Squash Streusel Muffins

Last Thanksgiving I had some cooked pumpkin left over after making some pies, so in an effort not to waste any food, I mashed some of the pieces and used a cupful to make muffins. They were so good that I made them again a few times but used cooked winter squash.

Even better!

Those muffins came in really handy for breakfast when I had sleepover guests for New Year’s weekend.

These are delicious with the streusel top — a nice nosh with afternoon tea or coffee — but they’re good plain too (just make them without the streusel).

Squash Streusel Muffins

 Streusel:

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/4 cup quick cooking or rolled oats

• 2 tablespoons white sugar

• 1/8 teaspoon salt

• 2 tablespoons vegetable shortening or solid coconut oil, cut into chunks (butter if desired)

Place the flour, oats, sugar and salt in a bowl and mix ingredients to distribute them evenly. Add the shortening and work it into the dry ingredients with fingertips or a pastry blender until the mixture looks like coarse meal. Set aside.

Batter:

• 1 cup mashed, cooked squash (canned pumpkin is fine)

• 1/2 cup white sugar

• 1/3 cup brown sugar

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

• 1/3 cup oat milk (or other dairy or nondairy milk)

• 2 large eggs

• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 3/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/2 teaspoon grated fresh nutmeg

• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 10 muffin pan wells. Combine the mashed squash, white sugar, brown sugar, vegetable oil, oat milk and eggs in a large bowl and whisk the ingredients for 1-2 minutes or until thoroughly blended. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger and add the mixture to the squash mixture. Whisk or mix the ingredients for 1-2 minutes or until thoroughly blended. Spoon equal amounts of the batter into the prepared wells. Sprinkle equal amounts of the streusel on top of each muffin. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Makes 10

Banana Chocolate Cake

Same-old, same-old. The family came for the holiday (TG) and I have bananas leftover.

When there’s leftover bananas at my house I usually make banana bread or muffins or a plain banana cake of some sort. But I got some wonderful chocolate as a gift and wanted to use part of it for this cake. It’s rich and festive looking so I’m thinking of making this again for New Year’s weekend.

If you’re having a dairy meal for Hanukkah, this would make a marvelous dessert too!

streusel-topped BANANA-CHOCOLATE CAKE

Streusel:

• 1/2 cup butter

• 3/4 cup quick oats

• 3/4 cup shredded coconut

• 1/2 cup brown sugar

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Melt the butter and set it aside. In a bowl, combine the oats, coconut, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Mix to distribute the ingredients evenly. Pour in the melted butter, mix to coat all the dry ingredients and set aside.

Cake:

• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate (1 cup chocolate chips)

• 1-2/3 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 cup brown sugar

• 1/2 cup butter

• 2 large eggs

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 3 large ripe bananas, mashed

• 1/3 cup buttermilk or kefir

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• streusel (above)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9”x13” cake pan or 2-9”round cake pans. Melt the chocolate and set it aside. Mix the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda together in a bowl and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer set at medium speed, beat the brown sugar and butter for 2-3 minutes or until well blended. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat for one minute or until thoroughly blended. Add the bananas and buttermilk and beat for 1-2 minutes. Add the flour mixture and beat until the batter is well blended. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Pour the melted chocolate on top and use a knife to swirl it evenly into the batter. Scatter the crust mixture evenly over the top. Bake for about 45 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove to a cake rack to cool completely.

Makes one cake, serving 12-16

Persimmon/Peach/Nectarine Muffins

Unlike so many other fruits and vegetables, persimmons have a real “season” and you can only get them for a couple of months — like now!

They’re a real treat, with tender flesh and, depending on the variety, somewhat apricoty or with a sort of sweet-pear-like flavor.

We don’t get a lot of persimmons where I live, so I grab some when I can. I eat them out of hand, like an apple, enjoying the moment I can feast on a real, rare seasonal treat.

But I also use them for cooking and baking: salsa, coffee cake, for example.

And these muffins, made with basic vanilla batter but covered with chunks of persimmon and then topped with crispy streusel.

I’ve made these muffins using peaches and nectarines, but if you can find a persimmon, I recommend chopping one for this seasonal wonder.

