Dear Reader,
There is fancy photo next to the Candy Cane Coffee Cakes recipe in the Betty Crocker Christmas Cookbook, and I stared at that photo for weeks. It looked impressive, but a little intimidating. I figured only a professional baker could make it look like the picture, not an occasional baker like me. The dough was made with yeast and the finished coffee cake was in the shape of a candy cane. Sliced dough strips were delicately weaved over top of each other, topped off with a glaze and fruit accents. But I finally decided to give it a go, after all someone followed the recipe and made it look like the gorgeous photo in the book, so why couldn't I do the same thing?
And so I began, simply reading one line in the recipe at a time, not jumping to the end--where the hard part was--but keeping my eye on a single line of instruction adding one ingredient at a time.
To my delight, my Candy Cane Coffee Cake adventure was indeed a success. Who would have imagined, certainly not me, but there it was--a finished fancy coffee cake--that looked just like the picture in the cookbook and I did it line-by-line.
Line-by-line, it's a good thing for me to remember this time of year. I've been making a mental list of all the things I want to do so the holidays are picture-perfect, too. But I think I'll take it easy, slow down, and just take the holidays line-by-line.
From Betty Crocker's Christmas Cookbook copyright 1988, page 74. To see the photo, click here.
CANDY CANE COFFEE CAKES
2 packages active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
5 1/2 to 6 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups snipped dried apricots
1 1/2 cups chopped drained maraschino cherries
Dissolve yeast in warm water in large mixer bowl. Add buttermilk, sugar, butter, eggs, baking powder, salt and 2 1/2 cups of the flour. Beat on low speed, scraping bowl constantly, 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed, scraping bowl occasionally, 2 minutes. Stir in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle. (Dough will be soft and slightly sticky.)
Turn dough onto well-floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. (It's a great workout for your arms!) Divide into 3 equal parts. Roll each part into a rectangle, 15x6 inches. Place on a greased cookie sheet. Make 2-inch cuts on 15-in sides of rectangles at 1/2 inch intervals.
Mix apricots and cherries. Spread 1/3 of the fruit mixture lengthwise down center of each rectangle. Crisscross strips over fruit mixture. Stretch each rectangle to 22 inches; curve to form cane. Cover; let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. (Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.)
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Bake until golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes. Drizzle glaze over canes while warm. Decorate with cherry halves or pieces if desired. Makes three coffee cakes.
Recipe for Glaze:
Mix 2 cups powdered sugar and about 2 tablespoons water until smooth and of desired consistency.
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
* Congratulations to the winners of The Ring-Sworn Trilogy, by guest author Howard Andrew Jones: Janice D. and Linda F.
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