Crumb Cake

Crumb Cakes hold a special place in my heart. Now, I am a Jersey girl always and forever. I was born there and spent half my life there. I don’t get to go back as often as I like, as a matter of fact I haven’t been there since my little man was 1 (he just turned 7). But, wherever I get a chance to go there is always one place I HAVE to go is Pinho’s Bakery. I worked there in high school up into the time I moved to VA. I loved it; during the summers I worked the morning shifts and there is nothing better than the smell of fresh warm pastries. Every morning bring the big sheet pans of crumb cake and other warm baked goods; did I mention the best perk of my job whatever I ate on the job was free. So my breakfast would include a warm square of crumb cake with a double shot of espresso (Don’t judge. 5:30 is early for a high schooler, especially during the summer).

Back to the crumb cake; I loved the soft tender cake, to the thick crumb topping with the powdered sugar. So when I went to my favorite place, my local library, and found the crumb cake recipe in Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook I had to get it. There are actually quite a few recipes I will be trying from this book so be prepared. If you don’t know what a crumb cake is let me explain; it is a coffee cake with a thin layer of cake and a thick layer of crumb mostly found in the New York and New Jersey area. A quick tip: I made the Crumb Topping first and placed it in the fridge until cake batter was done. This way you will get better clumping of the crumb. I also don’t have a pastry cutter so I just used my hand held mixer to bring the crumb topping together.

Classic Crumb Cake

From Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook

Crumb Topping

3 cups all- purpose flour

1 cup light brown sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 ½ tsp coarse salt

3 ½ sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt; cut butter in using a pastry blender or hand held mixer, until large, moist clumps form. Topping can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Cake

1 ¼ sticks (10 tbsp) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 ¼ cups sour cream

Powdered Sugar for dusting (Optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter and flour your 13x9 pan or us a baking spray like Pam. Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down the side of the bowl as needed. Add eggs on at a time until incorporated after each addition. Mix in vanilla. Add flour mixture and sour cream; beat until just combined.

Spoon batter into prepared pan, and smooth with an offset spatula. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the batter. Bake, rotating halfway through until cake is golden brown and toothpick comes out clean, 40-50 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool. Before serving sprinkle with powdered sugar, if using.

This crumb cake is great to have in the morning with your cup of Joe, in the afternoon just because or in the evening with a nice cup of tea. Any time of day is good for enjoying this treat, be careful of crumb snatchers like the ones in my house. I hope you enjoy this wonderful treat, maybe for brunch this Easter Sunday. Be blessed and enjoy.

Oven Roasted Pulled Pork Sliders

I like a good barbeque as much as the next person. Usually it involves going to a restaurant that employs the low and slow method, and all I have to do is enjoy. But due to a miscommunication between me and the hubby (not sure how a pork roast and a picnic shoulder resemble one another).

I am ready to take on this task. I will note that we do not have a grill or a smoker, because upon moving to our new home my husband decided he didn't want to take any of that stuff along. So I was forced to find an alternative method of cooking. All I have to say is this who says you need a smoker to make some delicious Pulled Pork? Thanks to a fabulous recipe by Tyler Florence (and a lot of patience) I did it.

I was pretty excited too; I pulled that big ol' hunk of meat out the fridge and got to work. I went with a dry rub rather than a marinade or a brine; which is what I usually do with a roast. Now if there is one thing you have to consider when making pulled pork, it is the sauce. If you've been to any good barbeque places you know that every region has their own sauce. There's mustard based, vinegar based or tomato based. I tend to lean more toward the tomato based sauces because, they are usually sweeter. Tyler's recipe used a mustard base sauce, but you can use what you like. I ended up doing a combo and it was really good.


 
Oven-Roasted Pulled Pork Sliders

Based on Tyler Florence recipe

Dry Rub

3 tbsp paprika (I used smoked)

1 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp dry mustard

3 tbsp coarse salt

1 (5 -7lb) pork shoulder or butt


 
Cider Vinegar Barbeque Sauce

1 ½ cups cider vinegar

1 cup yellow or brown mustard

½ cup ketchup

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

2 garlic gloves, smashed

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cayenne pepper

½ tsp ground black pepper

12 hamburger buns or sliders


 

 

1. Mix the paprika, garlic power, brown sugar, dry mustard, and salt together in a small bowl. Rub the spice blend all over the pork and marinate for as long as you have time for, as little as 1 hour or up to overnight, covered, in the refrigerator.
   

 

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

  

Put the pork in a roasting pan and bake for about 6 hours. Basically, roast the pork until it's falling apart and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part registers 170 degrees F.

 
To make the barbecue sauce: combine the vinegar, mustard, ketchup, brown sugar, garlic, salt, cayenne, and black pepper in a saucepan over medium heat. Simmer gently, stirring, for 10 minutes until the sugar dissolves.

 

 
Remove the pork roast from the oven and transfer to a large platter. Allow the meat to rest for about 10 minutes. While still warm, take 2 forks and "pull" the meat to form shreds. Using 2 forks shred the pork by steadying the meat with 1 fork and pulling it away with the other. I just used my hands, and sampled as well. Put the shredded pork in a bowl. Pour 1/2 of the sauce on the shredded pork and mix well to coat, then I used a good bottle sauce like Sweet Baby Rays.

 

 
Now when I have pulled pork I like coleslaw, but I used all my homemade skills on the pulled pork and one of the sauces, so I bought a bagged broccoli slaw mix (change it up a bit), but I did make my own dressing.


 
Broccoli Coleslaw

2 bags of broccoli slaw mix


 
Dressing

2/3 cup Miracle Whip

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1/4 teaspoon salt or celery salt


 

1. Whisk all ingredients together, pour over slaw and toss to coat.
   

 
This was my "spring into Spring" meal. Now I know that barbeque is usually a summer time thing, but spring is close enough for me. I hope you give this a try and taste a little bit of summer in the spring.

 


Be blessed and enjoy.