Persimmon Muffins with Streusel Top

Streusel:

• 1/4 cup quick cooking oats

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

• 1 tablespoon sugar

• 2 tablespoons butter cut into chunks

Batter:

• 1/4 cup butter

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/4 cup sugar

• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1 large egg

• 1/2 cup milk

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 persimmon, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Make the streusel: Combine the oats, flour and sugar in a bowl and whisk the ingredients to mix them thoroughly. Add the butter. Using fingers or a pastry blender (or a food processor on pulse), work the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is crumbly. Set it aside.

Lightly grease 12 muffin tin cups. Melt the butter and set it aside to cool. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a bowl and whisk the ingredients until thoroughly mixed. In another bowl, combine the egg, milk, melted butter and vanilla extract. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ones and mix on low speed with a hand or standing mixer (or use a whisk) for 1-2 minutes, or until smooth and thoroughly blended. Spoon the batter into the prepared cake pan. Top each muffin with equal amounts of the persimmon pieces. Sprinkle with the streusel. Bake for about 25 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool.

Makes 12

Crusted Coffee Cake

We used to have a big gathering for break-the-fast. But this year there’s only about dozen us. Still, we’ll still feast on Mujadarah and Spinach Pie, egg salad, arugula salad, kugel and cheese. Hummus and marinated avocado. Zimsterne cookies.

Tradition.

This year I’m adding a simple dessert: coffee cake with a crusty-streusel top that reminds me of the Drakes cake I used to love when I was a kid.

Crusted Coffee Cake

Crust:

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/2 cup brown sugar

• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

• 3 tablespoons butter, cut into chunks

• 1 cup chopped almonds or hazelnuts

If using a food processor, place the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and butter into the workbowl and process until crumbly. Add the nuts and process on pulse a few times until the nuts are smaller and well combined with the dry ingredients. If using a bowl, combine all the dry ingredients, mix, add the butter and work the butter into the dry ingredients with your fingers until the mixture looks crumbly. Set aside.

cake:

• crust

• 2/3 cup butter

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 3/4 cup brown sugar

• 2 large eggs

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 cup sour cream (or plain, Greek style yogurt)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease a 9” springform pan. Make the crust. Melt the butter and set it aside to cool. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the cooled butter and brown sugar for 1-2 minutes or until smooth and well combined. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat for 1-2 minutes. Add the sour cream and beat for 2-3 minutes or until well blended and and light in color. Add the dry ingredients and beat for 1-2 minutes or until well blended. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Cover the top with the crust mixture. Bake for 60-70 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool for 15 minutes. Remove the side of the springform pan.

Makes 8-12 servings

Crumb Cake

Recently I bought a whole load of apples and have almost completed my yearly activity of making all sorts of apple desserts to put away in the freezer. I made pie, crisp, cake, my mother’s recipe for Raisin Bran crusted apples.

I also wanted to make apple sauce, but when I looked around I realized that in addition to all those apples, I had several plums and nectarines that were past their prime.

I hate to throw out food, so I made sauce, but only used two apples. The rest: 5 nectarines, 5 plums. A teaspoon of cinnamon. A tablespoon or two of sugar. All boiled down, just like applesauce, which we ate with roasted chicken.

But I had some left so I decided to use it to bake one of the recipes I have for applesauce coffee cake. I changed the formula a bit so that the seasonings would go better with mixed fruit, and I changed the streusel top to be nut-free (I used old fashioned oats).

The result: tender, moist, delicious coffee cake.

FRUIT SAUCE Crumb Cake:

• 1/4 cup sugar

• 1/4 cup butter

• 1/2 cup applesauce or other fruit sauce

• 1/3 cup sour cream

• 1 large egg, beaten

• 1 tablespoon freshly grated orange peel

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 tablespoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

• 1/3 cup milk

• streusel topping

 streusel topping: 

• 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour

• 1/3 cup old fashioned oats

• 1/4 cup brown sugar

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 3 tablespoons cold butter cut into small chunks

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease an 9-inch cake pan. Beat the sugar and butter together with a hand mixer or electric mixer set at medium speed for 1-2 minutes or until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Add the applesauce, sour cream, egg and orange peel and beat the ingredients for 1-2 minutes or until smooth. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ginger into a bowl. Add half the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and beat until well blended. Add half the milk and beat until well blended. Repeat until all the flour and milk have been used up. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the streusel over the batter. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan 10 minutes then carefully invert the cake twice onto a cake rack to cool completely. Turn the cake right side up to cool completely.

