Streusel Coffee Cake

This Streusel Coffee Cake recipe used to be on the back of the Bisquick box. A friend made this for us so we looked up the recipe and made it this morning for breakfast.

Streusel Coffee Cake

Cinnamon Streusel
1/3 cup Bisquick® mix
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons firm butter or margarine

Coffee Cake
2 cups Bisquick® mix
2/3 cup milk or water
2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Grease 9-inch round pan. In small bowl, stir streusel ingredients until crumbly; set aside.

2. In medium bowl, mix coffee cake ingredients until blended. Spread in pan. Sprinkle with streusel.

3. Bake 18 to 22 minutes or until golden brown.

High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): Heat oven to 425°F. Use 9-inch square pan. Stir 2 tablespoons Gold Medal® all-purpose flour into the 2 cups Bisquick® mix. Increase milk to 3/4 cup. Bake 15 to 20 minutes.

These were some suggestions in the reviews:
(suggested 1/4 cup sugar in batter)
(suggested 1 tsp vanilla in batter)
(suggested double topping and use knife to swirl into batter)
(suggested add 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce to batter to help moisten the cake)
(suggested add cinnamon to batter)

I just added a little more sugar in the batter, a little vanilla, a little cinnamon in the batter, and 2 Tbsp applesauce.  The reviews indicated that the original recipe was a little dry.  I did not follow High Altitude directions.

Homemade Tomato Soup

I remember a year or so ago, there was a request for tomato soup. My friend Marne shared this one with me and I thought I'd pass it along.

TOMATO SOUP (Marne Southwick Clark)

(If you would rather use fresh tomatoes than bottled, quarter and squish a little over 2 quarts worth of tomatoes. Add 2 tsp. salt and cook them for about 30 minutes.)

1/2 cube butter
2 Tbsp. oil
1 chopped onion
1-2 garlic cloves (optional)
2 quarts bottled tomatoes
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp thyme
1 tsp basil
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 cup flour
4 cups chicken or beef broth, DIVIDED
1 cup cream, evaporated milk, or any milk
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, heat butter and oil. Add onion (and garlic if desired) and sauté until tender.

Add tomatoes, bay leaf, and other spices. Simmer 10 minutes.

Mix flour with 1 1/2 cups broth. Stir broth mixture into tomato mixture. Add remaining broth and cook for 30 minutes, stirring frequently.

Ladle soup out into a blender, and blend until smooth (you will have to do this 2 or 3 times per batch of soup).

Pour from blender, through a strainer (if you want to get rid of any skins and seeds), and into a large bowl.

Add cream or milk to soup, and add salt and pepper to taste.

And if you're making this soup, you've got to try these new mini Premium soda crackers. Mary recommended these to me when I was sick a while ago. We all love them - even Maxie! They are so cute and little and so you don't have to crumble them to dust to put in your soup - unless, of course, you like cracker dust! Really - they are yum.

Pie Crust Cookies

I found this recipe in the Family Fun magazine.

Aut-yum Leaves

Heat the oven to 375.

Whisk one egg with a teaspoon of water and set it aside.

On a floured surface, roll out a prepared pie crust so it's about 1/8 inch thick. Use a large leaf-shaped cookie cutter (4 1/2 -inches wide) to make as many dough leaf pairs as possible.

For each pocket, spread about 4 teaspoons of mini chocolate chips and peanut butter chips on a leaf, leaving a 1/2-inch margin at the edge.

Brush egg wash onto the edge, place a second leaf on top, and press the edges to seal. Brush the top with egg wash and sprinkle it generously with raw sugar.

Bake the leaves on parchment-covered cookie sheet until their edges are just beginning to brown, about 12 minutes. let them rest on the sheet a few minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.

We didn't have a leaf cookie cutter but we did pumpkin shapes. You can also try adding jam and cream cheese, choc chips, walnuts, and marshmallows. We just did most with choc chips. And I tried one with mini carmel bits and choc chips.  We used Pillsbury premade pie crust and it worked great.  I just sprayed that flour-grease on the counter and rolled it out.  

Hannah thought it was fun to make, but gross to eat. Abe thought it was fun to make and yummy to eat.