The Best Sour Cream Coffee Cake

I loved this recipe and highly recommend it. why is it named coffee cake if there is no coffee in the mix? Coffee cakes are intended to be served with coffee or for similar breaks and snacks.  So have your mug READY!

Recipe for a delicious Coffee Cake

 
Ingredients:
For the filling and streusel topping
¼ cup firmly packed light-brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 cup toasted pecans, almond or walnut
2 teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup cake flour
4 tablespoons unsalted cold butter cut into bits
½ teaspoon vanilla

For the batter
2 cups cake flour (256 g)
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ sticks softened unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs/beaten lightly
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
1 cup sour cream
Confectioners' sugar for dusting cake


Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 ° F. Butter and flour a 9-inch springform pan.

2. Make streusel filling and topping: In a food processor, combine the sugars, nuts, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. Process until nuts are coarsely ground. Set aside ½ cup of mixture for filling. To the remaining topping, add the flour, butter and vanilla. Process till crumbly. Transfer to a bowl.

3. Make the batter: Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a bowl. In another bowl with an electric mixer, cream the butter. Add the sugar a little at a time and beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs slowly and the vanilla. Alternately beat in the flour mixture and the sour cream, starting and ending with flour.

4. Transfer one third of the batter to the pan and sprinkle with half the apricot filling. Add half the remaining batter and sprinkle with remaining filling. Add the rest of the batter. Distribute topping evenly over batter. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan, remove sides and transfer to a serving dish. Before serving, dust with confectioners' sugar.

Yields 1 cake.

Note:
a) If after 20-30 minutes of baking the top begins to brown, cover with foil.

b) ½ cup of chopped apricots may be added to the reserved ½ mixture of streusel filling.

c) Cake will keep, wrapped in plastic, for up to 4 days.

Recipe in Spanish: Here


Mari's Cakes wishes you a Happy Holiday. That unity, love and peace reign in your homes and that the light of  Jesus Christ, the authentic reason to celebrate this holiday, accompany you and your loved ones.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. - Isaiah 9:6

You are always welcome to visit my other blog: Delights and Wisdom.

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Galletas de Mexican Wedding Cookies

Mexican Wedding Cookies or Snowball Cookies

 
Ingredients: 
¾ cup butter (1 stick and a half) unsalted, room temperature (170 g)
½ cup powdered sugar
¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups flour
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup pecans or walnuts optional

about 1½ cup extra powdered sugar for coating


Preparation:
1. Heat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease three cookies sheet.

2. In a bowl beat the butter until light and fluffy. Add sifted confectioner's sugar and mix well. Add vanilla and mix well.

3. Sift flour, salt and cinnamon in another bowl. Add butter mixture to the flour and mix until partially combined. If you want at this time add the pecans and mix until a dough forms. If dough is sticky add more flour one tablespoon at a time, and not exceeding 6 tablespoons. Warning: Do not over mix or the cookies may come out dry and crumbly.

4. Roll the dough into  ½ inch thick logs (length does not matter), then cut into 1 inch pieces and shape each piece into 1- inch balls. You could also take 1 teaspoon at a time and roll into a ball, this way they all come out uniform in size. Place the balls about ½ inch apart on the tray. Bake one tray at a time in the middle of the oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until cookies look a little dry, with little color.

5. Remove from oven and let cookies cool in rack for 10 to 15 minutes, then roll in confectioner's sugar, allow to cool completely. When completely cool, roll again in confectioner's sugar. Enjoy!

Step by Step photos / paso a paso de como hacer las galletas de Mexican Wedding Cookies: A        QUÍ

Mexican Wedding Cookies o las Galletas Bolitas de Nieve.

Ingredientes:
¾ taza mantequilla (1 barra y media) sin sal, temperatura ambiente  (170 g)
½ tazas azúcar en polvo cernida (64 g)
¾ cucharadita de extracto de vainilla (3.5 ml)
1½ tazas de harina (195g)
½ cucharadita de canela
¼ cucharadita de sal
1 taza de pacanas o walnuts finamente picadas o molidas opcional (122g)

1½ taza de azúcar en polvo para cubrir

*Nota sobre mantequilla:1 barra = 1/4 libra = 1/2 cup = 8 cucharadas = 4 oz = 115 g.


