Peanut butter cookies have always seemed a little weird to me because I’m more of a Toll House gal, where you blop the dough out onto the sheets and bake them.  The idea of actually handling cookie dough and rolling it into balls is a bit foreign.

However, a couple of days ago, the cookie cupboard was bare, and I was casting about for a new cookie recipe. I flipped through some books but everything that looked appealing called for the dough to be mixed up then chilled for 30+ minutes. I was on a deadline, so I needed something that required no chilling. 

From an earlier round of cooking, I had Martha Stewart’s Favorite Comfort Foods lying on the counter, and I paged through to find out what kinds of cookies La Martha recommended. The choices were Gingersnap Raspberry Sandwiches (which I knew would earn a lip curl from the whole gang), Chocolate Chip (which I didn’t want to make; we’d just finished a batch and I wanted something new), Oatmeal Raisin (which I don’t like much; I can’t help but agree with Lilly in Julius, The Baby of the World that “. . . raisins taste like dirt . . .”), and finally Peanut Butter.  By a happy coincidence one of our nannies had just bought two enormous jars of peanut butter at the grocery store because she thought we were out, not realizing that we had a Costco double pack of equally enormous jars in the pantry.

Peanut butter cookies are actually a great thing to make with kids because you do play with the dough.  My three-year-old twins thought it was pretty neat that we made balls of cookie dough and then got to smush them with a fork.  I skipped the chopped peanuts that the recipe suggested you could scatter over the top of them and just left them plain. They came out golden and tender, with enough peanut butter flavor to realize you were eating peanut butter cookies, but not so much that it smacked you in the taste buds screaming about it.  If you sometimes find the peanut butter flavor overpowering (I do), this is a good recipe for you to try. 

I also like that it only makes two dozen cookies. Two baking sheets, they both go in the oven at the same time, and they can be eaten up in a couple of days.  In our house larger batches of cookies can hang around for a while because the enthusiasm for that flavor wears off quickly.  “What, again?” seems to be the mood when we have a lot of a certain kind of cookie. I did find that I needed about an additional 1/4 cup of flour; the dough just seemed too sticky when I finished mixing it all up. I’m adding the additional quarter cup in the instructions, with the caveat that you may not need it.

This recipe earned three thumbs up, and one thumbs down (however, consider that the thumbs down came from a five-year-old who doesn’t like peanut butter in any form, which I think may actually be illegal in some states). So for those inclined to eat peanut butter cookies in my house, we had a unanimous vote in the affirmative for these.

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Cookies

from Martha Stewart’s Favorite Comfort Foods

makes 2 dozen

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup smooth peanut butter (crunchy may also be used)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 to 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• Dry-roasted, salted peanuts, for sprinkling (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 and line two baking sheets with parchment.  Set aside

In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, peanut butter, and both sugars until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and vanilla, and mix on medium speed until well combined.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift 1 cup flour and baking soda together (full disclosure: I did not sift - I just added them both to the mixer and hoped for the best).  Add to the butter mixture, and beat to combine.  The dough should be slightly sticky, but not so sticky that you can’t roll it into balls.  If this is the case, add the additional 1/4 cup flour and mix it in. 

Scoop the dough out in tablespoons and shape into balls.  Place on the prepared baking sheets, about 3 inches apart.  Dip the tines of a fork in warm water and press the dough balls down lightly with the back of the fork to flatten slightly (dip the fork back in the water for each dough ball, to prevent sticking).  Sprinkle with a few peanuts, if desired.

Place sheets in the preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, or until golden, rotating sheets between the shelves halfway through baking.  Transfer sheets to a wire rack to cool.  Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.

Picture by The Modern Apron

I think the reason for this is that my mother almost never made them. She had little time for cooking, and cinnamon rolls are the sort of thing that take time. Not a lot of hands-on time, but hang around the house and wait for things to happen time. My mother didn’t have that kind of time.

