74 is my LUCKY NUMBER
A few weeks ago, you would find me patiently waiting in line with my legs and feet hurting like hell from standing for 6 hours at the opening of the first Krispy Kreme store in my city. News certainly spread fast for some free donuts! The 3rd up to the 100th customer on that day were given a month's supply of free donuts from Krispy Kreme while the 1st and 2nd received a whole YEAR's supply. Whew, good luck to THAT! I can't imagine myself eating donuts everyday for an entire year. My colleague and I had originally planned to go jogging early in the morning that Saturday because we were joining a 5K run the next day but when I woke up, my excitement for Krispy Kreme took over and the jog quickly turned into a donut fest. By the time I arrived at the venue at 5:30 a.m., there was already a long line of people waiting. Where did all these people come from? One would have to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. It was a silly and ridiculous race for donuts. Nothing can even stop a pregnant woman and a man with a cast on his broken leg from going there!
I ended up making a couple of new friends. The little chit-chat helped to pass the time easily. We were not aware that the management had already given out 100 priority numbers. We didn't get any but we had hope. There were also others who didn't have a number. An hour or two went by and then a major announcement came. They were handing out the numbers whose owners had left and didn't come back, 8 of them! I was excited! Visions of me holding my boxes of dozens of free donuts and indulging in sweet pillowy sugar high were making me giddy! My eyes were glued to the numbers and one by one, I watched as each number disappeared into unknown hands in line, until the last and final number was handed out to the person just in front of me. I felt like a little puppy eagerly waiting for my doggie treat, watching all the other dogs happily munch their little treats, only to find out that there wasn't any left for me. The 100 spots were filled up and I was 101. (Seriously, could I get any luckier really?)
That didn't matter though. I was in a good mood that day. Number or no number, I decided to wait until the store opens and thought of buying some donuts for myself and my colleague. That way, all that waiting would not have been in vain. It was getting late. We both didn't have breakfast yet and we were getting hungry.
Time was ticking and you could feel the excitement build up. Krispy Kreme hats, balloons and pins were handed out to the lucky customers who made it to the first 100. There was so much excitement in the air that it was palpable! It was only an hour or less away before they open the doors to the public at 10:00 a.m.. At that point, when it was already so late, I was so sure that no one would back out. It was senseless waiting there for hours, only to leave at the last minute.
The first 100 customers were called to form rows of lines as a group on one side for the photoshoot. The rest who didn't make it from 101 (me) up to the last waiting customer were asked to stand on the other side. I felt like I had a big letter L marked in my forehead, like in those movies where the all the losers who didn't get picked in gym class stood awkwardly together. I was resigned to the fact that I wasn't going to get anything that day.
Suddenly, by some miracle, one of the guys in-charge called out to me and pulled me away from my group where I was standing quietly and said that I was going to take the place of number 74. Whoever that person was, was nowhere to be found and I could not believe my luck that day! WOOT! WOOT! I WAS IN! Free donuts for an entire month for me!! :D
So that was my crazy weekend. Now moving on to the recipe. I was having food cravings again. This time, my mouth and tastebuds were looking for something with apples and cinnamon. Though this is a really good coffee cake, I would have been much happier with MORE apples in it. Big juicy chunks of apples! Oh yum! The streusel on top was perfectly crisp, buttery and thick. It was in contrast with the soft and moist cake at the bottom with just a hint of cinnamon and the subtle flavor of the apples in the middle. Plus, if you bake this at home, your house is going to smell AMAZING! It was perfect for breakfast the next day with a cup of hot coffee.
APPLE CRUMB COFFEE CAKE
recipe adapted from Kitchen Confit
Apple Filling:
2 Apples – peeled and chopped into a ¼ dice
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Crumble Topping:
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp salt
1 stick butter, melted (or 1/2 cup melted butter)
1 1/2 cups flour
Cake:
1/3 cup sour cream
2 medium eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp softened butter, cut into pieces
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease an 8-inch-square baking pan.
For the Apples:
Peel and chop the apples. Sprinkle 1 tbsp of brown sugar and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon. Mix it well with the apples and set aside.
For the Crumbs:
In a large bowl, whisk together sugars, spices, salt and butter until smooth. Stir in flour with a spatula. It will look like a solid dough.
For the Cake:
In a small bowl, stir together the sour cream, eggs and vanilla. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, baking powder and salt.
Add butter and a spoonful of sour cream mixture and mix on medium speed until flour is moistened. Increase speed and beat for 30 seconds.
Add remaining sour cream mixture in two batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition, and scraping down the sides of bowl with a spatula. Scoop out about 1/2 cup batter and set aside.
Scrape remaining batter into prepared pan. Spoon apples over batter. Spread the apples evenly. Dollop set-aside batter over apples; it does not have to be even.
Using your fingers, break topping mixture into big crumbs, about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch in size. They do not have to be uniform, but make sure most are around that size. Sprinkle over the cake.
Bake for 45 to 55 minutes until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean of batter. Cool completely before cutting into slices.
