Quick Apple Streusel Coffee Cake

 I am kind of embarrassed by how long it took me to post this. I made this ... a while ago. It may have sat in my photos for a month. Maybe. Definitely.

A couple of months ago Dylan and I had bought some apple cinnamon flavored almonds. They were not good but I didn't want to just toss them out so the recipe search began. I added them to some muffins. Not too bad but I wanted to try something from scratch. I had apples that needed to be used and I love a good coffee cake. The quick apple streusel coffee cake from The Modern Family Cook Book, 1953 edition, by Meta Given fit the bill! And I love a good streusel topping!!

No special ingredients needed. I ended up using the apples I had on hand, 1 gala and 1 granny smith. 

Everything looks nice an normal. I decided to chop the fairly large. I wanted to make sure I could taste the apple and not just a hint of it.

Getting everything all mixed together. Melted shortening is gross looking. Just sayin.

Trying to work quickly before my apples start to brown...

All ready for the topping! I am always amazed how beautifully streusel topping comes together. It never looks like it is going to work and then you get a crisp, sweet topping. Wow!

I chopped up the apple cinnamon almonds and sprinkled over half of the coffee cake. Just in case it tasted like crap I would still have half a cake to enjoy. 

So, I totally forgot to take a picture of the baked goodies. I was a little busy. Probably. :) My kitchen smelled like autumn! Apples! Cinnamon! Cake!

This turned out to be a delicious and moist cake. Easy to make and easy to eat! The streusel topping added a nice sweet crunch to the top and even the side with the yucky almonds tasted great. The sugar coating from the almonds probably mixed with the streusel topping while it baked and lost a lot of the candy taste. The almonds added a nice extra flavor. I miss the swirl of cinnamon inside the cake but loved the chunks of apple. Also I thought that it made the perfect amount. Enough for dessert and breakfast the next day and a bit of sharing (if you want) but we didn't end up eating for a week straight. 

My Rating: Easy and tasty. Definitely a keeper!

Dylan's Rating: Great! Could use more cinnamon.

Banana Waffles

Bananas. Bananas. Bananas. Dylan loves bananas however he rarely finishes the batch before they go bad. I may eat one or two but they are not my favorite. So I always am throwing brown ones into the freezer. Not to brag but I now have a banana shelf in there. Dylan whined that I needed to finally use them so I went on the hunt. I find banana bread boring so I needed to find something else. The 1953 edition of The Modern Family Cook Book had this interesting find and since I live with someone who loves both bananas and waffles we had to try banana waffles!

Super easy and I have plenty of banana! I even had one that had not quite made it into the freezer.

I decided to go with the evaporated milk. We didn't have much milk left and Dylan drinks more than a family of 4.

There is no way to make mashed bananas look apealing.

I don't have a rotary beater (it's not high on my list of cool kitchen gadgets) so we went with the whisk. Still turned out great!

Your eyes do not deceive you. That is a cute personal waffle maker! I bought it on a whim a couple of years ago and I love it. It takes a while to do a whole batch of waffles but once I make them I put all the extra into the freezer and toast them in the morning. They are also the perfect size for egg sandwiches.

It takes a few tries before you get the perfect amount of batter. It's always a bit less than you think.

Waffles! And coffee make a perfect brunch on the porch. 

Topped with pure maple syrup...

Easy to throw together and delicious! We now have a bag of them in the freezer for a quick breakfast or snack. I am so happy to have an alternative to banana bread and banana muffins. The banana flavor is strong but not over powering. I think these would be great with fruit toppings as well. These waffles stay very moist so if you want to bake extra to freeze, I would cook them a little bit longer to help dry them out. Or lay them on a sheet pan to freeze separately before bagging them. My freezer wouldn't allow that so we just chisel them apart when we need them. 

My Rating: Keeper! Perfect for family brunches.

Dylan Rating: "I'm not quite awake yet but these are good."

