Hello again! & Maple Coffee Cake

Inspired by my cowoker Camille, I have decided to start up my food-blogging again! This blog was created more for my own theraputic uses than for other people to read, infact I don't share it with my friends or family. I was actually surprised to see that people had actually viewed it! I hope that someone out there tried one of my recipes and enjoyed it. I apologise for any posts that were never followed up on, ex: the doughtnut debacle! I had a malfunction with the coconut oil, then I dropped a big rock on my foot while gardening in flip-flops. Yes that was a bad idea. But the donuts rose and smelled incredible. I ended up baking them, and using them for breakfast sandwiches. I think there may be still some in my freezer.

A little back-story to the recipe: I spent a weekend in Sebastian, Florida after Christmas, and my grandfather's girlfriend Rhoda served us this decadent Maple Coffee Cake. I ended up taking pictures of all her favorite recicpes with my digital camera. Unfortunatly for me, Rhoda is one of those cooks who "just knows how to do things" so her recipe only included the ingredients, and I had trouble remembering how she told me to shape the dough. I ended up making a large spiral and baking it in a tube pan. Then I noticed up in the right-hand corner of the image: (makes 2). I made one super-gigantic coffee cake, but in this case it was good because it was a gift for my Aunt & Uncle who's house we crashed at last night after the roller derby awards party. I have now reached an age where I need to spend the night if the drive home is more than 40 minutes away. John and I did get to try some for breakfast this morning, it was very caramely gooey at the bottom and the cake itself had great texture.

Maple Coffee Cake

1 packet of yeast (I used 2> teaspoons)
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1/2 cup scalded milk (yes, it really needs to be scalded!)
3+1/4-1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup warm water
1+1/2 t salt
3 T sugar

Filling:
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 T flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t maple flavoring (I omitted this)
1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used slivered almonds)

Place in bread machine at dough setting. Punch down well on floured surface.

Now, Rhoda's directions stated merely "roll out to 8x12inches"; which I did, and then spread the filling as evenly as possible over the dough, rolled it up and wet the edges to seal it in a ring. With sharp kitchen scissors I snipped the dough perpendicularly to expose the layers. Teh I let it rise for a good hour, and baked it in a greased and floured tube pan for somewhere between 45min-1hr at 325F. But Rhoda's incomplete directions said only: yeilds 2; bake at 350F 25-30min. I will let you decide what to do! If you want to get fancy, check out a bread machine cookbook for ideas how to shape similar breakfast/dessert breads.

This is amazing with coffee on a January morning in CT, even if you have your uncle's howling beagle named Lexi serenading you while you eat!