Apple Coffee Cake with Citrus Glaze

I love all pastries with apples.  Especially if it doesn’t involve kneading.  Like this Apple Coffee Cake.  Easy and simple to make, yet delicious.

I made this a few years ago.  And it came out really good.  So I thought I’d resurrect the recipe and make it again.

Also, to add some richness on the cake, I’ve decided to drizzle a brown sugar glaze over the cake before serving.

Here’s what you need…

Apples.  5 apples.  I like to use different varieties…

Peel. Core.  Slice and chop the apples… Add lemon juice.

Add brown sugar and cinnamon to the apples.  Mix until thoroughly combined…

In a large bowl, combine flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and orange zest… Set aside…

… Sorry.  I have no photos for these steps guys…

Using a stand-up mixer (I use Kitchen Aid)… Whisk the eggs and safflower oil until smooth and creamy… Add the orange juice

Remove the whisk and replace with the paddle attachment.

Add the flour mixture. Stir over low speed until flour ingredients are moistened. Turn the speed to medium and blend until smooth and free of lumps.

Cake batter should look like this…

Pour 1/3 of the cake batter evenly into the greased and floured bundt pan…

And then add evenly over the the batter, 1/2 of the chopped apples…

Repeat the process…

And pour the last third of the cake batter over the second and last layer of apples…

Bake cake in a preheated oven for 60 minutes.

Apple Coffee Cake after 60 minutes of baking…

Cool in the pan on a wire cooling rack for 1 hour.

Invert the pan to remove the cake…

At this point… you can now glaze the cake.  If you want.  See Citrus Glaze recipe below…

Glazing is optional…

Serve with or without glaze…

Here’s the recipe:

Apple Coffee Cake with Citrus Glaze

5 cups apples – peeled, cored and chopped (about 5 medium apples)

2 tsps. fresh lemon juice

½ cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 tsps. ground cinnamon

3 cups all purpose unbleached flour

1 ¾ cups granulated sugar

1 TBSP. baking powder

½ tsp. kosher salt

1 TBSP. grated orange zest (about 1 medium orange)

4 extra large eggs – room temperature (see tip below)

1 cup safflower oil or any nut oil

½ cup freshly squeeze orange juice

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Generously grease and flour the bundt or tube pan.

Peel, core and chop apples. Place them in a large bowl. Add the lemon juice and mix. Sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon over the apples. Mix until thoroughly combined. Set aside.

In another large mixing bowl… whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder and grated orange zest. Set aside.

Using the stand up mixer, bowl and whisk attachment, whisk the eggs and safflower oil until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the orange juice and continue to whisk for another minute.

Remove the whisk and replace with the paddle attachment.

Add the flour mixture. Stir over low speed until dry ingredients are moistened. Turn the speed to medium and beat mixture for about 2 minutes or until batter is smooth, creamy and free of lumps.  Do not over beat.

Pour 1/3 of the batter, evenly, into the prepared bundt or tube pan.

Discard or drain any liquid that may have accumulated from the apple mixture.

And then, using a slotted spoon, spoon ½ of the chopped apple mixture over the batter.

Pour another third of the batter over the layered chopped apples.

Spoon the last half of the chopped apples over the layered batter, and then evenly pour the last third of the batter over the layered chopped apples.

Bake cake in a preheated oven for 60 minutes.

It is very important that you carefully watch the cake during the first 30 minutes of baking. As soon as the cake turns golden brown, immediately cover the pan, loosely, with aluminum foil. Continue baking until the cake is done or when a bamboo skewer comes out clean when inserted. (Mine got done in 60 minutes.  Yours might differ depending on your oven.

Remove the cake from the oven… and remove the foil.

Cool cake in the pan over a cooling wire rack for at least 1 hour.

Invert the pan to remove the cake unto a cooling wire rack.

Prepare the glaze as directed below.  Pour over glaze over the cake.  Wait until glaze slighlty hardens.  Serve.

Citrus Glaze:

2 cups powdered sugar

2 TBSPs. butter, melted

1 TBSP. freshly squeezed orange juice

1 TBSP. freshly squeezed lemon juice

½ tsp. vanilla extract

In a small saucepan, over low heat, combine all the ingredients.  Mix with a wooden spoon until smooth. Drizzle over Apple Coffee Cake and allow glaze to harden slightly.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Tess’ Kitchen Secrets:

#1 – In greasing bakings pans, including bundt pans, Baker’s Joy Spray is a convenient spray that contains flour.  Granulated sugar is also a great alternative to flour.

#2 – The Citrus Glaze adds richness to this Apple Coffee Cake.

Enjoy and Happy Cooking!

Tess Harris

Strawberry Lemonade

This Strawberry Lemonade was inspired by our visit to Chili’s Bar and Grill Restaurant several weeks ago.

