raspberry-cream cheese crumb cake

I know I've been a bit m.i.a lately, but the weather's been so gorgeous around here, and I have a new house that needs all that spring stuff-a-mah-doo done to it. Amazing how having a house just literally sucks up the time, day AND MONEY!
So this recipe, well, I first set out to create a raspberry or strawberry cream cheese muffin. I wanted the middle of the muffins to have a lot of good creamy-fruity stuff in them. It was a fail, not up to my standards. I might give it another go at some point. Instead I came up with another crumb cake recipe (I hope ya'll aren't tried of my crumb cakes by now....I see a cookbook theme here "365 crumb cakes, a crumb cake a day..."
I don't have to tell you that this cake was a huge cake right? I mean it didn't even last a day in this house. Poor crumb cake didn't know what it had coming to his sexy, yummy, buttery, fruity, crumbly self. But you know what else? This cake is actually a danish imposter; a danish posing as a crumbcake. Shhhh....don't tell anyone, they'll all be doing it.

raspberry-cream cheese crumb cake
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Cake:
¼ cup canola oil, plus more for pan
½ stick unsalted butter, melted
2 TB sour cream
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
½ cup + 2 TB granulated white sugar
1 ts baking powder
½ ts coarse salt
1 large egg
½ cup + 2 TB half & half
2 ts pure vanilla extract

Crumb Topping:
1 cups flour
1 cups packed light brown sugar
¾ ts coarse salt
½ TB ground cinnamon
1 stick unsalted butter, melted & cooled

Cook notes: the batter is very thin. It rises a bit when baking. This crumb cake bakes very fast! So please make sure to check it at the 25 minute mark. It will be hard to see if it’s done with all the layers on there, so use a cake tester to check cake layer. The coulis can be made a couple days ahead of time and stored in fridge until ready to use. It is optional, but wonderful to add in a couple tablespoons of the coulis into your cream cheese mixture.

raspberry coulis:
1 pint fresh raspberries
2 TB granulated sugar, or to taste
1 TB fresh lemon juice, or to taste

For the coulis:
Put all the ingredients in medium sauce pan and cook over medium (not high!) heat until fruit is mostly dissolved and mixture has reduced a bit as well as thickened up; about 30 minutes or more. Strain through a fine mesh sieve, pushing down on the solids. You might have to let this sit for a while to finish draining—it takes a while. Don’t forget to scrape off the bottom side of the sieve for all the juicy, thickened pulp. Discard the seeds. Taste and add more sugar or lemon juice if needed; it shouldn’t need anything. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

For the crumb topping:
In a medium bowl, combine all dry ingredients, pour melted butter over mixture, and toss with a rubber spatula until large crumbs form. Set aside

Cream cheese mixture
8 ounces cream cheese, room temp.
1 large egg yolk
3 TB white sugar
1 TB fresh lemon zest
2 TB or more of the coulis (optional, but wonderful)

For the cream cheese mixture:
Mix all in a bowl (really well) until ready to use.
For cake:
Place rack in center of oven, and heat oven to 350°.
Lightly butter a 9 x 13 baking pan and dust with flour, and tap to remove excess. (I’ve also used the Pam with Flour and it worked just fine). Set aside. In a medium bowl, sift together 2 ¼ cups flour, add in the granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a second bowl, whisk together egg, butter, half & half, canola oil, sour cream, and vanilla.

Using a rubber spatula, fold dry ingredients into wet mixture.

Spread batter evenly into prepared pan, and set aside. (to keep batter from sticking to your hand or spoon, just wet or oil your fingers or a spoon and spread evenly throughout pan).

