liquid to medium saucepan and cook over medium-high heat until reduced to 1/4 cup, about 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat, stir liquid into bananas, and mash with potato masher until fairly smooth. Whisk in butter, eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla.

Pour banana mixture into flour mixture and stir until just combined. Scrape batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle sugar evenly over loaf (I used a coarse vanilla-almond sugar I picked up on my last visit to the Mars Cheese Castle!).

Bake until toothpick (or skewer) inserted in center of loaf comes out clean, about 50 minutes (or 55 to 75 minutes if you have properly calibrated ovens like ATK). Cool bread in pan on wire rack 15 minutes, then remove loaf from pan and continue to cool on wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

My Muffins are Bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

You probably think I have some sort of banana obsession, and to tell you the truth, that might not be too far off the mark. I do love baking with bananas and while I've shared my old stand-by banana bread recipe with you, I am always looking for new variations.

I came across a muffin recipe on another blog yesterday and decided to try it, mostly because the oatmeal crumb topping looked pretty delicious. It also had an unusual ingredient that caught my eye: vinegar. Yes, you read that right. Vinegar. I did a double-take, too.

The blogger claimed that vinegar adds a "brightness" to the recipe, which is something I hear often (not in reference to banana bread, but when vinegar is added in general). Before I read the recipe in detail, I thought for sure the real reason must be to create the same flavor profile you'd achieve with buttermilk (sometimes a bit of vinegar or lemon juice will be added to regular milk to create a buttermilk substitute). Then I realized there was no milk in this recipe.

Whether I ever uncover the purpose of the vinegar or not, these muffins were delicious. I've had a hard time topping my favorite banana bread recipe, but these muffins might rank right up there. Oh, and I added an extra ingredient to give them my own twist ... coconut in the topping!

Banana Oatmeal-Coconut Crumb Muffins

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2-3 large very ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon white vinegar

For Topping:
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon cold butter
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup toasted coconut, optional (see note)

Directions:
Prehat oven to 375 degrees (or, in my case with my super hot oven, 350). Prepare a 12 cup muffin tin.

Place topping ingredients in a food processor and pulse until combined. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, stir together the mashed banana, sugar, egg, butter, vanilla, and vinegar. Add the banana mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until combined. (Do not over mix.)

Fill muffin cups 3/4 full. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the muffins. Bake for 20 minutes (mine came out of the oven perfectly done after 16 minutes). Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Note: The coconut is, of course, optional. The original recipe didn't call for it, but I'm on a bit of a coconut kick lately and thought it would be a delicious addition (and I was right ... as usual.) I had some leftover coconut that I had already toasted on hand, but it's very simple to toast your coconut either in the oven or on the stovetop. If you choose to use the oven method, heat the oven to 350 degrees, spread your coconut flakes in an even layer on a baking sheet, and bake about 5 minutes, stirring coconut a couple times. Keep an eye on it because it can burn easily. If you choose to use the stovetop method, heat a heavy skillet over medium heat, spread the coconut flakes in an even layer in the skillet and stir gently for about 5 minutes.

My Bread is B-A-N-A-N-A-S Part II

I've experimented with tons of different banana bread recipes (like the Bananas Foster Bread I baked a couple weeks ago), but no matter what I always come back to the same one: Banana Bread from Betty Crockers big red cookbook. It's a classic and it just doesn't get any better. This just goes to show you that you shouldn't mess with a good thing!

Betty Crocker's Best Banana Bread

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup very ripe mashed bananas (3 or 4 bananas)
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped nuts (Which I never get to use because Bill doesn't like nuts. Sigh.)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl. Add eggs, mashed bananas, buttermilk and vanilla. Beat until well mixed. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt.

Grease a loaf pan (or two, depending on the size) and pour in batter. Bake on center rack for about one hour (I start checking after 50 minutes and continue testing the center with a toothpick until it comes out clean. I'm very careful not to overcook my bread because nothing tastes worse than burnt bananas!). When top is golden and toothpick comes out clean, remove to wire rack and cool.


I used to substitute skim milk in place of the buttermilk in this recipe because I always had it on hand. But when I started making Irene's Famous Buttermilk Biscuits I used some leftover buttermilk in my bread. Turns out it makes the bread even more delicious! I'll still use skim milk (or whatever else we have in the fridge) in a pinch, but I strongly recommend buying buttermilk for this recipe.

Also, before Bill bought me my amazing Williams-Sonoma loaf pan I used to make this bread in a bundt pan. I prefer the loaf pan because you get more of the yummy golden top crust, which is totally the best part.