Baker's Anonymous

Hi, my name is Girl Friday, and I like to bake-a lot. Some times I bake a few times a day. Sometimes I use all purpose flour. Often I bake in the company of at least one of my 4 boys. I especially enjoy baking for other people. I am known to text neighbors to invite them down to my house to sample one of my hot-out-of-the-oven-experiments. The neighborhood boys pick up a snack as they pass through my kitchen.Baking makes me happy and calm.


Every Friday (in honor of being Girl Friday-and for another reason) I bake a special breakfast that our family calls, "Fabulous Friday". Here is what we are having this F.F. This recipe has been a F.F.for years. It tastes as buttery delicious the next day as it does the day you bake it. I like to add blueberries. I hope you enjoy! xo


P.S. Read the entire recipe before you begin. I made the mistake once of dumping all of the flour in not realizing it was added in layers: one for the crust the other for the crumb. That happened only once!


Sara Foster's New York Crumb Cake

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325. Spray a 9x12 baking dish and set aside.
2. In a mixing bowl sift together 1 1/2 cups of flour, the granulated sugar, baking powder, and the salt.
3. In a second bowl whisk together the oil, egg, milk, vanilla.
4. Fold in the wet ingredients with the dry and spread evenly in your prepared dish.(I usually add the blueberries on top of the batter).
5. In another mixing bowl, combine 2 1/2 cups of flour, the melted butter, cinnamon and brown sugar. This will mix into a lovely buttery crumb that you will then spread evenly over the batter.
6. Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until your toothpick comes out dry.
7. Transfer to a drying rack and sprinkle with confectioner's sugar (I usually skip this part because HELLO there is already so much stinking sugar in this recipe!)

Kipling: "Can you help a brother out?"