Tuesdays at the Table - Coffee Cake

As all my cubicle-mates will tell you, I have a dangerous addition to coffee cake muffins.  Seriously.  Want my day to start on the wrong foot?  Be the Dunkin Donuts drive-thru team member that hands me a chocolate chip muffin instead of coffee cake.

So this week I'm sharing my favorite coffee cake recipe.  Thanks to those of you linking up and sharing your recipes!  I love you for it. <3 br="" nbsp="">

Coffee Cake

Topping:

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour

1/4 cup butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Cake:

1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour (sift before measuring)

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg, beaten

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup melted butter

1/3 cup milk

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In small mixing bowl, combine topping ingredients. Blend with fork until crumbly. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine together beaten egg, sugar and melted butter. Add milk and vanilla. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt, mixing well. 

Pour batter into a greased and floured  9-inch layer-cake pan. Sprinkle topping crumb mixture evenly over batter. Bake at 375° for 25 to 30 minutes, when a toothpick will come out clean. Partially cool in pan on wire rack. Cut coffee cake into squares while still warm.

What's cooking in your kitchen?

Thirty Days of Thankful - Coffee

Coffee.  I can't live without it.  Fine...I can't live without caffeine.  But I much prefer it in a VERY large tumbler filled with ice, a little milk and either one spoon of sugar or a pump of hazelnut syrup. 

Coffee was one of the very few tangible things I missed while I was in England.  How they can live on (mostly) instant coffee and without ice is beyond me.  They are missing out on some REALLY good coffee!

About once a year (usually either for New Year's or during Lent), I try to give up or decrease my dependence on caffeine.  But I'm one of those unlucky souls who immediately goes into withdrawal and gets a migraine headache if I try to go more than 24 hours without caffeine.  It is NOT pretty.

Do you love coffee as much as I do?  How do you take your coffee?

The One Where I Contemplate Doing Something Totally Crazy...

I play things safe, at least, I think I do.  I still get to do some really cool stuff...like traveling cross-country, starting a rescue, and enjoying day to day life with my family and friends, which is an adventure all unto itself.  However, there are times I stand on the sidelines of life thinking "I'd love to take a chance and do this or that."  I can't tell you for sure what stops me most of the time.  Sometimes, it's because I'm shy, sometimes I'm too afraid of failure, or I care too much what other people think of my choices...and sometimes, I'm just afraid. Period.

Most of the time, the thing I'm contemplating and stop myself from doing is minute.  Go make friends with someone new at a party. Pull the trigger and get tattoo #3. Finally write a book (OK...so that one is kinda big.).

Today, I came across an article in the Boston Globe.  A local bakery is being given away by its current owner! All I need to do to enter is write a brief essay for consideration and send in a certified check for the entry fee.  I'm seriously considering it.  I love to bake!  Despite being shy - I love people!  Owning a local bakery is something I think I could actually be good at.

I'm not rushing into making the decision to enter...or not.  But my heart races when I think about it.  What do you all think?  Am I crazy for considering it?

Pictures from bakery's website

A Month of Thanks...Day One

A lot of people started their month of thanks on Facebook today...and I think it's great.  It just happens that I'm shy - and trust you all a little more than the people that can see my FB profile.

Today I'm thankful for coffee.  It sounds weird that I'd pick an object to be thankful for...especially on day one, right?!  Trust me, I'll get to the BIG stuff later in the month.  :-)

As an insomniac, there are nights that I sleep 20 minutes at a time.  Nights I sleep for two hours, am up for most of the night and then fall asleep again around 5 AM.  Night that I don't sleep.  Period.  That makes me thankful for caffeine.  I try to use it sparingly so it doesn't further impact my insomnia...but there's just nothing like a the first glass of ice coffee in the morning!  (I much prefer ice coffee to hot coffee)