Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Baking on the fly...

This morning we had a play-date with some of the moms and babies from our mommy group. I was really looking forward to this, as it would be an great opportunity to play. For Little Girl... Really, totally selfless... Ok, I knew it would be a fun time for me, and nice chance for Little Girl to interact with other little ones. While I knew it was both unnecessary and unexpected, I really wanted to bring something with me - I hate to go places empty handed, and always love an excuse to cook or bake...!
Now, this date had been set about a week ago. You would think I would have planned ahead. But, no. This morning came around and I had yet to even think about what to make. A trip to google to look for a "quick coffee cake recipe" yielded success. I found a recipe for Quick and Easy Coffee Cake which looked, as the name suggested, both quick and easy, and tasty to boot. Another nice thing about this recipe was that it could be made in one bowl without the use of the stand mixer. (Much as I love my mixer, sometimes it is nice to have less to clean.) I started with the dry ingredients, using a fork and knife to blend in the margarine, since I don't have (nor do I see the need to purchase or store) a pastry cutter. I also added some cinnamon, because yum!) I then added the wet ingredients, and poured everything into the greased pan. As I went to the pantry to get brown sugar for my own version of the streusel topping, I spied something that made me stop. Vanilla extract. If it was still in the pantry, clearly it hadn't made its way into the batter yet. The batter that was already in the pan... No worries - I poured the vanilla right over the cake, and stirred away. No harm, no foul.
For the streusel, I prefer an oat topping. So I combined some flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and margarine with my hands and sprinkled it on top. Looked good, smelled good, I was excited!






When the cake came out of the oven I was thrilled. It rose! It was a beautiful, high, delicious smelling coffee cake that I was proud to bring to my fellow mommies! And it tasted good, too, so I was particularly happy!

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