I prefer flavored tea and lemonade over carbonated soda at any time.  And that day, I decided to order Strawberry Lemonade.  It tasted so good.  Not too sweet and not too tart, I drank 2 large full glasses.  And I hated leaving my third glass unfinished!

Their lemonade left an impression in my mind.  I wanted to make it when I got home.  I know how it tasted, therefore I can recreate it while the taste still vivid in my memory.  And so I did…

I know I should be drinking water.  Because plain, filtered water is good for the body.  But damnit!  I get tired of drinking water!  So sometimes, or maybe more often than not, I want to drink something other than water.  And this Strawberry Lemonade feels like heaven compared to water.  And besides, I reason to myself, drinking other types of liquid, like this lemonade is better than completely dehydrating myself.  Which I often do.

When I was little, we had to walk 2 miles to fetch drinking water.  And we only drank water when we felt thirsty.  And so I had this moronic understanding that I only drink water when I’m thirsty.  That’s what we did when I was little!

But as I got older, I learned that by the time you feel thirsty.  It’s too late.  Your body is already dehydrated.  So I should drink water – a minimum of  32 ounces for my body weight, every 3 hours.  Or 2½ hours after eating a meal.  My goal is to drink 4 quarts of water daily, before bedtime…

Drinking water every 3 hours is easier said than done.  It is difficult to drink water when one is not thirsty.  I honestly don’t know how others keep themselves hydrated when most of their fluid intake is carbonated soda or sweetened drinks.  I guess drinking some kind of fluid is better than no fluid at all.  And besides, our bodies adapt to anything.

This is where I run into trouble.  We do not regularly keep carbonated sodas or sweet drinks in our home.  What we have are gallons of spring water for drinking.

So when I started making this Strawberry Lemonade, we have an excuse to avoid spring water in between our “water drinking schedule.”  At least there are no artificial or chemical additives in this lemonade.  And it’s loaded with vitamin C.  So there… that’s my excuse for not drinking water like I’m supposed to…

So if you’re like me.  You would want to make this Strawberry Lemonade to treat yourself in between your plain water intake.  Besides, strawberries are in season right now.  So if you have abundant access to strawberries.  This lemonade is a great way to get rid of those strawberries.  Though in my case, I use frozen whole strawberries.  Just because they’re much cheaper than the fresh ones.  Texas is far away from strawberry growing farms, so strawberries here, even when they are in season, are still not dirt cheap.

Anyway…

Here’s how to make this thirst quenching Strawberry Lemonade…

You will need: 16 ounce package of frozen whole strawberries.  Or you could use fresh ones, granulated sugar, and filtered water.

In a large pot, combine strawberries and sugar.

And then add clean, filtered water.

Stir until sugar is dissolve over medium heat.

Bring mixture to a boil.  Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer strawberries for about 10 minutes.  Or until strawberries are pale pink.

Mash the strawberries on the side of the pot using a spoon.

Stir.

Remove mashed strawberries using a strainer and discard.

Add the freshly squeezed lemon juice into the strawberry liquid.

Take 2 half gallon pitchers or glass jars, and pour the strawberry syrup into the jars, dividing syrup equally between two jars.

Fill each jar with cold water.

Serve with ice.

The Recipe:

Strawberry Lemonade – Yield: 1 gallon

1 – 16 ounces pkg. frozen whole strawberries

2 ¾ cup granulated sugar

4 cups water

3 large lemons – juiced

In a large pot, combine frozen strawberries, sugar and water.

Stir over medium heat and bring mixture to a boil.  Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes or until strawberries are mushy and have turned into pale pink in color.

Turn off heat.

Using the back of the spoon, mash strawberries.  And then remove them into a strainer, pressing the strawberries through the strainer, to squeeze as much liquid from them.  Discard mashed strawberries.

Take 2 half gallon pitchers or glass jars, and pour the strawberry syrup into the jars, dividing syrup equally between two jars.  Fill each jar with cold water.

Chill strawberry lemonade before serving.

Serve with crushed ice.

Tess’ Kitchen Secrets:

#1 – The bright, red colors of strawberries give this lemonade that bright red color.   So if your strawberries are not as red, then the strawberry syrup is not going to be as red as well. (If you like, add a drop of red food coloring into the syrup before pouring it into the jars.)

#2 – Fresh lemon juice has no substitute.  Use more or less depending on how tart your like your lemonade.

#3 – You get all that goodness and colors from strawberries by simmering them.

Enjoy and Happy Cooking!

Tess Harris

Barbecued Pork Steaks in a Bun

One stormy day several years ago, I was watching Food Network and they were showing one of Pillsbury’s Bake – Off Contests, where contestants win as much as $1 million dollars for their recipes…

My reaction was – WOW!  A $1 million dollar for a recipe?  Are these recipes really worth that much?  Do they really taste that good to be awarded a $million dollars?  So I went to the library and borrow one of Pillsbury’s Cookbooks.  I was curious to try some of these million dollar  recipes.  I want to know, and taste for myself, what makes these recipes won $1 million dollars.