To make the streusel: mix the flour, oats, brown sugar and salt together in a mixing bowl until they are well combined. Add the butter and mix the pieces into the dry ingredients with your fingers, a pastry blender or two knives until the mixture is mealy.

Makes 8-10 servings

Blueberry Oat Streusel Pie

When I was growing up my parents had several blueberry bushes in our backyard. I remember those berries were always fat, with a silvery-gray-blue sheen. Every summer my mother would make something delicious with them. The first pickings were always served plain, freshly washed and topped with a blob of sour cream and, of course, sugar.

The rest?

Pie mostly.

Like this one, with a tender, easy-to-make, crumbly streusel top.

Btw, if you don’t wish to bother with a bottom crust, that’s ok. Make this into a “crisp”- place the seasoned berries in a baking dish, cover with the streusel and bake.

Blueberry Oat Streusel Pie

Streusel: 

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/2 cup quick cooking or rolled oats

• 3 tablespoons brown sugar

• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 cup cold unsalted butter, vegetable shortening or margarine, cut into chunks

Place the flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a bowl and mix ingredients to distribute them evenly. Add the butter and work it into the dry ingredients with fingertips or a pastry blender until the mixture looks like coarse meal. Set aside.

Filling: 

• 6 cups blueberries

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 5 tablespoons all-purpose flour

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

• 1 unbaked pie crust bottom

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix the blueberries, sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt and lemon juice in a large bowl. Pour the filling into the pie crust. Cover the top with the streusel. Bake for about 50 minutes or until  golden brown.

Makes 8 servings

Banana Crunch Cake

I am always amazed at the amount of fruit that I buy -- and that is consumed -- when my children and grandkids come. Quarts of berries of all kinds. Mangoes, pineapples, grapes and kiwi fruit. In season, also stone fruit such as peaches, fresh apricots, plums and so on.

Plus oranges, clementines, grapefruit.

Apples of course.

And bananas. Lots of bananas.

Usually I am left with nothing, which is why I am always amazed, just at the sheer quantity of what has been eaten.

And I am not complaining at the lack of leftovers! Eating fruit is a good thing. Glad my family is good with that.

IF and when I have leftover bananas I use them for banana bread or cake. I have so many different recipes it's difficult to choose one or another, so I often come up with something new.

Like this. The crunchy crust gets it one step beyond homey, making this suitable for company.

 

Banana Crunch Cake

Crust:

• 1 cup crushed raisin bran or similar flakes
• 1 cup quick oats
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 6 tablespoons liquid coconut oil (or use melted butter)

Combine the cereal, oats, brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Pour in the coconut oil and mix until the dry ingredients are thoroughly coated. Set aside. 

Cake:

• 1-2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3 mashed bananas
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9-inch square baking pan. Make the crust and set it aside. Mix the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda together in a small bowl. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the vegetable shortening and sugar together at medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until creamy and well blended. Add the eggs and bananas and beat the ingredients for another 2-3 minutes or until thoroughly blended. Mix the water and lemon juice together. Add the flour mixture alternating with the lemon-water and blend in ingredients thoroughly. Stir in the vanilla extract. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Cover the top evenly with the crust mixture. Bake for 22-25 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Makes 12-16 servings

Blueberry Streusel Pie

Recently I bought a load of blueberries because they were on sale (Fairway: $1.00 per pint carton!) and I couldn't resist.

So then of course I had to use them.

Pie came to mind first. It's always pie first for me.

My mother, who was a master pie baker, never baked blueberry pie because she said the insides were either too thick and gloppy or too runny. I experimented with the fruit, sweetener and thickening agent a few times before the filling consistency was right.

