Accidental Apple Cake and the Holiday Season

I haven't been blogging much lately. Obviously. Food and I have a funny relationship right now. At times, I know exactly what I want and will stop at nothing to create or obtain it. This apple cake falls into that first scenario. Other times, nothing sounds good and I try to piece together a relatively healthy meal. And still, at other times, what sounds good when I start preparing has no appeal once it is ready to eat, so I have a couple of bites and call it a day.

Combine the strange food relationship with (seemingly) never-ending fatigue and there is not much blog material, sorry to say.

There are reasons for this food madness. I am pregnant: we are expecting our first child in May. 

(That sentence deserves a million ! after it - we are so very excited - but one by itself did not fit, maybe because this is not an AIM conversation or, in this age, a teenage text message.)

This time last year, I was excitedly preparing for the holidays. This year, not so much, at least not yet. Presents are almost all purchased, plans are made, and so on, but I'm having a hard time fully embracing the season. Is it the exhaustion? Maybe. The overwhelming desire to empty my house of almost everything we don't use on a daily basis? Something like that. It might be the stresses of the past month, with travel (the husband to a conference and the both of us to a wedding - congrats guys!) and holidays to host and massive career-affecting exams to pass (American Institute of Certified Planners, and I passed!). But we got through all of that, we are starting to relax and let the holiday season wash over us. The autumn-themed dishes that came out for breakfast the day after Thanksgiving certainly helped.

One of the first things that has sounded good and remained good throughout its life over the past few months has been this apple cake. The cake started as simmered apples and cinnamon to enjoy over ice cream after the Thanksgiving meal and perfect turkey, and finished the next morning as a moist, spiced apple cake with crumb/streusel topping. Because it was an accident, or at least an experiment, there are no photographs of the process.

Apples

Johnagold apple, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch to 1-inch cubes

Pink Lady apple, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch to 1-inch cubes

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup water

Heat all ingredients except for water over medium-low heat until heated through, stirring occasionally. Some of the apples will start to break down. Reduce heat and cover, let cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. Add water as needed if the mixture gets too thick or dry. Remove from heat. Can chill overnight.

Cake

3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups flour (all-purpose)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sour cream*

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9-inch springform pan or similar (the batter came within 1/2 inch of the top of my 3-inch tall springform pan, for reference). Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat each until incorporated. Add vanilla, beat until incorporated. Remove from mixer. Add one cup flour and baking soda, stir until incorporated. Add 1/2 cup and 1 tablespoon sour cream, stir until incorporated. Add another one cup flour and baking powder, stir until incorporated. Add second 1/2 cup and 1 tablespoon sour cream, stir until incorporated. Add third one cup flour and nutmeg, stir until incorporated. Fold in apples mixture. Pour into your prepared pan.

Topping

4 tablespoons flour

3 tablespoons oats

5 tablespoons brown sugar

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled, cut into chunks

Combine all dry ingredients (no butter) in a bowl or small food processor. The food processor will grind the oats a bit, or if you prefer them whole then skip the processor. Add the butter and rub into clumps with your fingers, or process in pulses until combined and crumbly. Sprinkle topping over batter in pan. Bake for 55 minutes or longer, until cake is set and a toothpick comes out clean (might not be completely clean if it pierces an apple). Immediately remove the springform shell and let the cake cool. Serve warm or cool with whipped cream for dessert or coffee for breakfast.

*If you have 8 ounces of sour cream and no more, you can use yogurt or something similar in its place.

Breakfast Tacos

Breakfast tacos are so Texas. At work, we'll get them most Fridays. Almost every place that does breakfast has them on the menu in some form or another, and every person has their favorite place to get them. There are infinite combinations of ingredients, of course, but eggs, some meat, and cheese, rolled up in a soft flour tortilla, tends to be the standard. Other ingredients may include potatoes, beans, vegetables (peppers and onions), salsa, avocado, jalapeño, and so on. Variations include minor details such as how the meat is incorporated (mixed into the eggs or placed on top), the type of cheese, or the size of tortilla.
Whenever we have the fresh tortillas from Central Market, we make our own breakfast tacos. Today's rendition included bacon, colby-jack cheese, black bean and corn salsa, and eggs. Fruit was served on the side.

First, cook the fillings, in this case, eggs and bacon.

Set the table with all of the ingredients.

