Stick To It

After all of the frivolous grocery shopping that Glenn and I did (spending 40 dollars, but saving 50, on nothing but soda, cream cheese, butter, and all sorts of baking chips) I decided it would be a good idea to put some of that cream cheese to use. At my bridal shower, what feels like a million years ago, my wonderful Gma gave me the Taste of Home Cookbook. While I do not cook, ever, the book contains a wealth of knowledge. It tells you all about different kinds of spices, cuts of meat, etc, etc, etc. Sometimes I just sit down and read all the random facts. Suffice it to say, I really only use the sections that have baking in them. Ever since I first opened the book though, I have wanted to make the Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake that is accompanied by a nice picture.

Well my friends, today I made that coffee cake. I even got to bust out my awesome food processor to make the crumb part, and that was fun. However, when I finished making the batter I was instructed by the all knowing book to put the batter in a greased springform pan, and spread the batter around and 2 inches up the sides. This was not good. The batter is SUPER sticky. I even put on some rubber gloves and greased 'em up with a ton of shortening, and still, it stuck to me. Then I thought to myself, there is no way I am going to get this batter to stick 2 inches up the pan. So I mushed and I mushed and I mushed until I had what sort of resembled crust going up the side of the pan. We'll see.

*** Update - This is really really tasty. However, the bread part of it cooks much faster than the cream cheese part. It oozes everywhere, but it tastes better all runny. I am going to adapt this into a muffin recipe so it is easier to handle and enjoy.

Here is the recipe for your own enjoyment, but don't say I didn't warn you about the stickiness.

Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

2 1/4 C flour
3/4 C sugar
3 T packed brown sugar (I added this in for personal reasons)
3/4 C cold butter

Mix flour and sugars together until well blended. Cut in cold butter until mixture forms crumbs. Remove 1 C and set aside to use as topping.

1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 C sour cream
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

Add baking powder, baking soda, salt, sour cream, extract, and egg to the crumb mixture and mix well until a very thick batter forms. Pour into a greased 9 inch springform pan and push batter 2 inches up the sides (I will be impressed if you can actually manage that.) Set aside.

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 C sugar
1 egg
1/2 C preserves (raspberry in this case)

Mix cream cheese, sugar, and egg together in a small bowl until very smooth. Pour over the batter and smooth. Spoon preserves over cream cheese filling and spread. Sprinkle reserved crumbs over cake. Bake at 350 degrees F for 50-60 minutes.