The batter should be about half an inch high. It will cook/rise to an inch thick. (Don’t worry if the batter is very thin and hard to get into the corners, it does spread out as it’s cooking). Use wet fingers to push batter into corners.
Next put on the cream cheese mixture either in one single layer, clumps or vertical lines. You can make swirls if you want too, I did not.
Next add on the crumbs. Then drizzle on the coulis (if it helps put the coulis in a pastry bag and draw lines).
Then transfer pan to oven, and bake for 14 minutes, rotate pan. Then cook another 10 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Check cake at 25 minute mark for sure. Let cake cool and set up before slicing.
Using a serrated knife or bench scraper, cut into 3-inch squares. Store in an airtight container for up to 2-4 days.

strawberry shortcake w/ chocolate

There was a time when I was little I remember having a memorable strawberry shortcake at a local summer fair. Everyone around me was eating it, when I walked through the entrance gates of the fair almost every other person I saw was eating strawberry shortcake. I simply couldn't wait to get to the strawberry shortcake stand and devour one--no, I was having two orders (I reasoned with myself because I knew there'd be a line). Patiently I waited in line like everyone else, staring at every single order of strawberry shortcake that went by. Once I finally got to the front line, I was able to see inside the truck: a massive bucket filled with bright red strawberries in a red syrupy sauce, a large tray had slices of cake ready to assemble, and cans of whipped cream all lined up assembly style. Taking my first bite I couldn't wait--but it was awful. The cake was angel food (or as I like to call it angel-air cake), the berries were limp and partially frozen, and the whipped cream was nothing but chemicals. Such a dissapointment. But what kept my mind stirring about for the rest of the day was why did all the people love it so much and not me? What was wrong with me? As I got older and became more of a foodie I realized that real strawberry shortcake is made with real strawberries, real whipped cream and strawberry shortcake made with REAL biscuits, not angel-AIR cake.
So every time I make strawberry shortcake I'm always brought back to that moment and wonder how many people, right now, are truly missing out and eating those horrid versions seen at some local fairs.

strawberry shortcake w/ chocolate topping
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for the strawberries:
½ pound strawberries, washed, hulled & chopped
2 TB white sugar
1 TB fresh lemon juice

It’s best to get the strawberries done first as you want them to sit for a while at room temp before serving. I like to let mine sit for at least ½ hour to 45 minutes before serving (room temp).

buttermilk biscuits
adapted from cook's illustrated

2 cups flour
1 TB baking powder
1 TB sugar
1 ts salt
½ ts baking soda
4 TB unsalted butter, grated (I used 5 TB)
1 ½ cup buttermilk
add'l flour
2 TB melted butter
Course chunky sugar for dusting tops of biscuits before baking

Grate your 5 TB of butter with a cheese grater or food processor, place back in freezer till ready to use. Preheat oven to 500ºF. Spray a 9 inch springform or cake pan with some nonstick spray. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt to a bowl and mix the ingredients together evenly.
Using a fork or pastry blender, mix the butter. Stop once you have the dough in small crumbles. Fold in the buttermilk until everything is just blended, and there are no streaks of flour remain. Do not overmix, the mixture should still be lumpy.
Line a plate or tray with some flour and using a 1/4 C measuring cup or 1/4 C ice cream/cookie scoop, scoop out balls of the dough onto the tray of flour.
Flour your hands and roll each ball around in the flour to evenly coat them in a layer of flour.
The dough is very wet and very sticky.
Place the dough balls into the prepared pan. Place 9 balls around in a ring and 3 balls in the center of the pan. Brush the tops of the biscuits with melted butter, then dust them with coarse sugar chunks.
Bake for 5 minutes at 500ºF (middle rack) and then lower the temperature to 450ºF and bake for another 15 minutes. Should make 12 (you can halve this recipe to make only 6 biscuits).

whipped cream:
Place your whipping bowl and the beaters in the freezer at least ½ hour before using. This is good for keeping the whipped cream nice and cold.
I use about ½ cup of whipping cream, beat till almost whipped, then add in a couple splashes of pure vanilla extract, then resume whipping till done.

chocolate topping:
I just melted some 60% cocoa dark chocolate chips in the microwave.

to assemble:
I only used 6 of the biscuits and froze the rest. Cut the biscuits in half, spoon on the strawberry mixture, put a little bit of the melted chocolate, put on the other half of the biscuit, then top with whipped cream and maybe a bit more melted chocolate.

crazy chicken fajitas

Not really your average chicken fajitas; kicked up a few notches with the addition of horsey sauce and onion straws. I love chicken fajitas and need to make them with a sauce or two. First a good base sauce/marinade should be the coating on the chicken or beef, then a sauce to go over the fillings of the fajitas, and finally a relish or salsa on the side for extra dipping pleasure. I need the extra dipping pleasure....I love my sauces.
But first I want to say congrats to Joanne over at eats well with others. She was the lucky winner of the $50.00 gift card to Williams Sonoma. Congrats Joanne. Let us know what you got at Williams Sonoma. I know I can easily drop about $2000.00 in that store in the blink of an eye. What kind of giveaway should we have next? I love to hear all ideas....

