Pecan-Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake Needs Finishing Touch

Got power and a snow day? Oven working? Help me perfect this coffee cake recipe! And who doesn't love coffee cake on a snowy morning?

This recipe began as Coffee Cake Supreme on allrecipes.com. I got this cool app for allrecipes.com that I can use on my Kindle Fire. Select which type of meal you want, select the ingredients and voila! Recipes pop up for you. The Coffee Cake Supreme recipe indicated the recipe is flexible - you can add mashed bananas, chocolate chips, vary some of the ingredients and whatnot.

Knowing that calories spent on something like this are useless if chocolate is not involved, I made a Pecan-Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake recipe from their recipe. And I need your help to perfect it. The part I most need your help with is at the end with how best to include the streusel on top. I thought the rest of the cake was yummy good, but adjust as you like (and let us know how you did it!).

Pecan-Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

Cake:

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup white sugar

3 eggs, room temperature

3 cups all purpose flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup water

1 cup plain yogurt

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Streusel:

1 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 Tablespoons butter, room temperature, cut up

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9" Bundt pan. Dust with cocoa powder, if desired. Yes, please.

Make streusel: Combine all streusel ingredients except the chocolate chips. Cut with 2 knives or pastry mixer until the butter is pea-sized. Stir in 1/2 cup chocolate chips.

Make cake: In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter using a mixer. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Stir into the creamed mixture by hand. If you over mix, cake will be more dry and tough.

Combine the water, vanilla and yogurt in small bowl. Stir into the cake mixture by hand. Add 1/2 cup chocolate chips. Stir into the batter.

HERE IS WHERE I NEED YOUR HELP!

The option I took that turned out okay, but the top of the cake definitely needed something. Like streusel.

This is what I did following the method from the allrecipes one:

Pour half the cake batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle half of the streusel over it, then top with the remaining batter, and sprinkle with remaining streusel. Bake for approximately 50 minutes in preheated oven. Cool

in pan for 10 minutes, then invert on a plate or wire rack to cool completely.

That means the streusel is on the bottom of the cake. The baked product clearly needs it on the top! The cake comes out moist and tender, but it needs the topping. I tried a standard powdered sugar glaze, but I preferred the cake nekkid to that. It needs the streusel on top. If I put the streusel in the pan first, obviously it will stick, so nix on that. Sprinkling it on top after the cake is baked won't work.

Is there no hope for it but to bake it in a 13x9 pan, sprinkling the last half of the streusel on top? If so, how long does it take to bake for that shape pan? 

Up to the challenge? HELP ME PERFECT THE RECIPE! Get baking. Go on. You know you have snow-induced boredom by now anyway. You can only watch so much Judge Judy. In my case, a lot. But that's neither here nor there. Let me know your results. I love it when you bake.

Poetry Break: Rule Number One

Rule Number One

"I can tell"
he had said
(very drunk, very bold, very true),
"when you want to be with me."

I almost denied it,
and then
(very calm, very clear, very true) -
didn't.

"you"
he whispered in the half light,
"you, you, you."
he accused
(very sweet, very tender, very true)
"You made me break the rules."
I denied it.

Yes,
I want to be with you, share with you.
Yes,
I want you to hold me, warm me.
Yes,
I want to know you, touch you.

And no,
I won't break your fragile, empty rules.

  -- Kara Stewart, 1984

Poetry Break!

In the style of the awesome Maya Angelou, whom I have always admired.

My Ground

You can call me names,

You can trash me down,

You can say my world is wrong and wrapped up in my own point.

You can shoot me down,

You can play me off.

You can do all this

But mister,

I know my ground.

I know my ground.

My ground stands still under me,

My ground is open and strong.

I know my ground.

You can beat around the bush,

You can hem and haw,

You can hide yourself away like Fort Knox under quarantine.

You can spout anger,

You can cry “Foul!”

You can do all this

But mister,

I know my ground.

I know my ground.

My ground communicates,

My ground shares and returns in both good and bad.

I know my ground.

You can accuse me with that finger,

You can shove me in that box,

You can close your ears and heart to what I say.

You can wait for any excuse,

You can paint that whole picture if it makes you feel better.

You can do all this,

But mister,

I know my ground.

I know my ground.

 My ground says it like it is.

My ground is flat out with no games.

I know my ground.

Running through the earth,

Running through me,

My ground steadies and holds.

Heals and grows. 

Breaks

and once again flows.

I know my ground.

Kara Stewart, 2009

2014 Road Map, Not Resolution

I am the anti-resolutionist. I don't do resolutions. They are too easily broken despite good intentions. I need more than the ticking of the clock from one day in December to the next day in January to undertake life changes. However, this year, I do need to make some big changes, mostly to do with the amount of stress in my life (which is mostly due to my job). I began thinking about Less Stress as resolution shorthand for 'leave work at a decent hour and don't try to do it all'. But then my never-ending creative longings spoke up and said, "Write a book! Create beautiful art! Sing! Play violin! Play guitar!" 

Hmmm. How to meld those two diametrically opposed needs: less stress on the one hand, all the creative stuff on the other hand (both of which come after my job)?

I created a Wordle. In it, I wrote the picture of what I want for my life in 2014. Turns out, less stress and my creative endeavors aren't necessarily diametrically opposed. It's a road map, not a resolution. It's a visual for the overlap of creativity and less stress. And I can return to it for direction when I am getting lost.

It's going to be a good year.

Thanksgiving Recipe Break!

I just did my food shopping for Thanksgiving (early, I know, but I won't have any other day to do it) and got so excited thinking of all the wonderful family, friends and food (the 3 F's) coming up. This is a cranberry chutney recipe that I've made for a number of years at Thanksgiving. It's easy to make, yummy, keeps to eat on your ham (or duck or goose or turkey) at Christmas and makes a pretty gift. What more could you want?

Cranberry Chutney

Makes about 4-6 pint-size jars.

4 cups fresh cranberries, washed, picked over and stemmed

2 1/2 cups sugar

¼ orange juice or oj concentrate

6 whole cloves

2 (3-inch) cinnamon sticks

1 tsp. salt

2 (6-ounce) Granny Smith apples, peeled,   cored, and cut into 1/2-inch dice

2 firm (6-ounce) Bosq or Anjou pears, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch dice

1 small yellow (5-ounce) onion, diced

1/2 cup golden raisins

3 teaspoons orange peel

1/3 cup diced crystallized ginger

1. In a deep 6-quart saucepan, combine cranberries, sugar, 1 cup water, ¼ cup orange juice or orange juice concentrate, cloves, cinnamon sticks, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently to dissolve sugar. Cook until berries begin to pop open, 10 to 12 minutes. Adjust heat so mixture barely simmers. Stir in apples, pears, onion, raisins, and ginger. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until thick, 10 to 15 minutes longer. Remove from heat and allow mixture to cool to room temperature. Discard visible cinnamon sticks and cloves.

2. Refrigerate in tightly sealed jars for up to 2 months. Attach a ribbon and gift tag with suggested serving ideas for a great gift.

Poetry Soothes The Beast

Woods Slake

My eyes hunger

for

the sky and

trees;

my ears, ravenous

for

the hawks and

crickets.

My skin longs

for the kiss

of rain

and wind.

The scent of pine needles

and

moss

pulls at my soul.

I take it in,

open wide,

sucking it down

like

one on the edge

of

starvation,

like an addict denied a fix,

then

savor it,

Replete.

 --Kara Stewart, 2013