Sweet Love Child

At the start of the new year, many of you will vow to cut out sweets from your life, go on diets and jump on the treadmill, desperately trying to drop a few holiday pounds. I get very lonely when that happens :-) Since I have a couple more days before 2013 gets here, I thought I'd share one last recipe in 2012 that's full of buttery, sugary goodness. Can I tempt any of you with Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Coffee Cake? There are oats and raisins in it, so don't feel so guilty. 

My very own photo/blog assistant!

I saw this recipe and had to make it, because I love me a good oatmeal raisin cookie. It's such a simple cookie, but it delivers every time- chewy raisins and oats, crunchy and buttery edges...oh, so good! There are oats in the cake batter, in the filling and the top cookie crumble. It's got raisins scattered throughout with spicy cinnamon and nutmeg perfuming the whole thing. It's practically health food. If coffee cake and cookies got together and had a love child, this would be it. And what a sweet love child it would be. While there is no coffee in this cake, a warm cuppa is the perfect accompaniment. 

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Coffee Cake adapted from Baking Bites

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For The Cake:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2/3 cup quick cooking oats
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For The Cookie Crumble:

• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 2/3 cup raisins
• 1/3 cup quick cooking oats

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch springform pan.

To make the cookie crumble: In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour mixture until well combined and the mixture is coarse and sandy. Stir in raisins and oats until mixed throughout. Set aside while you make the cake batter.

To make the cake: In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, oats, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time.

Blend in half of the flour mixture until just combined. Add all of the buttermilk and the vanilla and stir until  well mixed, then blend in the remaining flour mixture and mix until just combined, but do not overbeat.

To Assemble: Pour half of the batter into prepared pan. Top with half of the cookie crumble. Pour remaining batter on top and spread carefully to the sides of the pan. Sprinkle the remaining crumble evenly over the batter.

Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow cake to cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, before running a knife around the edge and carefully removing the springform ring. Allow to cool completely before serving. 

Store cake in an airtight container.

Thank you for the support and encouragement you all have shown me here at Lick The Bowl Good. I couldn't do this without each and every one of you. I hope to bring you many new and delicious creations in the upcoming year. Please be safe as you ring in 2013. Cheers!

~Monica H

Festive Muffins for Eating and Sharing

I promised you all another eggnog recipe, and here it is! Only this one uses real eggnog and is enhanced with rum extract and nutmeg to heighten the eggnog flavor throughout the muffins. And nothing says its the holidays more than eggnog and cranberries nestled together in a spicy crumb topped  muffin. There's freshly ground nutmeg in the muffin, as well as cinnamon and more nutmeg in the topping. They're warm and spicy, then you get a tart little bite of the bright cranberry. They're moist and tender, then crumbly and crunchy. Delicious and perfect when eaten with an eggnog spiced hot coffee. 

I've made these a couple of times now, tweaking along the way until I was happy with them and now I'm sharing with you...and the neighbors. I made a fresh batch yesterday morning to take to the neighbors on either side of us. They usually bring over my favorite pecan butter balls and tins of still-warm-from-the-oven gingerbread. I love eating homemade baked goods, that I didn't have to labor over, don't you? So whether you choose to make these for yourself on Christmas morning or as gifts, keep in mind that this recipe only makes 9 muffins, which might be a good thing, if you can't seem to put down the cookies and need portion control (like me). 

Cranberry Eggnog Crumb Muffins from Monica h

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For the crumb topping:

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 Tablespoon unsalted butter, softened

For the muffins:

• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 6 Tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup eggnog
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon rum extract
• 1 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh cranberries

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Line 9 muffin cups with paper liners.  

To make the crumb topping: In a small mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg; stir to combine. Using a pastry blender or your fingers, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until a coarse, sandy mixture forms. Refrigerate the mixture, while you make the muffin batter. 

To make the muffins: In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, melted butter, egg, eggnog, vanilla and rum extract. Stir until well combined.  

Add flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg to the wet ingredients and stir just until incorporated.  The batter may appear thick and dry, once you add the cranberries, it will loosen up a bit. Fold the chopped cranberries into the batter, but do not overmix. 

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared muffin liners, filling them about two thirds of the way full.

Sprinkle the crumb mixture evenly on top of the muffin batter.

  

Bake for about 18-20 minutes, or a until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.  

Makes 9 muffins. 

I have one more festive recipe for you, so I'll be back in a couple days. Happy Wednesday! 

The Great Cookie Thief

I spent the weekend stocking my freezer with Aunt Mary's Sugar Cookies and these Eggnog Snickerdoodles. In the process, I discovered my son is a great climber and a cookie thief!  Since I was working at the kitchen island, I set the wire rack on the breakfast table full of cooling cookies. Before I knew it, that monkey of mine had climbed up onto the chair and was on the table taking bites out of cookies. I think over the course of an hour, he had stolen half a dozen cookies, bit onto them and fed them to our dog, Autumn. What a stinker!

The Great Cookie Thief!

My friend Maranda, shared this recipe with me a few weeks ago for Eggnog Snickerdoodles. This is very much like regular snickerdoodles (a cinnamon-sugar coated sugar cookie) but it uses nutmeg instead of cinnamon, and rum instead of vanilla. Um, yes please! I used my small cookie scoop to portion out the dough and baked them for 10 minutes (per the directions) but I think they over baked slightly, because while all my cookies were nice and blond in color they all wound up crunchy and not at all chewy, like a typical snickerdoodle. Nonetheless, they were tasty, and my family prefers crisp cookies anyway. If you wan them chewy, bake for 8-9 minutes or use a larger cookie scoop and just adjust the baking time accordingly. 

I have another eggnog flavored recipe coming soon. Have a good week, everyone!

Eggnog Snickerdoodles

adapted from Taste of Home via Jolts and Jollies

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• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 sup shortening
• 2 cups sugar, divided
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon rum extract
• 1/2 teaspoon white rum, optional
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 1/4 teaspoons ground nutmeg, divided

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. 

In a shallow bowl, combine 1/2 cup sugar and 3 teaspoons of nutmeg. Stir to combine and set aside. 

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg and salt. Set aside. 

In a large bowl, cream the butter, shortening, and 1 1/2 cups sugar until light and fluffy, 

Beat in the eggs, the extract and the rum, if using. Gradually add the flour mixture and mix well. 

Roll dough into 1-inch balls. (I used a small cookie scoop to portion out the dough). Roll dough balls into sugar mixture, coating well. 

Place on ungreased cookie sheets, placing them 2-inches apart. 

Bake for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool. 

Makes 5 dozen 2-inch cookies. 

He may be a cookie thief, but he also likes to share with his uncle Aaron.  He's such a sweet boy.