Cardamon Coffee Cake

For those of you that believe that you can find any recipe you need on the internet at any time (ok, I am actually talking about myself) I have a question for you. What do you do when your internet goes out? It's a similar convenience to all the grocery stores that have started to stay open 24 hours, that means we can run and pick up the missing ingredient ANY time. Is this a blessing or a curse, do we get lazy and forget how things used to be done?

So before the days of laptops and 24 hour on-line accessibility, starting in my early teens, I read cooking magazines and cookbooks. Am I alone on this one, did anyone else have a fettish with reading recipes in their youth? At that time the only way to read recipes was in a cookbook or magazine. So whatever I could get my hands on that bore at least one food photo, if even only the cover, I read it. If I was as diligent in reading my textbooks as I was reading recipes in high school, surely I would have graduated with a 4.0. With each recipe I analyzed accessibility of ingredients, cost, nutritional value, attractiveness, ingredient ratios, and quantity. I studied them for hours, I imagined what it would be like if I made it with my own unique variations. Many recipes I simply imagined making them if only in my mind, but at that time, that was enough.

In my adulthood one of my favorite cooking magazines has been Eating Well, of which my wise sister gave me the subscription to a few years back for a Christmas gift. Talk about the gift that keeps on giving. I still have the entire collection of 2 years, and have them neatly stacked next to other sacred readings. I particularly fell in love with Eating Well Magazine because they offer a variety of recipes with seasonal ingredients, healthy, simple, and even have a section on cooking for two! From time to time, I remember my roots of pre-internet days, shuffle through the pages and stumble upon a new surprise that I absolutely must re-create.

One such moment came yesterday, and while I reveled in re-reading recipes from years prior, I caught the flair to make Cardamom Coffee Cake. Years ago when I saw this recipe I am certain I thought nothing of it, at that time I had no idea what Cardamom was, where to get it, or why I wanted to use it in a recipe. Now that I am older and wiser, I have realized Cardamom is, truly, the spice of the Gods, seriously I love this stuff, and I would like to find a viable reason to put it into, well, just about anything. It is used heavily in Indian cooking and Ayurveda (science of life). I love how it taste, smells, and feels. Initially it comes in pods which you can grind yourself for the freshest powder, or buy it already ground. Someday I will grind my own spices, but I am not there yet. So for now I will put my Cardamom in Coffee Cakes, and I don't even drink Coffee. But not to worry a tall glass of milk will help the Cardamom go down, again, and again, and again.

Cardamom Coffee Cake1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cardamom

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

Sift above ingredients together and set aside.

1 large egg

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup buttermilk (I never have this on hand, so I make my own by adding 1 1/2 tsp of lemon juice to 1/2 cup of milk and let sit for at least 10 minutes)

2 tbsp canola oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk together the above ingredients until well combined.

Add dry ingredients in 2 additions, stirring until well blended.

Prepare the crumble by mixing the following in a food processor:

3 tbsp cold unsalted butter, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup rolled oats, 2 tbsp whole wheat pastry flour, 1/2 tsp cardamom, 2 tbsp of walnuts (optional)

Spray an 8 inch square pan with cooking spray, pour the batter into it, add the crumble on top evenly. Sprinkle a few rolled oats on top for appeal.

Bake at 335 degrees for 25-28 minutes. ENJOY!