Okay. So it’s one week into the New Year New You “phase two” course (which you can sign up for here) and I find myself wondering what to write about, now that I’m not blogging on weekly NYNY topics.
That, combined with the fact that I have about 2C of sour milk to deal with before the end of the day, has prompted me to pull together the following recipe (and write it down, so you can try it too).
As you know bob, it’s February. Late February, even. Which means that we’re just coming to the end of Hungry Month and (as of tomorrow’s New Moon) starting into Maple Sugar Month. Which is just dandy (I can feel Spring in my body, even if everything’s still covered in ice. I can tell because I keep wanting to do Yoga instead of just huddling under blankets all day long). I opened a bottle of my summer cucumber pickles today (holy moly are they ever salty! Next year? Somewhat less salt, I think…) and we’ve been largely relying on root veggies and the occasional handful of frozen broccoli or (sometimes) raspberries for our vegetable content. Which means that, at this time of year, most of my baking is of the all-dry-goods variety. Not so much with the pumpkin puree or the fresh sliced apples landing in the mix (although we can do that around here). As such, the following recipe is all about the stuff that is easily available.
Chocolate Spiced Coffee Cake
In a large bowl, stir together:
2½ C flour
2 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
In a second bowl, blend together:
½ C maple syrup (you can use 3/4 C brown sugar if you prefer)
½ C margarine
2 eggs
Add to the egg mixture:
2 C sour milk
1 tbsp cassis OR cherry brandy (you can use vanilla extract here, too, if you want to)
Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and blend until (reasonably) smooth
Stir in:
2 tbsp Walnut crumbles
2 tbsp dried currants (raisins or diced dried cherries will also work)
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan (9″ square should theoretically be fine for this, but ymmv)
Bake at 400F for 30 minutes (more or less), or until it passes the Fork Test
Remove from oven and allow to cool most of the way (or all the way)
Serve and enjoy. 🙂
(You could also use this cake as the “bread” in a kick-ass bread-pudding. I’m just sayin’).
TTFN,
Meliad the Birch Maiden.
Urban Meliad 