Made-with-Coffee Coffee Cake

If you knew me back in college, this cake may look familiar to you. It was one of my most requested baked goods, and it was on the short list of things I baked at the time. Until last month, I had always made this cake with instant coffee - it's what the original recipe called for, and it gave the cake its coffee flavor without hassle.


























Now, this coffee cake is different from all the ones I've made in the past. This one is made with Bolivia Fair Trade Organic coffee from the Coffee Foundry. When helping Norm and Wilson for the Bloggers' Coffee Cupping Event last month, I knew this was the perfect cake to offer at the event since it incorporate both loves of coffee and cake.


























The main thing I modified to make this cake with real coffee was replacing the regular yogurt with Greek yogurt. I mixed the brewed coffee into the Greek yogurt, creating a coffee yogurt to bake with. Pecans and chocolate chips are optional in this recipe, but they add nice texture to this moist coffee cake.

Thanks again to all the bloggers that came out to the event last month, and for those who asked for the recipe, here you go!

Made-with-Coffee Coffee Cake
adapted from previous recipe

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons instant coffee (optional - I added this for extra coffee flavor)
5 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 cup Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup strongly brewed Bolivian coffee
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup chocolate chips (optional)
3 tablespoons chopped pecans (optional)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Grease a 8"x8" pan, dust with 2 teaspoons flour.
3. Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and optional instant coffee in a small bowl. Set aside.
4. Fold in strongly brewed coffee into Greek yogurt until well mixed.
5. In a stand mixer, cream together butter and granulated sugar.
6. Mix in eggs, one at a time. Then add in coffee yogurt and vanilla.
7. Add flour, baking soda, salt, mixing just until flour disappears. Fold in optional pecans and chocolate chips if desired.
8. Pour half of the batter into prepared pan, and sprinkle with half of the brown sugar mixture. Carefully spoon remaining batter over brown sugar mixture, and sprinkle with remaining brown sugar mixture.
8. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack.

Kurogoma (Black Sesame) Shortbread Cookies

Guess what, y'all? Last Saturday, NYC raised $4644 for Peace Winds America/Japan in our Bake Sale for Japan! And the Bake Sales across the nation have raised over $120,000! I wasn't as involved as I wish I could have been, but I hope my shortbread cookies helped raise a tiny sum towards this awesome amount. Another BIG thank you goes out to Lillian from Sweets by Sillianah and Celia from Cookbook Archaeology for coordinating a wonderfully run bake sale.

Check out their posts for pictures and details of the sale at Brooklyn Flea.

For the bake sale, I chose to make matcha, azuki, and kurogoma shortbread cookies because they are all prominent Japanese flavors that I love working with. Matcha, azuki, and kurogoma are simply the Japanese terms for green tea, red bean, and black sesame. I've made all varieties of the cookies before, but the kurogoma shortbread cookie happens to be one of those recipes I never got around to posting. Until now, that is.























The ingredients I used to flavor the shortbread cookies: black sesame paste, sweetened red bean paste, and green tea powder (tried out a new green tea product - not bad!).























And here are the wrapped shortbread cookies!

Kurogoma (Black Sesame) Shortbread Cookies
adapted from previous recipe

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cup flour
1 cup butter
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup black sesame paste

Directions:
1. In a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until the mixture is smooth.
2. Add flour, cornstarch, and salt to butter mixture, until flour mixture is incorporated into the dough. Be sure not to overwork the dough.
3. Fold in black sesame paste.
4. Transfer the dough to a gallon-size plastic bag. Put the bag on a flat surface, leaving the top open, and using a rolling pin to flatten the dough into a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. Roll carefully, making sure not to leave creases in the dough. Seal the bag after rolling into proper size and press out as much air as possible. Place in freezer for about 30 minutes, up to 2 days.
5. Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or Silpat.
6. Put the plastic bag on a cutting board and slit it open. Turn the firm dough out onto the board (discard the bag) and, using a ruler as a guide and a sharp knife, cut the dough into 2 inch squares. Transfer the squares to the baking sheets and carefully prick each one four times with a fork, gently pushing the tines through the cookies until they hit the sheet.
7. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point. Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool. Yields 20 cookies.

NYC Bake Sale for Japan

As I know many of you have been doing recently, I've been praying for Japan. Not only for protection and physical recovery, but for emotional and spiritual restoration as well. And I pray for what I don't understand because frankly, there sure is a lot of that.


























One other thing I'm doing is baking for Japan. If you've followed my blog for a while, you'll know that's what I do. I bake, and I bake for others. When I don't know what to say or what to do when people are hurting, I want to meet their basic need of eating. Okay, so maybe eating comfort foods like cookies and cake isn't quite a basic need, but when eaten in moderation, I know it helps.

I'll be busy baking a few of my favorite cookies tonight (can you guess what they are?), and tomorrow we'll be selling a LOT of baked goods at the Brooklyn Flea in Fort Greene, come rain or shine. All proceeds will go to the charity Peace Winds Japan.

If you're in the NYC area tomorrow, please visit the Bake Sale for Japan at the Brooklyn Flea, and look for our setup in front of the fence outside on the sidewalk. Special thanks to Lillian of Sweets by Sillianah for organizing the NYC sale and to the many volunteers involved around the nation who are graciously donating their time and efforts for a great cause.

NYC Bake Sale for Japan at Brooklyn Flea
April 2, 10AM-5PM
176 Lafayette Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11238