So when I saw the recipe for Pecan-Honey Buns in this month’s Food + Wine magazine, I couldn’t resist. I told my oldest son I’d have a special treat for him for breakfast, and set to it. I mixed up the dough on a Sunday evening and put it in the refrigerator to rise overnight. Monday morning before everyone got up (but not much before–someone tell me when these kids are going to start sleeping past 6 a.m.?!?) I rolled out the dough, filled it, sliced it, and set it to rise again. I baked them off, and by the time the nanny arrived, I was pulling hot Pecan-Honey Buns out of the oven for my kids (oh, and me; did I mention me?). This was possible because of my weird schedule (I go in to work fairly late, so I’m home with my kids for two hours every morning), but it could just as easily be accomplished on the weekend, say from Saturday to Sunday.  Letting the dough rise in the refrigerator like this changes the hang-around-and-wait time to coincide with the time when you’re asleep–so handy.

About the only adjustment i might make to this recipe is to make more of the topping that gets spread in the bottom of the pan. Since it’s a 4:1/2:1/2 ratio of butter to honey to brown sugar, it would be easy to increase the butter to 6 tablespoons and the honey and brown sugar to 3/4 of a cup each (more sugar for breakfast? Yes, please!).  I scattered chopped pecans on only half of the pan because I knew the Picky Pack wouldn’t want them. 

These turned out pillowy soft, with a tiny hint of spice from the cinnamon. The dough itself is sweetened with honey and sugar, which gives it multidimensional sweetness not achieved with sugar alone. The actual working time is only about half an hour, with that being divided into two fifteen-minute blocks to mix up the dough, and then to fill, roll, and slice the buns. The rest of the time is just rising and baking time. For a half an hour of actual work, these are a huge payoff. These would be perfect if you have houseguests; mix up the dough after they go to bed, set it to rise while you sleep, then get up a little before they do to finish them off. Make some coffee and enjoy a quiet weekend morning.

Pecan-Honey Buns

from Food + Wine magazine, August 2008

FOR THE DOUGH 

• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 cup milk, warmed
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 3 large egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons honey, preferably orange blossom or clover (full disclosure: I used plain old honey; local, but no special flavor)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 cups plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

 FOR THE TOPPING

• 1/2 cup honey, preferably orange blossom or clover
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for brushing
• 1 1/2 cups pecans (6 ounces), coarsely chopped

FOR THE FILLING

• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Make the dough: in the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, combine yeast with a pinch of the sugar and the milk and let stand until foamy, about five minutes. Add the rest of the sugar, the 4 tablespoons melted butter, the egg yolks, honey, and vanilla, and mix until combined. Add the flour and the salt. Change to the dough hook and knead at medium speed until the dough forms a smooth ball, about 4 minutes.

Brush a large bowl with butter, add the dough, and brush the top with butter. Cover and let stand in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about an hour. (Alternatively, you can cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator overnight, 8 or more hours).

Make the topping: butter a 9″ x 13″ glass baking dish. In a medium saucepan over moderate heat, melt the honey with the brown sugar and butter until sugar is dissolved, about 1 minute. Pour the hot honey mixture into the prepared pan and spread evenly over the bottom. Scatter the pecans over the honey mixture.

Make the filling: In a bowl, mix the sugar and cinnamon together.  On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough to a 12″ by 18″ rectangle.  Spread the 6 tablespoons of softened butter over the dough, leaving a 1″ border all around.  Sprinkle the dough with the cinnamon sugar. Starting on the long side, roll up the dough into a log, and turn it seam-side down. Cut into twelve 1 1/2″ slices.  Arrange slices, cut-side up, in the baking dish. Cover and let stand in a warm place until the buns double in bulk, about an hour. (All the slices won’t touch in the pan, and frankly, mine didn’t touch each other even after the rise; they turned out fine, though.)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the buns for 35 minutes, or until golden brown (this actually only took about 30 minutes in my oven). Remove and let stand 5 minutes. Invert onto a baking sheet and let cool slightly. Serve warm.