Assemble the taco.
Cheese

Salsa

Egg

Bacon

Roll and enjoy.

Migas Casserole

The husband was still asleep. I started making breakfast, and mid-way through the bacon cooking I realized I wanted migas, but didn't want to have to cook after he got up. I wanted everything to be ready by then. Migas became migas casserole, and it stayed nice and warm in the oven until he woke up. Serve it with fresh fruit.

Migas Casserole
2 strips of bacon (optional - if not using, use olive oil to crisp the tortillas instead)
2 corn tortillas
1/2 red bell pepper, cut into 1/2 to 1/4 inch pieces
1/2 cup chopped onion
5 eggs
1/4 cup cream
1 cup grated cheese of your choice (used cheddar and Cojita)
fresh ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 375.
Cook bacon. Drain on paper towels. Tear corn tortillas into bite sized pieces. In the same pan, with bacon grease that remains (or olive oil if you choose), cook corn tortilla pieces until crisp, stirring occasionally (for me, that means I stir almost constantly thinking that the more or faster I stir, the sooner the food will be done). Drain tortillas pieces on the paper towel with the bacon. When the bacon is cool enough to handle, break it into small pieces.
In the same pan, add the onion and red bell pepper and cook until onions are almost translucent and peppers are tender. Scrape the pan to remove browned bits. Remove from heat. Add the bacon and tortillas back to the pan and stir to combine.
Prepare the eggs. Whisk the eggs with the cream. Add pepper to taste (but don't taste the raw eggs, just guess).
Grease a small casserole dish. Place about half of the onion/bacon/tortilla mixture in the bottom of the dish. Pour half of the egg mixture over it, and top with half the cheese. Repeat.
Cook on the middle rack of the oven for 45 to 50 minutes until the eggs are firm. Let it cool for about 5 minutes. Serve with chopped tomato, cilantro, avocado, and anything else you want (black beans, salsa, and so on).

Tuesday Treats - Chocolate Chip Cornbread

This recipe is incredibly easy to make, and perfect for breakfast. The chips bring the perfect amount of sweet to the savory cornbread, and served with butter makes a fun breakfast, and great for company. Next time I will make it in my mini-loaf pan so we each can have a baby loaf to ourselves.

Preheat oven to 375.
Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup granulated sugar (scant)
2 teaspoons baking power
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Stir in chocolate chips.

Combine wet ingredients in a medium bowl. Whisk to combine. I love the word whisk.
1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until combined.

Pour into a greased loaf pan. I used cooking spray.

Bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let it cool in the pan for a little while, around 10-15 minutes, then cool on a rack or serve warm, with butter. Reheat before serving if not serving immediately.

Chocolate Chip Cornbread

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup yellow cornmeal

1/4 cup granulated sugar (scant)

2 teaspoons baking power

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup whole milk

1/4 cup canola oil

2 large eggs

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in chocolate chips. Combine wet ingredients in a medium bowl. Whisk to combine. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until combined.

Pour into a greased loaf pan. I used cooking spray.

Bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let it cool in the pan for a little while, around 10-15 minutes, then cool on a rack or serve warm, with butter. Reheat before serving if not serving immediately.

Tuesday Treats - Yukon Gold Cinnamon Rolls

Ok, so I know this post is a little late.  Maybe more than a little. I am sorry. It has been a ridiculously stressful week. So here you go, a Tuesday treat on Saturday.

Yukon Gold Cinnamon Rolls

These rolls are good. Time consuming to make, but oh-so-very tasty, nice and cinnamony and the dough is the perfect consistency, soft and gooey on the inside and bready on the outside. They will make a perfect holiday breakfast treat. The process is fun, and the time consuming part comes more in the letting the dough rise and less in the actual assembly of ingredients.

Adding the potatoes to the sugar yeast water foam. For the potatoes, after reading the comments on Bon Appetit website, I used less than the prescribed amount of water for the potatoes, just enough to cover while boiling. I used more than the four and a half cups flour, not sure on the total amount, just added in small bits until the dough was the right consistency. And I used my dough hook instead of kneading by hand, until the dough was not as sticky.

Ingredients for the filling.

Cinnamon mixture spread out on the large rectangle of dough.

Dough rolled up.

Waiting to be cooked.

We cooked four and saved the rest. I spaced them out a little more than needed on the cookie sheet, so some of the filling leaked out and caramelized. No matter, still very good.