Fun fact about me: I love reading cookbooks. They take up an entire shelf in my kitchen. Some I use often, others I just peruse when I’m in search of inspiration; I even have a few simply for their pretty pictures. I go to flea markets and thrift stores to seek antique cookbooks that speak to me.
One of my all time FAVORITES is a little antique beauty published in 1969 by the Food Editors of Farm Journal and edited by Nell B. Nichols called Homemade Bread. I couldn’t tell you where I procured this gem if you asked; I’ve had it for so long I don’t remember not having it! The book is older than me and the pages are clinging to the spine for dear life! And I can’t imagine my kitchen without it.
I reached for the kitchen classic recently when I was overcome by the need to bake. The miserable winter weather is the perfect excuse to warm up the house (and my belly) with something hot and sweet from the oven. But what to bake? What could I put together in my lil’ mixer and my lovely oven that would be delicious and something I hadn’t made before? I remembered that I had a crate of clementines in my living room. I’d totally forgotten about the sweet little citrus fruits and saw they were about to get soft. With a recipe from Homemade Bread as the foundation, I conjured up this tasty coffee cake. It’s not overly sweet and the clementine flavor adds a great sunny flavor that can brighten up anyone’s day. Enjoy!
THE CUTE COOK’S CITRUS COFFEE CAKE
Ingredients
Loaf
- 2 cups biscuit mix (I use the Heart Smart Bisquick)
- 1 cup clementine or orange juice
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ cup milk
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
Glaze
- 4 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoon melted butter
- 4 tablespoons orange juice
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Steps
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Lightly flour a cutting board.
- Whisk together the four ingredients for the glaze and set aside.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk biscuit mix and cinnamon.
- Once well mixed, create a hole in the middle of the dry ingredients.
- In a smaller bowl, blend together juice, milk and melted butter.
- Take the mixed wet ingredients and pour them into the hole in the dry bowl.
- Stir the wet and dry ingredients to form a paste-like consistency.
- Move your dough onto the cutting board and knead it gently. You’re looking to create a well formed ball of dough.
- Press the dough evenly into a greased 8” square pan.
- The recipe as it appeared in the cookbook calls for you “with a sharp knife make one lengthwise cut, about 1/2” deep across the center of the top. The make crosswise cuts across the top about 1” apart.” Here’s where I get a little fancy. I make the original cut the book describes, but instead of making hash marks across the top of the dough, I make drag my knife across diagonally to make a more interesting pattern. Feel free to drag a knife through the top of the dough however you feel.
- Drizzle dough with glaze.
- Bake in oven for about 20 minutes or until browned. Serve warm.