One of the $1 million dollar winning recipes that caught my eye was the Chinese Roast Pork Buns by Wayne Hu.  The picture looked good and the buns reminded me of Siopao, another Chinese dish that I used to enjoy in the Philippines years ago.  Siopao is a steamed bun filled with pork and boiled eggs, served with a sauce.  Thus, I decided to give this dish a try…

The verdict…?

Overall… my family loves these buns.  They are great travel food.  And can be eaten as a snack, lunch, or dinner accompanied with a light soup.

And the preparation is fairly easy because I did not make my own buns.  Instead, I used store bought Pillsbury Buttermilk Biscuits.

My question is… are the really worth $1 million dollars…?

The Barbecued Pork Blade Steaks are awesome.  This is a stand alone dish that can be served with cooked rice and sauteed vegetables on the side.  And they’re easy to make.

As for the buns…

I don’t think so.  They are good… and the preparation is easy, but I don’t think it’s worth a $1 million dollars.  But then again, this is a very good example that food and taste is very subjective!  According to the judges of the Pillsbury Bake – Off Contest in 1994, this recipe – Chinese Roast Pork Buns is worth the $million dollar prize.

The recipe that I am posting here is my own adaptation of that $million dollar winning recipe.  I made a slight deviation from the original recipe by using red wine and olive oil, instead of using sherry and peanut oil, but I think the taste is still pretty close.  Also, I made extra barbecue sauce for the pork and I mixed about ½ cup of the remaining barbecue sauce with the filling below.

This recipe serves 4.  Two buns per person.

(I apologize.  But I don’t have step by step photos for this, yet…)

Prepare the Barbecued Pork Blade Steaks first.

I realized that I cooked four blade steaks but I only need 2 for these buns.  So I made sandwiches with the ones I did not need…

Barbecued Pork Steaks

4 large pork blade steaks – about 3 pounds

Sweet Barbecue Sauce:

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup ketchup

½ cup soy sauce

½ cup hoisen sauce

¼ cup red wine

¼ cup deli style mustard with horseradish

2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

6 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled

 

Combine barbecue sauce ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.  Pour sauce into a large bowl.  Reserve 1/2 cup of this sauce to be used for the Barbecued Pork Steaks in a Bun…

 

Preheat oven to 400°F.

 

Line a heavy duty cookie sheet with foil.  Place a wire rack in the cookie sheet.

 

Wash pork steaks and pat dry with paper towels and place them on the wire rack.  Liberally brush both sides of each pork steak with the barbecue sauce.

 

Bake pork steaks in a preheated oven at 400°F for 30 minutes.

Brush pork steaks again, on both sides, with the remaining barbecue sauce.  Return to the oven and bake for another 15 minutes.

Remove pork steaks from the oven and cool enough to handle.  Chop pork steaks into small pieces, discarding the bones.  Serve pork steaks as sandwiches or use as filling for the Barbecued Pork in a Bun.

~~~

So once the pork steaks are ready…

Prepare the filling for the buns:

1 TBSP. olive oil or vegetable oil

½ medium onion – finely diced

1 – 8 ounces can water chestnuts, finely diced

1 TBSP. cornstarch

1 TBSP. red wine or dry sherry

1 TBSP. soy sauce

1 TBSP. hoisen sauce

½ cup chicken stock (broth)

2 Barbecued Pork Blade Steaks – chopped

Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet.  Sauté the onions until translucent.  Add the water chestnuts and stir a few minutes.

In a small bowl, combine soy sauce and hoisen sauce and pour over the sautéed onions and water chestnuts, stirring to combine.  Stir in chicken stock or broth and bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat.

In another small bowl, combine wine or sherry and cornstarch.  Gradually stir in cornstarch mixture into onions and water chestnuts, whisking constantly until thick.  Remove skillet from the heat and add chopped barbecued pork.  I mixed ½ cup of the remaining barbecue sauce to this mixture to make the filling more saucy.

As for the buns, you will need 1 can Pillsbury Buttermilk Biscuits…

Take the biscuits out of the can and separate them…

On a lightly floured board or clean counter, roll each biscuit, using a lightly floured rolling pin, into a 6 inch circle.

Scoop about 6 tablespoons of the barbecued pork and fill the center of the flattened biscuit.  Gather the edges towards the middle, twisting and pressing to seal.

Place buns seam side down on the greased cookie sheet.   Brush each bun with the glaze and bake in a preheated oven at 375°F for 18 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve warm.

Bun Glaze:

1 large egg

1 tsp. brown sugar

1 tsp. water

Beat all ingredients.  Brush each barbecued pork buns with this glaze before baking.

After 18 minutes or so… the buns are ready to serve.

 

Enjoy and Happy Cooking!

Tess Harris