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LUCITE FRAMED PHOTOS BUTTONS • MEMORY BOOKS _ . CUSTOM SCREEN PRINTING FUN FOOD CATERING 112 (810) 960-7617 y recent quest for the de- licious coffee cake of my youth in Brooklyn, N.Y., brought me enough good recipes to fill a cookbook. I remembered a moist, buttery one with the most wonderful cin- namon crumb topping I ever tast- ed. No nuts, no raisins. Just a small, plain, no sour cream, non- yeast version. A recent magazine recipe for an Overnight Coffee Cake looked familiar and was the incentive for my search. Although that recipe turned out too small and dry (I put it in my freezer for future use and tossed out the recipe), it did inspire me to spend about two weeks testing and tasting many others. No success, although re- cipients of my rejects raved about them all! One evening we had unex- pected company and I quickly de- frosted the Overnight cake to use. Lo and behold, it was as close to the one of my past as any. It be- came an obsession to find that recipe. I wrote to magazines and newspapers, and called any rel- atives who may have had a copy. No luck, except for one sympa- thetic magazine editor who found a similar recipe in a bed and breakfast cookbook. I knew it wasn't the exact recipe I had used, but with a few adjustments I finally came as close as possible. And just what is the perfect coffee cake? A good yeast dough is surely the secret to the crusty fragrant cakes that line the shelves of bakeries and gourmet shops. Lack of preserv- atives sometimes makes home- made yeast cakes deteriorate quickly. Using a microwave oven to freshen them up works won- ders. Today, it's more convenient to buy yeast-made cakes. Yet using frozen bread dough or refrigera- tor biscuits can create very sat- isfying results. Duplicating those large sticky-bun varieties, often called Monkey Bread, is quick and easy using pre-made doughs. Whatever style coffee cake you choose, find a basic recipe, mas- ter it, then develop your own vari- ations in shaping the dough or changing the fillings. Creative coffee cakes can be well worth the time and effort. If you have your own favorite plain coffee cake try this: Choco- late-Cinnamon Swirl: 1/2 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons brown sug- ar, 2 tablespoons cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Pour half Ilene Spector is a Baltimore food writer. of the batter in a pan. Combine Cinnamon Swirl ingredients and place over batter. Pour the rest of the batter on top; swirl with a knife. Bake and enjoy! BROOKLYN COFFEE CAKE (DAIRY) c-\ 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour 1 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1 stick unsalted butter, slightly softened 1/2 cup brown sugar 2 teaspoons soft butter 1/2 cup milk 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 teaspoons cinnamon (to be divided) dash of nutmeg Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and butter with a pastry (J blender until coarse crumbs ap- pear. Remove a generous 1/2 cup of crumbs and combine with the brown sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon, nutmeg and soft but— , _ _ ter; mixing with fingers in a small bowl to form moist coarse crumbs. To remaining white flour mix- ture, add the milk, eggs and vanilla using an electric mixer. Batter will be thin. Pour half the batter in a greased 8-inch square pan. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the crumb mixture. Shake about an- other 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon of cin- namon over crumbs. Carefully pour remaining batter over this. Sprinkle remaining crumbs on top. Bake at 350 degrees for about 35 to 40 minutes or until cake tests done. VIENNESE COFFEE CAKE (DAIRY) 1 package active dry yeast 1/4 cup warm milk 1 tablespoon sugar 1/2 pound unsalted butter or margarine 3/4 cup confectioners sugar 3 egg yolks 2 1/2 cups flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup milk 1 cup raisins 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts 1 tablespoon grated lemon rind additional confectioners sugar for topping Dissolve the yeast in 1/4 cup warm milk together with 1 ta- blespoon sugar. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the but- ter or margarine and the confec- tioners sugar. Beat together until mixture is very light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks and continue beating until mixture is a very light lemon color. Mix in the flour and salt, adding it alternately with the 3/4 cup milk. Finally, beat in the yeast mixture and continue beating until complete- ly blended. Fold in the raisins, COFFEE CAKES page 114 c--/