Use this streusel on top of muffins or cakes to give a burst of cinnamon flavor and crunch. Chilling the streusel while you mix the cake batter makes the streusel easier to crumble before using.
Yield: 1 Loaf, 8 to 10 servings
Ingredients:
For the Cinnamon Streusel:
4 Tablespoons (2 ounces) unsalted butter
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
1/2 cup Love’n Bake™ Cinnamon “Schmear™ Filling
For the Batter:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
3/4 stick (3 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/3 cup sour cream or milk
1 cup canned pumpkin purée
1 cup finely diced tart apple
1/4 cup raisins or dried cranberries
Confectioner’s sugar for dusting
Directions:
1. To make the Streusel: Beat the butter and sugar in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle until smooth and creamy. Scrape the bowl and add the flour and salt. Mix only until the mixture just starts to come together, approximately 1 minute. Scrape the bowl then add in the Love’n Bake™ Cinnamon “Schmear”™. Blend on low speed only until the Schmear starts to blend into the butter and flour mixture. Set aside.
2. Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Grease an 8 x 4-inch loaf pan.
3. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ginger, nutmeg and cardamom. Set aside.
4. Beat the softened butter, brown and granulated sugars in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle until light and creamy, approximately 3 minutes. Scrape the bowl then beat in the eggs one at a time. Scrape the bowl. Stir in the sour cream or milk and pumpkin purée.
5. Gradually add the flour mixture beating on low. Blend only until the flour is incorporated without overmixing. Stir in the fruits, scraping the bowl to evenly distribute them in the batter.
6. Spoon the batter into the loaf pan.
7. With floured fingertips, break up the streusel into irregular lumps. Scatter the pieces of streusel evenly over the top of the batter.
8. Bake the loaf until it is risen, evenly browned and baked through in the center, for approximately 60 to 70 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely on a wire rack before unmolding. Dust with confectioner’s sugar before serving.
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About: This recipe is courtesy of American Almond Products Company. Since 1924, American Almond Products Company has been crafting artisan-quality specialty nut ingredients for professional bakers, pastry chefs and chocolatiers. They recently created Love’n Bake™ to introduce home cooks to their products –all-natural almond paste, marzipan and hazelnut praline as well as its ready-to-use almond, chocolate and cinnamon Schmear™ fillings. The secret ingredient of professional bakers, Love’n Bake™ has been featured in the N.Y. Times, Food and Wine Magazine and newspapers nationwide. (In November, readers of O Magazine were treated to a Chocolate Pistachio Pie made with Love’n Bake™.)
