Apple Streusel Coffee Cake

When I showed up to Palm Sunday dinner with this Quadruple Chocolate Bliss Cake, my brother Chris questioned my ability to create a dessert without the use of chocolate.

"Seriously," he said, "don't you ever just make an apple coffee cake or something?"

Well, the answer is really probably no. I am a chocoholic (like you haven't noticed) and it's just not dessert if there's no chocolate!

Since we were heading up to my parents' house this past weekend to have a belated Easter celebration, I figured that would be the perfect time to prove my anti-sweets brother wrong. I searched through my blogs and found this one from REC(ession)IPES.


I really enjoyed the flavor of this little cake, but I think I should have kept it in the oven a bit more. It completely fell apart as I tried to cut it, and I needed to perform minor surgery on it to get a somewhat-solid piece to photograph!

Here is a really creepy picture of Chris eating his - what a ham:
Ingredients

For the Cake:

• 1 1/2 cups flour total, equal parts white and whole wheat, sifted, then measured
  
• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
  
• 1/2 cup sugar
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  
• 1 egg
  
• 1/2 cup milk (can be skim)
  
• 1/4 cup vegetable shortening, melted (shortening melts very quickly, so use low flame, and keep an eye on it)
• 1 1/2 cup chopped apples (about two large apples), any semi-tart to tart variety
  

For the streusel topping (aka, the crumb part that everyone likes):

• 1/2 cup sugar
  
• 1/4 cup flour total, equal parts white and whole wheat
  
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnnamon
  
• 2 tablespoons butter (right out of the refrigerator is fine)
  

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Sift flour together with other dry ingredients.

Beat the egg, then add the milk and melted shortening.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry then add the raw apples and mix well.

Pour the batter into a well-greased 8-inch square pan.

To make the streusel, stir together the dry ingredients, then cut in butter using a pastry blender**** until it forms pea-sized pieces with the dry ingredients.

Finish combining with your fingertips until you have small clumps.

Sprinkle topping over the batter. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

****If you don't have a pastry blender, butter may be cut in using two butter knives in a criss crossing motion, or just work it in with your fingertips. If you like to make struesel toppings, or any kind of fruit crumbles, you may want to get a pastry blender - it cuts time in half, easily.