How do you make crumb cake patriotic? Add blueberries!

Happy Fourth of July Weekend everyone! I felt like baking something super yummy today. I have a wonderful crumb cake recipe - the king of crumb cakes. Normally when you say something is "really crummy" that is a bad thing. I think when cake is really "crumby" is a GREAT thing! I know that my blog title has "made from scratch" in it, so it is a bit hypocritical to use cake mix from a box (ahhhh!!) as the base for my cake. This is my favorite recipe, so you can judge, but trust me, you will enjoy!

Ingredients:
Cake:
1 Pkg Duncan Hines Butter Recipe Cake Mix
2/3 cup oil
4 eggs slightly beaten
2/3 cup milk

Crumbs:
3 sticks butter
4 cups flour
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. Cinnamon
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

What is more American than Duncan Hines cake mix?

Mix cake mix and the rest of the cake ingredients.

This is before 4 minutes of tough love...

...this is after. Whipped into shape!

Don't forget to fold the blueberries into the batter. They are sensitive, so be gentle!

Pour the cake batter into a 18 x 12 x 1 pan or two 11 5/8 x 9 1/s pans.
DO NOT GREASE PAN(S)!!
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Cool 10 minutes

Now, the important part...

THE CRUMBS!!!!!! (Did I mention I love crumb cake?)

Mix dry ingredients - melt butter slightly (I usually do this on the stove), add vanilla to it and pour over dry ingredients.
Mix with a fork  Do NOT over mix or crumbs will get too small. This is critical! The crumbs need to look more like boulders than crumbs.

Don't you wish you could be in my kitchen? :)

Spread crumbs over cooked cake by hand (make sure the cake is completely invisible, like my beautiful specimens above!)
Try not to put the crumbs in your mouth. They belong on the cake!

Put back in oven and cook approximately 10 minutes longer.

Watch to see that it doesn't brown too fast. Cool...sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Note: You likely won't be able to let this completely cool.

This recipe freezes well.  Will keep 3 days covered with foil, but I doubt it will last that long!

My family tends to DOUBLE the crumb recipe because that the ratio should really be 2 parts crumbs to 1 part cake!

Happy Fourth of July!

Lemon Poppy Seed Scones...my first post!

As a loyal reader of multiple blogs, I thought it would be quite easy to make my own. This initial post may be a bit rudimentary, but I'm sure I'll pick it up quickly. I love baking for other people, especially the Hospitality House of Charlotte (http://www.hospitalityhouseofcharlotte.org/). I haven't baked scones in awhile and noticed that I had a container of poppy seeds on hand. Even though they don't have much taste and take days to get out of my teeth, I love them, especially in lemon poppy seed scones. This is a recipe I found and fell in love with when I first made it with my mom in 2003 (my mom loves dating recipes and she photocopied the original for me- thanks!). I checked the fridge and didn't have any lemons, so I went to the "Teet" (Harris Teeter, a local food store), but not the Taj MaTeet (the large HT by my office).

My beautiful ingredients...don't the lemons look juicy?

Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

3 tbs poppy seeds

1 tbs baking powder

2 tsps grated lemon peel

1 tsp salt

10 tbs chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 large egg

2 tbs fresh lemon juice

1/3 cup (or more) whole milk (I used skim and it was just fine)

Icing:

Juice from lemons

Powdered sugar

Water as needed (for desired consistency)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Position rack in top third of oven (this is important!)

Mix flour, sugar, poppy seeds, baking powder, lemon peel, and salt in processor. Add butter and cut in, using on/off turns, until mixture resembles coarse meal.

Grating lemons - a stress reliever that smells nice!

I love my food processor. Reliable and has an on/off switch...is he single?

Whisk egg and lemon juice in medium bowl to blend. Add to flour mixture. using on/off turns, process until moist clumps form. Add 1/3 cup milk. Using on/off turns, process just until dough comes together, adding more milk if dough seems dry.

Using floured hand, gather dough into ball. Flatten into 8-inch round. Cut round into 8 wedges. Transfer scones to a large baking sheet. Bake until scones are golden brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. While the scones are baking, make the icing. Sift the powdered sugar and add lemon juice and water as needed.

GIANT SCONE!!!

Ready for some lovin in the oven!

Transfer to rack and cool. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.) While the scones are still warm, drizzle on the icing. Makes 8 scones.

Iced and ready to go!

Don't worry, I was brave and sampled them- they were AMAZING!