Okay, so I have SO MANY NEWSES!
· 15 days until Thanksgiving
· 16 days until the Gilmore Girls reunion
· 6 ½ weeks until Christmas (woah…)
· WE HAVE A NEW FAMILY MEMBER—Mr. Raleigh, the handsome little Chihuahua terrier, is the newest man in my life…and I’m obsessed beyond words with him! He loves walks, playing with his Cat In The Hat toy, peanut butter, puzzle pieces (learned that when I found one in his mouth…).
· Oh, and hey, here’s a new recipe for you below!
It’s been quite a week if I must say. It all started with last Thursday when I went to the animal shelter to just look, and then I fell in love with Raleigh and adopted him right away! I may have just called Roberto and been like, hey dear...I got a dog...that okay? THANKS! I mean, little Raleigh was hugging my arm, yes hugging my arm. I didn’t know dogs could do that, but he did and I never want him to let go!
Yes. I am one of those dog obsessed people, and this is the first pup I’ve gotten outside of family dogs, so I’m even MORE excited! Prepare for Raleigh to be in every single post, all over Instagram, all over everything! I just can’t get enough of his little face and snuggles.
Okay, well, besides all of that excitement, I start a new job today—hello 4am baking shifts, woo! If ya’ll are ever in Atlanta, check out Little Tart Bakeshop, so jazzed to be a part of this incredible team! Hmm, I also am part of that annoying Puts Christmas Decorations Out on November 1st club. So yeah, what’s up Nutcrackers, Christmas lights, pine tree candles, Christmas Spotify…we’ve got it all here in this apartment! I totally appreciate Thanksgiving and all it has to offer, but I want to enjoy the entire holiday season for 2 months…so I basically throw up holiday music, decorations, food, you name it, until January 1st!
So, my friends, now let’s get to the slightly less exciting part of the post—this coffee cake! I only say less exciting because I want to continue to talk about Raleigh for another 500 pages, please.
This all started when I saw tahini at Trader Joe’s and decided to get over my fear and just buy it. My darling culinary school girlfriend, Alex, is obsessed with this. I mean, maybe it’s because she’s Armenian, or maybe it’s because it’s SO freaking good! I was a hater for years, and then after eating a spoonful of this, I yelled at myself for missing out on it for so long. Next I thought I would spice this up, literally. After receiving my copy of Molly On The Range—her blog, and cookbook, are must reads!—I was inspired beyond belief to make some hawaij and use it in something (the recipe for it below can be found in her cookbook!).
Note: hawaij is a beautiful combination of every good spice that you can imagine! Literally, think of holiday spices, and boom, you've got hawaij! The combination of nutmeg, cardamom, cloves, ginger and cinnamon will make you believe in love.
So, that’s when tahini + hawaij = DING DING coffee cake!
There are also some apples throughout it to add another level of flavor and moistness. This cake is totally different from your typical coffee cake…but it pretty much is a perfect match with coffee (kinda like Raleigh and me!). But don’t worry, there is still that crazy buttery, sugary, yummy crumb that should be in and on every coffee cake ever—I could never leave that out!
Now, as we celebrate all of the exciting things to come in the next 7ish weeks, you have this new recipe to try out as well! It will pair amazingly with any Thanksgiving table, Gilmore Girls party, holiday gift shopping breakfast, brunch…oh I can go on and on! So stop being an idiot like I was so long, get a few jars of tahini, and get to baking!
crumb ingredients
Flour—2 oz, or 1/3 C
Brown Sugar—1.15 oz, or 2 TBL
Salt—1/8 tsp
Hawaij (see below)—1 tsp
Butter—3 oz, or 6 TBL
Oats—1.5 oz, or ½ C
process
In the bowl of your mixer, combine the flour, brown sugar, salt, hawaij, and oats.
A tablespoon at a time, add the butter.
Mix until the butter is about hazelnut size.
Set aside until ready to use for the cake.
hawaij ingredients
Nutmeg—½ tsp
Cardamom—2 TBL
Cloves—½ tsp
Ginger—2 TBL
Cinnamon—½ tsp
process
Combine all ingredients and store in airtight container until ready to use.
cake ingredients
Butter (room temperature)—4 oz, or ½ C
Tahini—3 oz, or 1/3 C
Sugar—6 oz, or ¾ C
Eggs—2
Vanilla Extract—1 tsp
Yogurt—4 oz, or ½ C
Flour—8.25 oz, or 1 ½ C
Baking Soda—¼ tsp
Baking Powder—¾ tsp
Salt—½ tsp
Hawaij—½ tsp
Cinnamon—1 tsp
Apples (sliced)—2
process
Preheat your oven to 375˚ F.
In the bowl of your mixer, cream the butter, tahini and sugar.
Once light and fluffy (after about 5 minutes), add in the eggs and extract.
Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl after each egg addition.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, hawaij and cinnamon.
Alternating with the yogurt—I use full-fat—add in the flour.
Once all of the ingredients have been added, spray a loaf pan with nonstick spray.
Put about half of the batter in the bottom of the pan.
Sprinkle with some of the crumb that was made before—about ¼ of it.
Lay half of the sliced apples on top of the crumb.
Use whatever your favorites are! I used a Granny Smith and a Gala, a nice contrast of tart and sweet.
Sprinkle about another ¼ of the crumb on top of the apples, followed by the remainder of the batter.
Layer the rest of the apples on top and sprinkle with the rest of the crumb.
Place in your preheated oven for 35 minutes.
After the 35 minutes, cover the pan with aluminum foil so that the top will not brown any more, and just the cake will bake.
Bake for another 25 minutes—test with a toothpick to check doneness.
Remove from the oven, allow to cool completely on a cooling rack, and enjoy with a lovely morning or afternoon cup of coffee!
Bon Appétit!