Here it is: 

Blueberry Crumb Pie

Crumb crust:

• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons butter, margarine, shortening, coconut oil or a mixture

Combine the flour, sugar and salt. Add the butter in chunks and work it into the dry ingredients with fingertips or a pastry blender until the mixture looks like coarse meal. If you use a food processor, add the ingredients to the work bowl and mix using 18-24 quick, short pulses (enough for the mixture to resemble coarse meal). Set aside.

 Filling:

•  6 cups blueberries
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 unbaked pie crust bottom

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix the blueberries, sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt and lemon juice in a large bowl. Pour the filling into the pie crust. Cover the top with the crumbs. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until  golden brown.

Note: you can use almost 3 “1-pint” boxes of blueberries. Although a liquid pint equals 2 cups, a dry pint of blueberries from most markets is about 2-1/2 cups.

Makes 8 servings

Plum Cake with Oat Streusel

Plum Torte with Oat Streusel 

It wouldn’t be the Jewish High Holiday season if you didn’t see at least one recipe for Plum Torte.

I suppose it’s because the holidays come at around the same time as the harvest for those small, dark purple Italian prune plums and what could be better than dessert made with the newest, freshest, soon-to-disappear seasonal fruit? (Although the torte recipe is so versatile that my niece Rachel Vail, renowned children’s book author, once made it with pears.)

I’ve made several versions over the years, including the NYTimes recipe and my Aunt Beck’s famous apple cake made with plums.

This year I’m baking a new variation for the holidays. If Plum Torte is so delicious, can’t it be even better — and lovelier looking — with a streusel top?

Yes!

Here it is:

PLUM CAKE WITH OAT STREUSEL

CAKE: 

• Streusel (recipe below)

• 1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1 tablespoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 2 teaspoons grated fresh orange peel

• 2 large eggs

• 1 cup milk

• 12 Italian prune plums, pitted and sliced

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Make the streusel and set it aside. Lightly grease a 9-inch springform pan. Melt the butter and set it aside to cool. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and orange peel in the bowl of an electric mixer. In another bowl, combine the eggs, milk and melted butter. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ones and beat for about one minute, until smooth. Turn the batter into the prepared cake pan. Top with the plum slices. Cover with the streusel. Bake for about 45 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove the outer ring from the pan and let the cake cool completely.

Makes one cake serving 8 people

STREUSEL:

• 1/2 cup rolled oats

• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

• 1/8 teaspoon salt

• 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Mix the oats, flour, brown sugar and salt in a bowl. Add the butter and work it into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside.

Blueberry Crumb Cake

Blueberry Crumb Cake

The blueberries are so fat and gorgeous now that last week I baked a Blueberry Crumble Pie and this weekend I had to bake this Blueberry Crumb Cake.

My Dad once planted a blueberry bush in our backyard and we were all thrilled the first summer we saw those little fruit things thriving, somehow escaping that rabbit, the one who nibbled all my parents’ strawberries. Those blueberries had that grayish-sheen skin and kiwi green inside that tells of great fruit. They were plump and sweet but also tart.

Perfect for cake. Which my mother made. Like this one, only she used a traditional streusel top and I changed that to get a more crumbly crust-type top.

Blueberry Crumb Cake

Crumb Layer:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/2 cup brown sugar

• 1/3 cup quick oats

• 1/2 cup finely chopped nuts

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Melt the butter and set it aside to cool. Place the flour, brown sugar, oats, nuts, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl and mix until well blended. Pour in the butter and blend it in. Let cool for 4-5 minutes, then crumble the mixture using your fingers. Set aside.

Cake:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter

• 2 cups flour

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1 tablespoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 2 large eggs

• 1 cup milk

• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 2 cups blueberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9-1/2-inch springform pan. Melt the butter and set it aside to cool. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer. In another bowl, combine the eggs, milk, vanilla extract and melted butter. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ones and stir only to combine: do not overbeat. Turn the batter into the prepared pan. Top with the berries and press them down into the batter gently. Cover with the crumb layer. Bake for about 50 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Makes one cake serving 8-10