Baked Pears with Marshmallows

Warm summer evenings are starting to arrive! Despite the ongoing craziness I am trying to stay positive. Cooking and baking help me keep my sanity although I wish I could share them more. I miss bringing in cookies each week to work. (Even if my co-workers didn't provide me feedback even though I asked many times) Right now, I still don't feel like doing any actual baking but I wanted to get something in. Something a little bit different but not too weird. I still had to get Dylan to eat it. For whatever reason this recipe called out to me. It looked easy and bright and summery! It is from the 1953 edition of The Modern Family Cook Book by Meta Given.

Not a lot to this. Just had to get a large can of pears and a lemon.

I love pears. They smell amazing and taste even better! I didn't have regular-sized marshmallows but I figured that mini-marshmallows would work just as well. The lemons were as thin as I could get them without pulling out the mandolin. I like my mandolin but it always takes me half a fruit or veg to get the hang of it.

All the pears didn't fit quite fit into my lovely oval vintage baking dish but that's okay. I ate the extras. Luckily there was more cinnamon sugar mix than I thought. Probably for those pears I ate. No regrets!

Some of the lemon slices had to be doubled up since my paper thin slicing stinks. I probably should have brought out the mandolin...

According to my math: 1 regular marshmallow = 4 mini-marshmallows. It looks really pretty all put together! 

After 5 minutes, the marshmallows were not even close to being browned. I ended up leaving them in for over 10 minutes to get this delicate browning. I should confess that the marshmallows were a bit old but still tasted good. I don't know if that affected their toasting.

My kitchen smells like baked apples! So yummy!!

It was such a nice afternoon that we had decided to have snacks on the front porch. The lemons added a light flavor to the pears, not enough to overwhelm but every now and then you get a burst of citrus. The marshmallows has a nice little crunch to them that I enjoyed a lot. I found the lemon rind too thick to eat but Dylan powered through one. I would probably use Meyer lemons next time so you can just eat everything. It was a bit of a pain to take the lemon off and make sure you kept the marshmallows on but maybe leave a little bit of the flesh of the lemon. Such problems! These tasted amazing good. Almost like baked apples but the lemon added a touch of tang to it. Light enough for the summer. Even Dylan enjoyed them. They looked very pretty on a plate. I think they would look even prettier with the large marshmallows that are in different shapes.

My Rating: Delicious and unique looking. I would make again for a summer dinner party.

Dylan's Rating: "Nice. Tastes almost like baked apples. I like them."

Peach Upside-Down Cake

Summer is peach season and I love peaches! I also have had way too many mushy, bland peaches hiding as good peaches so I have been very hesitant to buy any. I decided to take a chance when I found this recipe. It is from the 1953 edition of The Modern Family Cook Book. I did not use it as an excuse to buy a new oven safe skillet, kind of. But I did have to get a new shiny pan!

Why should pineapples have all the fun?! I had never heard of another fruit used in an upside-down cake but looks easy and delicious. I decided not to make the Hard Sauce.

I had to go out and get the peaches (oh darn!) and cake flour. I was a 1/2 cup short of cake flour...so annoying. But the smell of fresh, ripe peaches is everywhere! I love peaches.

 I chose wonderfully ripe peaches and they were a pain in the butt to peel. Next time, go for slightly under-ripe and firm peaches. They smelled amazing sitting in the caramel sauce.

The batter was more liquid than a normal cake batter. I didn't know how it would fill the side of the pan.

Actually filled in nicely! And smells so good.

Hmm....okay, it's not the prettiest of desserts but how can you go wrong with caramel and peaches?!

Some of the caramel is soft, some is hard.

The cake is nice and fluffy! I thought the caramel would mix with the cake batter more. There was practically no mixing of the two.

Very delicious. The caramel and peaches pair perfectly with the almond flavored cake. The most difficult/annoying part was peeling the peaches and I would recommend firm peaches over ripe ones. This cake is light enough and has just enough fruit that you can pretend it's healthy enough for breakfast. It pairs perfectly with hot coffee.

My Rating: Delicious! Will definitely make again!

Friends and Family Rating: "Looks interesting. Tastes great!" "I need a cup of coffee with this."