New York Crumb Cakelets

Okay, this post is going to be short because as soon as it's done I'm leaving for the lake.

I bookmarked Martha's recipe for New York Crumb Cake a couple of months ago, but during the school year, breakfast pastries have no place in the clockwork of my morning routine, which is engineered to let me eke out as much sleep as possible while still getting to work on time. (This year I was down to 45 minutes between the moment my alarm went off and the time I usually pulled out of my driveway…and that included time for two rounds with the snooze button). However, now school is out for the summer, and the pace of my mornings is luxuriously gentle. There is time to sip coffee, watch birds, and enjoy a little cake for breakfast.

Here are the components – all pretty basic again. I chose to add cardamom in along with the cinnamon for the crumble topping, and I think some chopped pecans would be great in the mix next time. Mixing some fresh berries, apples or peaches into the cake batter would also be a great idea that I literally just though of as I typed that last sentence. Darn it! Sigh. Oh well. The recipe came together in two simple parts.

In the first part I prepped my jars by spraying them with non-stick cooking spray and cutting parchment paper discs to line the bottom of each. Once the batter was mixed, I portioned it into the jars. The recipe is originally intended for a 9x13 pan, and from that I was able to fill 14 jars. If I'd added 1 cup of fresh fruit, it probably would have stretched the batter to fill closer to 18 jars. I knew the batter would rise as it baked, so I was conservative and only put a couple of tablespoons of batter in each.

The second part of the recipe was for the crumb topping. All of the sugar and spice goes into one bowl, then two sticks of melted butter get mixed in…

…and out comes a crumble topping that both looks and smells amazing. Again, here I adjusted the recipe from 1 ½ teaspoons of cinnamon to 1 tsp cinnamon and 1 tsp cardamom. About  a half-cup of chopped pecans (or almonds, or walnuts…choose your favorite nut) would have also rounded out the flavor and added some variation to the texture of the topping.

When I evenly distributed the crumble topping, it filled all 14 of my jars right up to their tops. This was actually a little problematic when the cake batter rose during baking. Some of the crumbles spilled over the tops. Then again, the visual appeal of these little cakes literally bursting with crumbled sugar and spice was pretty great, so maybe not so problematic after all, as you can see below.

The recipe called for 20 minutes of baking, but I adjusted that to closer to 30. When I checked them with a toothpick at 25 minutes, the jars placed on the outside of my baking sheet were done, but those in the middle needed the full half hour to set properly.

This recipe was a breeze to make. I feel like I’ve been saying that a lot lately, so perhaps my next project will tackle something more complicated. Then again, it is summer vacation. Maybe I’ll track down a recipe for some 4oz. popsicles…