Comfort Food
As cold-fronts push their way down into Central Texas, the weather becomes very heavy. The South doesn't have the pleasure of a brisk, invigorating fall just gray skies and lots of rain. Of course, after a long drought the rain is welcome by all, especially Mother Nature. She is very busy spreading pollen everywhere and in great abundance. Thus an epidemic of seasonal allergies.
Seasonal allergies, depression and just plain going crazy from being indoors. How do you fight Mother Nature? You try lots of vitamin C, lots of fluids, and the dreaded allergy medications. Medicine does go down easier with a teaspoon of sugar, but sugar doesn't do a thing for the side effects.
I hate medication of any kind. I seem to always have additional symptoms on top of the allergy symptoms, caused by the medication's side effects. I went out to my grandsons soccer practice yesterday afternoon; big mistake. I ended up sneezing and hacking my way home to a hot shower. Central Texas weather in the fall is: 90 degrees, very humid, and lots of pollen, mold spores and mildew! How do you fight Mother Nature? Bake a cake!
I chose to bake, "Mother's Cinnamon-Pecan Coffee Cake". While preparing this wonderful soul fulfilling coffee cake I listened to, "Frank Sinatra, Christmas Carols", while drinking Chia tea with a cinnamon stick. I felt much better.
Mothers Cinnamon-Pecan Coffeecake
from "Southern Cakes" by Nancy McDermott
Cinnamon-Raisin Filling
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar (packed)
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups golden raisins
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped pecans
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, melted
Coffee Cake
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, and grease and flour a 13" by 9" pan.
For the filling, in a medium bowl, combine the light brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon and stir with a fork to mix everything well. In a second bowl, combine the raisins and pecans in another bowl and toss to mix them. In a third bowl, microwave the butter until melted. Set all three bowls aside.
For the coffee cake batter, combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl, and stir with a fork to mix them together well. Stir the vanilla into the milk. In a large bowl, combine the butter and the sugar, and beat with a mixer at high speed, stopping to scrape down the bowl, until pale yellow and evenly mixed, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and beat for another 2 minutes, scraping down the bowl now and then, until the mixture is smooth and light.
Using a Large spoon or a spatula, add about a third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, and stir only until the flour disappears. Add about a third of the milk and mix it in. Repeat two more timers with the remaining flour and milk, stirring just enough each time to keep the batter smooth.
Spread half the batter evenly over the bottom of the prepared pan. Sprinkle half the cinnamon mixture over the batter, followed by half the melted butter. Scatter half the raisins and nuts over the batter. Spread the remaining batter all the way to the edges of the pan. Top with the remaining cinnamon mixture, butter, and nut mixture, covering the cake evenly.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes, until the cake is golden brown, fragrant, and beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes on a wire rack . and then serve in squares right from the pan. The cake is delicious hot, warm, or at room temperature. You can reheat individual servings for approximately 10 seconds in your microwave. Note: if the raisins and nuts begin to get too brown, you can cover you pan with a foil tent the last 15 to 20 minutes of baking.
