Crumb Coffeecake

Most of us have a small list of guilty pleasures. Things we like that maybe we shouldn’t like, things that are maybe a little embarrassing. Trashy reality shows, cheap romance novels, maybe  Twinkies….Sour Patch Kids?

My list of guilty pleasures is long. Very, very long.

One of my biggest guilty pleasures is all things pop culture. I am an avid E television watcher, a subscriber to People Magazine, an occassional US Weekly purchaser (don’t you dare judge me), and I rarely miss an awards show. If I do miss said awards show, you can bet I will be watching all three hours of  the”who wore what” special the next day.

It may come as a surprise to you that us pop culture junkies are subject to a lot of head shaking and “who gives a crap” muttering.

I do, okay?

I give a crap.

I don’t know why, I’ve just always had a feeling it might come in handy one day.

And yesterday, it finally did.

Another of my guilty pleasures is Wheel of Fortune. I LOVE that dang show. I have loved it since I was a toddler. So, when noticed yesterday evening that it was 6:30 and I had nothing to do, I was thrilled. I grabbed my TV watchin’ blanket and fired up The Wheel.

Several minutes into the show, a new puzzle came up titled “Husband And Wife”. Well, you don’t watch this show for as many years as I have without accumulating a certain amount of word guessing knowledge.  After just a few letters, I realized that the answer to the puzzle was “Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore”. As soon as I put this together, one of the contestants said he wanted to solve. Of course, I was expecting him to answer with the same thing I had come up with.

Oh no. No, no nooooo…….this man yells out “Ashton Krutcher and Demi Moore!!!!!!”.

Ummmm….yeah…..Ashton KRUTCHER.

And Pat paused uncomfortably and told him that wasn’t it. So, the next lady spun and guessed and won about $1700.

It finally hit me that that  this was a case where my pop culture education would have come in serious handy. That man lost thousands of dollars over the whole “Krutcher” thing.

So, the next time someone shakes their head at my People magazine, and mutters “who gives a crap?” I will smile sweetly and reply….”Pat Sajak”.

Another of my guilty pleasures is breakfast foods. I would probably eat breakfast for every meal if I could do so without gaining fifty pounds. Because when it comes to breakfast, I am not one of those eating a teeny bowl of granola and a grapefruit. I like the fattening stuff. Stuff like coffeecake. Coffeecake had to have been invented by someone seriously smart. I say smart because this person figured out a way to make cake acceptable as an entire meal. What a genius!!

This coffeecake recipe comes from The King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion. This cookbook is probably in my top five, so if you need a cookbook that covers all baking basics, this is for you.

INGREDIENTS

Crumbs:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp almond extract

Cake:

8 TBS (1 stick) butter
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9×13 pan generously.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt and cinnamon. Melt the butter in the microwave and add the extracts to it. Pour the butter into the flour mixture and mix until all the butter is absorbed and you have a uniformly moistened crumb mixture. Set aside while you make the cake batter.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the flour and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, and beat between additions. Scrape down the mixing bowl, then beat in the vanilla and sour cream. In a medium sized bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder together. Add to the butter/sour cream mixture, mixing until evenly combined. Pour the batter into the greased baking pan. Crumble the crumb mixture over the top until the batter is completely covered. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

I was very happy with this cake. It was moist and not overly sweet. The ingredients were all things I already had, so I didn’t have to run to the store. Make this tonight and have a lazy Saturday morning tomorrow!!  Maybe even watch a little E? I’m just sayin’………