Claudia — Page 1456

The Recipe

December 18, 2012 at 7:30 am by Claudia

Okay, guys, here it is. The recipe. Tasty, scrumptious coffee cake for your Christmas morning pleasure. This isn’t my recipe, it was developed by Whole Foods. I’ve been making it for at least 14 or 15 years, so you know it’s a winner!

Christmas Coffee Cake – Serves 12 (from the kitchens of Whole Foods)

Topping

¼ cup unbleached white flour

¾ cup brown sugar, packed

2 tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. salt

1 cup chopped walnuts

¼ cup cold unsalted butter, cut into bits

Cake

1 2/3 cup unbleached white flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 egg, at room temperature, lightly beaten

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup sour cream, at room temperature

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Butter and flour a 10″ springform pan

To make the topping:

1. Combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt and walnuts in a bowl.

2. Add the butter pieces and rub in until crumbly using your fingers or two forks.

To make the cake:

1. Sift the flour, baking soda and baking powder together in a large bowl. Set aside.

2. In a separate bowl, beat together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 3 minutes.

3. Add the beaten egg and vanilla; mix well.

4. Add half of the dry ingredients and mix just until the flour is blended.

5. Add the sour cream until blended, then the remaining dry ingredients. Mix until completely smooth.

6. Spread the batter into the prepared cake pan.

7. Sprinkle half the topping over the batter and fold in lightly, using a spatula, so the nut mixture is swirled into the batter.

8. Spread the remaining topping evenly over the batter.

At this point you can cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours and bake it the next morning. However, I have found that baking it right away, then refrigerating it overnight and heating it up the next morning works best for us. Somehow, refrigerating the finished coffee cake overnight enhances the flavors. It tastes better.

Baking

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 – 55 minutes.

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This is such a yummy cake. I know you’ll love it. The sour cream keeps it moist. Happy eating!

I’m off to NYC for a few hours.

Happy Tuesday.

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Pretty Hair: Fekkai Hair Products and a Great Offer

December 17, 2012 at 9:30 am by Claudia

I am somewhat vain about my hair. I like it. I know it can be pretty when I take the time to style it. As someone who is watching her skin sag a little/lot and wrinkles appear where there were none and who won’t go under the knife, it’s nice to know that I have some control over my hair!

Frédéric Fekkai has long been on my radar. The famous French hairstylist is known world wide for his skill with hair, his gorgeous cuts and for his hair care products. His list of celebrity clients is long. Oh, to have my hair cut by Frédéric Fekkai!

But that probably will never happen.

However, I do have access to his hair products. And so do you. His collection of hair care products was developed to meet the particular needs of different hair types. And because of that, you can find exactly what you need. Advanced Care? Repair? Styling? Color Care? They are all there and there’s even more. Every product is tested in the Fekkai salons before being introduced to the world.

I have long hair. It’s changing as I grow older with that peculiar combination of my original brown hair and the slightly more wiry gray hair that is taking over! Though I have always had oily hair, I find it is changing to something that suffers from dryness more often than not.

I love shea butter for its restorative powers and Fekkai has a great line of Shea Butter Products.

These products “transform dry coarse hair into silky tresses.” Okay. I’m on board.

Or how about their Ageless line?

The Ageless Line “restores hair’s intrinsic strength, structure and vitality.” Those of us with ‘older’ hair can sure use a lift, don’t you agree?

For those of you who style your hair, how about Coiff ™ Stylers?

They’re designed for texture, holding and molding.

The products are beautifully packaged, aren’t they?

There is a great holiday deal going on right now at the Frédéric Fekkai website. It’s valid on all Fekkai items. With a minimum $50 order, you will received 10% off your total order and a complimentary exclusive holiday headband (while supplies last.) Promo Code: HEADBAND. Just click on this link and go explore! It’s easy to purchase online.

I wish you many good things, among them pretty hair for the holidays!

Christmas and Coffee Cake

December 17, 2012 at 7:42 am by Claudia

The Christmas Coffee Cake that I bake every year and that is an annual Christmas-morning-in-between-opening-presents-tradition had to be moved up on the calendar this year. I couldn’t let Don leave for California without a few warm yummy pieces of coffee cake in his tummy. So I baked it on Saturday, put it in the refrigerator overnight (this step is essential) and warmed it up on Sunday morning. And again this morning.

Best coffee cake ever.

I only make it once a year. We decided it must be this way. Otherwise, it would no longer be special.

The story of the coffee cake: When we were living in California, we used to shop a lot at Whole Foods. (I’d still shop there a lot if one was nearby. Sob.) One day, I grabbed a free holiday recipes booklet at the checkout and took it home to peruse. This particular recipe looked promising, so I made it for Christmas morning.

A huge winner.

We couldn’t believe how yummy it was, how moist (due to lots of sour cream), how perfectly perfect it was. Our annual tradition began that day. Fast forward a few years. We moved to New York. As I got things ready for that first Christmas out East, I realized two things. We had inadvertently put all the boxes of Christmas ornaments in storage (all decorations that year came from the local drug store) and I couldn’t find this recipe. Anywhere. I looked through all my cook books. I scoured every box in the eaves. I looked everywhere. Nothing.

In a panic, I emailed Whole Foods. I explained my situation and what booklet I thought the recipe had been in and asked if they had a record of it somewhere. The lady I was in contact with looked everywhere. She had no record of it.

I explained to Don that there would be no coffee cake this year. There was disbelief on his part. On mine, too.

I resigned myself to finding something else, though I knew it could never be as special, as tasty, as magical. A few weeks later, I got an email from that same lady. She had been cleaning out some shelves and, lo and behold, there was the booklet. She kindly copied the recipe for me and sent it my way. I’ve hung onto it for dear life ever since.

We’ll have another piece this morning and then, later today, I take Don to the airport. He’ll be gone for two months.

Scoutie and I will miss him terribly. She adores Don. So do I.

It’s going to be a little glum around here for a few days.

Happy Monday.

The Recipe

Pretty Hair: Fekkai Hair Products and a Great Offer

Christmas and Coffee Cake

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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