Frozen Berry Coffee Cake

I grew up with blackberry coffee cake every Sunday morning.  I’m pretty sure the secret family recipe featured Bisquick pancake mix.  In an attempt to make the cake more local this recipe replaces all refined sugars with maple syrup and honey, and makes use of an overnight rest to soften the whole wheat flour.  If you look in your freezer and don’t have any frozen fruit then you know that this summer you need to freeze more (which is how I feel after finishing the raspberries in this cake!). 

Frozen Berry Coffee Cake

Recipe adapted from Joy of Baking’s “Blueberry Cake.”

Cake Batter:

½ cup all-purpose flour

½ cup whole wheat flour

(or 1 cup of hard sifted flour or light spelt flour instead of the above flours)

⅓ cup milk

¼ cup melted butter or oil

⅓ cup maple syrup

½ tsp. vanilla

¼ teaspoon salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1 egg

2 cups frozen berries (blueberries/serviceberries/raspberries/strawberries/blackberries…)

Streusel Topping:

⅓ cup whole wheat or hard sifted flour

2-3 tbsp. oats/barley flakes/spelt flakes

¼ cup cold butter, chopped into pieces (or use a fork to crush the butter)

¼ cup honey

2-3 tbsp. unsweetened coconut flakes (optional)

2-3 tbsp. ground walnuts or pecans (optional)

Mix together the flours, milk, butter/oil, and maple syrup, cover and refrigerate overnight.  In the morning add the salt, baking powder, and egg.  Pour/scoop the batter into a greased cake pan (or pie dish) and top with the frozen berries.  Preheat the oven to 350.

Mix together the streusel topping with a fork or pastry cutter until the butter and dry ingredients have formed together into pea-sized clumps.  Alternatively you can use a food processor to mix it all together. 

Cover the berries with the streusel and bake for 40-50 minutes, until a toothpick or fork inserted in the centre comes out clean.  Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving. 

Serve with some really deliciously-strong [organic fair trade] coffee….

Recipe from Jon Spee who blogs about cooking local foods and homebrewing in KW.  

Sourdough Spelt and Oat Pancakes

I seem to read about sourdough fairly often, most recently it popped up on Rare Republic, and I find myself wanting to turn all wheat-based foods I make into sourdough versions.  I have no wheat or gluten allergies or sensitivities, but some of my extended family members do.  Thus my family and I are trying to be kind to our grains in hopes that they will continue to be kind to us. 

Since making the change from quick whole wheat pancakes to overnight sourdough pancakes my family hasn’t looked back.  The simple reason is they taste better.  The overnight fermentation makes a 100% whole grain pancake that is still light the way a pancake ought to be!  Add to that the satisfaction that we feel from eating something that is supposed to be healthier and we feel even better!

Most recently we decided to try making them with spelt flour knowing that spelt is an ancient grain that (depending on who/what you read) might be healthier than modern flours.  The results were great, but really you can substitute any of Oak Manor’s awesome whole grain flours.

Sourdough Spelt and Oat Pancakes

Serves 3-5

The night before:

·        2 cups unbleached Spelt from Oak Manor

·        ½ cup oats

·        1 ¾ cups water

·        1-2 tbs. sourdough starter

When it’s time to make pancakes:

·        2 eggs, beaten

·        2 tsp. baking soda

·        ½ tsp. salt

·        1 Tbs. honey (or maple syrup, or other sweetener)

·        1 Tbs. oil or melted butter

·        ¼ milk (or more or less to achieve desired consistency)

·        Butter for frying

·        Blueberries, serviceberries, or other fruit (optional)

The night before you want to have the pancakes mix the flour, oats, water, and sourdough starter together until thoroughly incorporated.  Cover with a cloth or plastic grocery bag, (the kind you save because you forgot your reusable grocery bag and feel somewhat guilty about it…).

In the morning add the beaten eggs, baking soda, salt, honey, oil, and milk.  Mix everything together.  Adjust by adding a bit more milk or flour until you achieve a thickness that you like.

Heat a pan over medium heat, add butter and start making pancakes.  We like using frozen blueberries or service berries from last summer, but you can add anything you want (or nothing at all). 

To ensure that the pancakes cook evenly it helps to place a lid over the pancakes while they’re cooking on their first side, and then leave the lid off once you’ve flipped the pancake to ensure that they get crispy.  Remember that the more butter you use the crispier they’ll be.  You be the judge of how much a “healthy” amount of butter is. 

Save the leftovers and toast them up later as snacks.  Of course there aren’t really likely to be leftovers since these pancakes are so good!

Jon Spee is an enthusiastic and committed member of Bailey’s Local Foods who blogs about his adventures in localism at The Local Kitchener.  Every few weeks he likes to giveaway something homemade to local KW residents!