Pumpkin Streusel Coffe cake

This time of year is the perfect time for a warm, comforting pumpkin recipe. I love this coffee cake... it's simple, light and has a hint of maple in the streusel that goes perfectly with the pumpkin. A delicious fall treat!

Here's what you'll need:

Streusel
1 c flour
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c maple syrup
3 tsp cinnamon
1/2 c butter
1 c coarsely chopped nuts

Coffee cake
3 c flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or mix together whatever spices you like- ginger, nutmeg, cloves)
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 c butter
1 1/2 c sugar
3 eggs
3 c canned pumpkin (one 29 oz can)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

cut in butter to make streusel

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 cake pan. Make the streusel first- combine first 4 ingredients and cut butter and nuts with pastry blender until crumbly. Set aside and start working on coffee cake batter.

I found some allspice that I crushed and added to batter

Combine dry ingredients for coffee cake and slowly beat in softened butter and sugar..beat till creamy. Add eggs one at a time, then beat in pumpkin and vanilla. Beat until smooth.

add eggs one at a time

don't forget the pumpkin!

Spoon half of the batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle half of Streusel topping over batter, then spoon remaining batter evenly over topping. Sprinkle with remaining Streusel topping.

spread half of batter in pan

sprinkle streusel over batter
and repeat

all done

Bake for about 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. I like to take a little powdered sugar mixed with milk and drizzle the icing over the cake. Warning- by the time this comes out, everyone will be drooling and begging to cut into it...it smells up the whole house with pumpkin-y goodness! Enjoy :)

Candied Citrus Peels

Citrus Peels

October is a great candy month (let's face it, anytime's a great time to make candy!), and everyone loves homemade treats. I love anything fruity or citrus-y, and these candied citrus peels will have you salivating and craving more. You can use any kind of citrus peel- orange, lemon, lime, grapefruit- use your imagination, I'm sure there are tons of varieties you can make! When making the rinds, I doubled the recipe since I was making extra for gifts (if it doesn't get all eaten up), but here's the standard recipe.

Here's what you'll need:

4 oranges (or 6 lemons or 3 grapefruits)
4 cups of sugar (plus more for rolling)
water
chocolate (optional)

Peel and Cut

Start by peeling the oranges. I cut the oranges into quarters, then peel them. (The leftover orange meat is great for fresh-squeezed orange juice!)


Remove the segments of peel carefully, trying not to tear them. Cut the peel into thin strips between ¼ inch to ½ inch wide. If you’re using fruit with a very thick skin, you might want to use a paring knife to slice away some of the bitter white pith.

here we tried lemon..cut off extra pith

Boil the Citrus skins

Place the strips in a large saucepan and cover them with cold water. Bring the water to a boil, then drain the pot. Fill with cold water and boil again. Do this one more time (three times in all). This removes alot of the bitterness from the peels and makes the final product sweeter. My house smelled so good with the fresh citrus scent filling the air!

boil

drain

repeat twice more

Dissolve the Sugar

Once the strips have been boiled 3 times, combine the 4 cups of sugar and 4 cups of water in a saucepan and bring it a boil, stirring occasionally until the sugar dissolves. Wipe the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush to prevent sugar crystals from forming, then add the orange peels to the boiling syrup. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to simmer the peels for an hour. By the end of this time they should be very limp and start to look translucent.

add sugar to water

let strips cool in sugar bath

Remove the pan from the heat, and let the strips cool in the syrup.


Cool the Candied Citrus Peels

Take the peels from the syrup and place them on a wire cooling rack set over a baking sheet. I don't have one (long story), so I just laid some skewers on top of each other- voila! (Necessity is the motherhood of invention) Let them drip and dry for about 30 minutes, then roll them in granulated sugar. Place them back on the wire rack in a single layer, and let them dry overnight at room temperature.

let dry on rack

roll in sugar

let dry overnight

Chocolate Candied Citrus Peels

Now at this point your candied citrus peels are done, but I much prefer my peels with a little chocolate. I melted milk chocolate in a double boiler and dipped peels about halfway. Set them on a sheet of waxed paper until the chocolate hardens.

mmmm..chocolate

The orange peels taste just like the candy orange slices, and the lemon peels taste just like lemon drops. A simple, easy way to make a delicious, unique treat. Hope you love em as much as we do!