I also want to say thank you to the la times for featuring my giant quarter pound double chocolate cookies on their blog. That was wonderful--many thanks Renee.

crazy chicken fajitas
by dawn finicane
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marinade
2 boneless chicken breasts, sliced into strips thinly
3 TB fresh lemon juice
salt & pepper
2 cloves garlic, crushed

veggies for fajitas
1 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 orange bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 large sweet onion, thinly sliced
1 small jalapeno pepper, seeds removed, and thinly sliced/or diced

sauce for chicken
1 TB olive oil
2 TB Worcestershire sauce
2 TB dark brown sugar
1 TB crushed garlic
1-2 limes (juice of)

combine all marinade ingredients in a plastic bag, seal and let marinade for a couple hours or more.
when ready to use, heat skillet or grill, lightly oil with olive oil. discard the marinade and cook thoroughly. set aside. in same pan grill up all the veggies until they have a nice color to them and a bit of char. you might need a bit more olive oil. remove veggies from pan. in same pan to make the sauce add in the garlic, let it cook a couple minutes, add in the lime juice, add in the dark brown sugar, get up the little bits from pan, then add in the worcestershire sauce. add the chicken and veggies back in the pan and coat well. serve on warm tortillas. add the horsey sauce or whatever you wish. I served this with some sweet pepper relish from stonewall kitchen or you could use corn relish--that works very well too. I made some onion straws to put on top of these and to devour half by myself as well. or you could use crispy shallots.

horsey sauce
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup grated horseradish
1 ts of white wine or vinegar

In a small bowl stir together the sour cream, heavy cream, wine, and horseradish.
Makes about 1 ½ cups sauce; you can halve this or even quarter this recipe.

onion straws
by guy fieri

2 cups canola oil
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Kosher or sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 sweet onion (Maui or Vidalia)

For the onion straws: In a medium sauce pot, heat the oil to 350 degrees. Whisk the egg and milk in a medium bowl. Mix the flour, cayenne pepper, paprika, garlic powder, 1 tablespoon salt and 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper in another medium bowl. Cut the onion in half, then slice into 1-inch-thick half rings; separate into short straw-like pieces. Add to the milk mixture to soak. Once the oil is hot enough, remove the onions from the milk mixture, shake off excess and dredge in the flour mixture, 4 or 5 pieces at a time. Add to the pot and fry until golden brown; transfer to paper towels to drain.

crispy shallots
semi-adapted from barefoot contessa

1 cup light olive oil
3 tb unsalted butter
5 to 6 shallots, sliced into medium-thin rings

Heat the oil and unsalted butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat until it reaches about 250 degrees F. Reduce the heat a bit then add the shallots. I did this in two batches. You really do not want to crowd the pan at all. The shallots will brown perfectly if they have plenty of room in the hot oil to swim and get happy. Cook until nice and brown. Make sure to stir the shallots once in a while to get all sides brown. Once down remove them from the oil with a slotted spoon, and drain, then place on paper towels. They should stay at room temp., don't put them in the fridge as they will go soft and lose all that nice crispiness.
Should make less than ½ cup.

quarter pound double chocolate cookies

Quarter pound cookie. Let's just look at that one sentence. A chocolate cookie that weighs a quarter pound. Seriously. Filled with cocoa powder, dark chocolate chips, butter, a touch of cinnamon, sugar, a touch of salt, a hint of cream, and then dipped in warm ganache. That's food porn. One bite, ok three bites of this cookie and my chocolate craving was satisfied. I have to tell you these cookies were fun to create. What do they taste like? A moister, super rich, dense scone with texture and a long lingering chocolate essence. They are really thick and really rich--super rich actually. Why did I make them so big? I have an obsession with giant cookies. That's it. I'm addicted to chocolate. No, I have an obsession with giant sized chocolate cookies. And a small obsession with levain bakery. I know I'm not supposed to swear on my food blog and all that crap, but trust me one bite of these cookies and you will say holy shazammmm--that's a *(#&^% good cookie!
As you see in the next picture the cookie sheet is 18 x 13 inches and it holds only eight cookies. I was going to put a paper clip on the cookie sheet so you could see size difference, but then someone might be like 'why is that girl putting paper clips next to her cookies?'
My giant cookies were featured in the la times, how cool is that? Thanks la times!