Preparación:

1. Calentar horno a 350°F. Engrase ligeramente tres bandejas de galletas.

2. En un recipiente batir la mantequilla hasta que obtenga un color amarillo claro y esté esponjosa. Añade la azúcar pulverizada y mezcle bien. Añada la vainilla y mezcle bien.

3. Cernir la harina, sal y la canela en otro recipiente. Añade la mezcla de mantequilla a la harina y mezcle hasta que este parcialmente combinado. Si quieres en este momento se les añaden las pacanas a la mezcla, continúe mezclando hasta formar una masa. (Si queda muy pegajosa le puedes añadir de 4-6 cucharadas de harina, una a la vez). Advertencia: No debe mezclar más de la cuenta, pues las galletitas saldrán secas y granulosas.

4. Con la masa forme cilindros de ½ pulgada de ancho sin importar el largo, luego corte en trocitos de 1 pulgada cada uno y forme bolitas con cada pedazo. Coloque las bolitas a ½ pulgada de distancia en la bandeja. ( Otra forma de hacerlas es dejando la masa en forma de un bola grande y con una cucharada de  medir de 5ml =1 cucharadita, ir tomando de la masa y formar bolitas. Así quedan uniformes). Hornee una bandeja a la vez en el medio del horno por 8 a 10 minutos, o hasta que las galletas se vean un poca secas y con poco color.

5. Saque del horno y deje enfriar las galletitas en su bandeja por 10 a 15 minutos, luego espolvoréalas con azúcar de confección, y deje que se enfríen totalmente. Cuando estén completamente frías, vuelva a pasarlas por azúcar de confección nuevamente. A Disfrutar!

Gingerbread House How To

What fun it is to make a gingerbread house! Due to lack of time and fear I had not dared to make one before, but now I have finally made my first gingerbread house! I started to make it by stages when I had free time and it was a very joyful experience, but I have to admit there are many steps to follow. I will share what I learned throughout the process and hopefully it is of great use to you.

Although I have experience in pasting cakes and cookies decorations with royal icing, I decided to try something new, and used a caramel syrup to glue the house instead. It was a total failure.  The gingerbread house parts stuck together well and fast, but the next day the caramel began to melt. Maybe it happened because the climate where I live is very humid or because I had to use a little more sugar and let it cook for less time. Experienced learned, next time I'll stick with the ideal glue for these projects ... ROYAL ICING!


The recipes I used were the Gingerbread Cookies and Royal Icing. I do recommend both of them.

In case you're interested in the caramel syrup recipe that I used, (but I do not recommend it): 1 ⅓ cup sugar and ½ cup water. Boil until it thickens and begins to take a light caramel color (about 15 minutes). Note: After the fire is turned of, the caramel continues to get darker in color so do not let it turn too dark before removing from the fire. I did not know this and my caramel came out to dark. It also cools quickly, so you must build the house as quickly as possible.

Tips to make your gingerbread house either this year or next year. Do not doubt...it is super fun to make one!

1. Follow the procedure of the gingerbread cookies, but in step number six to leave the extended dough in the refrigerator for an hour or more before cutting.
2. Cut all piece that form the house. You can find the templates I used, HERE. For the roof cut out a 7" x 7.5" (17.5 x 19 cm)rectangle. After having the pieces cut, place gingerbread cookies on a cookie sheet (I very lightly grease it with bakers grease) and return to the refrigerator to chill,  ideally for at least 15 minutes until you are ready to bake them. This will help the cookies retain their shapes a bit better.
3. Preheat oven to 375 º F (190 º C) and bake for an appropriate time depending on the size of the pieces.
4. Right after removing the cookies from the oven, while they are still warm, lay the cookie cutter molds or paper templates on top and with a sharp knife cut away any changes in size that could have taken place while baking.
5. Cool completely before assembling. To glue the pieces I recommend using royal icing.

Place enough icing to stick together. In these picture you see the pieces put together with the caramel syrup, but I decided to reinforced with icing when I saw the mess the caramel made. You could tint the icing you'll use as glue a lite brown color if you prefer.

The windows of course had to be hearts I am in love all year round with hubby : ) You may cut the windows and door with cookie cutters or knife before you bake.

I kept the design pretty simple, but I loved it. After everything is in placed and all decorations are piped with a decorating sleeve, sprinkle powdered sugar on roof top and all around to make it look like snow.

En español: AQUI

Then Jesus said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”- Luke 12:15

Próxima entrada como hacer estas snowman cookies.