Get Baked

the high holidays, a freakishly good apple coffee cake, and baking as a coping mechanism

Who needs therapy when we have so many Jewish holidays to bake for in the coming weeks? As the horrors of war and genocide, missiles and hostages, elections and hurricanes wage on in what feels like a never ending pit of despair - I choose to bake (and my therapy is on Tuesdays, in case you were wondering).

Today, I found my calm in a bowl of apples doused in lemon juice knowing that luck is a big part of why I am safely in my kitchen doing this traditional thing that we do on this holiday. No sirens alerting me to run to a shelter, no flyers wafting down from the skies telling me to evacuate (to where? is always the question). No bombs exploding near my house or overhead. I yell at my husband when I am really yelling at our government, complicit and part of a global fight for dominance in a world we likely won’t recognize in a matter of years. So instead, I bake.

I mark this impossible time, one year out from the moment my heart felt like it stopped knowing how to pump, with the same apples and honey that we always have done. I bake this cake knowing the desperate need for a ceasefire, for a weapons embargo, for the release of the hostages, for an end to the occupation, for a new government. For a sweeter year ahead than the one before.

Shana Tova to all who celebrate and a may this year be more about healing instead of hurting.

Apple Coffee Cake with Cinnamon Crackle

Asian pears are overflowing at the farmers markets right now. They are crisp and juicy and already taste like honey. Which is why I like to make this cake with a combination of apples and asian pears but you could do either. The cinnamon crackle topping makes it more like an apple coffee cake than anything else I could think of to describe it. It’s soft and sweet with loads of texture, what’s not to love? I’ve included the vegan version below. Another thing to note is that this cake somehow GETS BETTER over time.. The next day eat your second (or third?) piece with a cup of tea or coffee and imagine you are in an apple orchard somewhere and the world is in much better shape than it is. 

RECIPE

Cake:
1 heaping cup dark brown sugar
⅓ cup olive oil
1 egg
¾ cup milk
¼ labneh or yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
2 apples OR 1 apple and 1 Asian pear pealed and sliced thin
A big squeeze of lemon juice

Cinnamon Crackle:
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon 
½ cup white sugar
a pinch of salt

*I also like to add things like a pinch of nutmeg, some cloves, ginger, powdered chai mix, you get the idea - it’s just more fun to add another dimension of spice to the topping to make it, well, spicier?

Preheat your oven to 330F

• Thinly slice apples and pears (you want thin so they absorb into the layers of the cake, making it moist - as opposed to chunks) and place in a bowl with a squeeze of lemon on top to keep them from browning, set aside.

• In a big bowl dump your brown sugar, olive oil, egg, milk, sour cream/labneh, and vanilla. Whisk to combine until smooth.

• Add baking soda, flour, and salt. Using a rubber spatula, stir to combine.

• Fold in your sliced apples and pears and dump the whole mixture into an oiled 9x13 baking dish

• Smooth the top gently with a rubber spatula.
  

  MAKE THE CRACKLE TOPPING:

• Combine melted butter, cinnamon, other spices of your choosing, sugar, and salt in a small bowl. Drizzle that mixture all over the top and use the back of your spoon to gently coax it where you want it to go.

• Bake for 40 minutes at which point the crackle topping should look crackly and browned and at times oozy. Do your very best to let this cake cool down a little before cutting into it.

VEGAN VERSION!!

Cake:
1 heaping cup dark brown sugar
⅓  cup + tbsp  olive oil
2 tbsp vinegar
1 cup oat milk or other plant milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
2 apples OR 1 apple and 1 Asian pear pealed and thinly sliced
A big squeeze of lemon juice

Cinnamon Sugar Crackle:
2 tablespoons melted Myokos “butter”
1 teaspoon cinnamon 
½ cup white sugar
a pinch of salt