quarter pound double chocolate cookies
loosely based on levain bakery
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2 and ¾ sticks of room temp unsalted butter
¾ cup granulated white sugar
¾ cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 TB half & half (or cream)
1 ½ ts pure vanilla extract
3 cups all purpose flour
½ cup + 2 TB cocoa powder
½ ts cinnamon
Oversized ¾ ts sea salt
1 and ½ ts baking powder
½ ts baking soda
2 cups (60% or higher cocoa) dark chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

In a mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, or by hand beat butter and both sugars just until creamy. Don’t overbeat. Add in the eggs, vanilla, and half & half and beat just until incorporated.
In another bowl mix the flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt. When thoroughly mixed, add to batter and stir just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips.
Keep in mind this dough is very hard and thick. I like to chill my dough for at least 3 hours before using.
Divide dough into 12 big 4 oz lumps. Mold into HUGE golfballs; do not press flat! Keep them as balls on the cookie sheets. Bake on ungreased cookies sheets (one sheet at a time).
Put the cookies in a 365 degree oven for about 12 minutes, rotate pan, then bake another 8-10 minutes OR until the cookies are just set. It will be hard to tell when the cookies are done. Recipe by dawn finicane. Look for crackles on side, cooked tops and semi-firm; they should be a bit soft in the middle. Don’t overbake or they will turn into scones. Once baked don’t try and move the cookies off the pan, they will break apart, let them chill a bit before touching.
Once they are completely cooled, dip the tops in melted dark chocolate (or milk chocolate). Makes 12 giant cookies.

buffalo chicken pizza w/ blue cheese

Not just any pizza but buffalo chicken pizza with monterey jack cheese, bermuda onions and blue cheese. Seriously this was so good I ate the leftovers cold right from the fridge. I love buffalo chicken but hate wings. I'm just not into all that bones and stuff, really not a wing girl. But the stuff, the sauce that's actually on the buffalo chicken wings is something I love. That buttery, hot, sticky sauce with a bite? Oh yes please, may I have seconds with extra hot sauce and use the blue cheese to chill down the hot snap is all kinds of craziness going on in the mouth fun.
So that is what inspired me to create this in pizza form. You know all the goodness of that buffalo chicken sauce, and the blue cheese, all on top of a crispy pizza. You just can't get good pizza like this at a pizza joint--well maybe, in NYC.
(sorry for lack of more photos; hungry people in house ate pizza faster than I could photograph)

buffalo chicken pizza w/ blue cheese
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To make:
Bake a couple chicken breasts that are well coated with olive oil and salt & pepper in a 350 degree oven until done (about 30+ minutes?).

While chicken is cooling melt about 3-4 TB of butter with 1/4 cup of tabasco sauce (or franks hot sauce or whatever hot sauce you love). When chicken is cooled, break apart into large chunks, place in bowl and coat them with the hot sauce mixture.
Roll out pizza dough, put a thin layer of the hot sauce mixture on pizza dough, then top with a thin layer of monterey jack cheese (or whatever you like), then the coated chicken, then crumble some blue cheese over the pizza, and top with thin shreds of bermuda onion. (I also like to put a few extra onions, raw, on the pizza when it just comes out of the oven). You could also top this with some fresh chives when it just comes out of the oven.
Before it goes in the oven take a little bit of olive oil and lightly brush the outside of the pizza, then sprinkle same edges with a little bit of onion powder and some salt & pepper.
Bake in a 450/500 degree oven till nice and crisp (mine takes but 20 minutes to bake, but I like mine well done).

Cook Notes: I used the whole grain pizza dough from whole foods it really is the best and you can't even tell it's good for you ha!. Use really good, moldy blue cheese, you can tell it's really good if there is a lot of blue in the middle. Do try the trick of olive oiling the edges of the pizza & seasoning just before baking, it really brings a nice tasty crust.