Pictures by The Modern Apron

In the Pacific Northwest we have all the same months that you folks in the rest of the world have, right up to May. The month that follows May here in the PNW is more commonly known as June-uary. As I sit writing this, the rain is slanting down from dusty gray clouds and dimpling the surface of the water in my winter pond. My winter pond, which is supposed to have water in it only in the winter, and yet here it is a quarter of the way full. And did I mention it’s 47 degrees outside? On the plus side, this means I can do some baking and not have to worry that it’s going to get unbearably hot in my kitchen.

The June/July issue of Fine Cooking magazine has a great feature on blueberry desserts, and I think Blueberry Streusel Bars with Lemon-Cream Filling will be just the nudge my imagination will need to trick me into thinking it’s summer. These bars have a slightly tart, silky lemon filling spread over tender blueberries, sandwiched between a thick buttery crust and an oaty crumb topping. Although they take a little time, the process isn’t hard at all.

I’m always a little wary of recipes that instruct me to spread something over a crust or base the way this one does; I so often find that there’s not quite enough of the filling to cover the bottom properly. Be assured that this is not the case with these bars. I also hesitate when I see an instruction along the lines of “spread gently . . . but take care not to crush the berries.” Somehow this is always the first thing I manage to do. With this recipe, however, because there’s enough of the cream to cover the crust generously, there was no danger of my crushing the berries. I like it when things just work like that.

Now, to pretend it’s sunny and 75 degrees outside!

Blueberry Streusel Bars with Lemon-Cream Filling

from Fine Cooking magazine Issue #93 (June/July 2008)

• 8 ounces (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened; more for the pan
• 13 1/2 ounces (3 cups) all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick oats)
• 1 1/3 cups packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 large egg, separated
• 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
• 2 1/2 cups room-temperature blueberries (about 13 ounces), washed and drained on paper towels

Position rack in he center of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9×13 inch metal baking pan with foil, leaving a 1-inch overhang on the ends. Lightly butter the bottom and sides of the foil.

In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Using your fingers, blend the butter completely into the flour mixture. Transfer 2 cups of crumb mixture to another bowl and reserve for topping. Blend the egg white into the remaining crumbs and press the mixture into the bottom of the pan to form a level crust. Tamp it with the bottom of a measuring cup to even it out. Bake the crust until it starts to form a dry top, 10 to 12 minutes.

In a medium bowl, whisk the sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice, lemon zest, and egg yolk. Let stand for 5 minutes; it will begin to thicken.

Sprinkle the blueberries evenly over the hot crust, then drop spoonfuls of the lemon mixture over the blueberries. Spread gently with a spatula to distribute a little more evenly, but take care not to crush the berries. The lemon mixture need not be perfectly evenly spread. Bake until the lemon mixture just begins to form a shiny skin, 7 to 8 minutes.

Sprinkle the reserved topping over the lemon-blueberry layer, pressing the streusel between your fingers into small lumps as you sprinkle. Bake until the filling is bubbling at the edges and the topping is brown, 25 to 30 minutes.

Let the bars cool in the pan on a rack until just warm, about an hour. Carefully lift them out of the pan using the foil overhang and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Remove the foil and cut into 24 bars when cool. The bars may be stored at room temperature for a few hours, but should otherwise be kept in the refrigerator.

pictures by The Modern Apron

The grand prize is $1 million.  Other winning recipes included Mascarpone-Filled Cranberry-Walnut Rolls (Breakfast & Brunches category), Salmon Pastries with Dill Pesto (Entertaining Appetizers category), and Mexican Pesto-Pork Tacos (Old El Paso Mexican Favorites category).

For all the winners, and to see winning recipes from past years, go to Pillsbury.com.  The Pillsbury Bake-Off is held every other year, so your next chance to enter is in 2010; start thinking about your entry! 

Double-Delight Peanut Butter Cookies

• 1/4 cup Fisher Dry Roasted Peanuts, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup Domino or C&H Granulated Sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup JIF Creamy Peanut Butter
• 1/2 cup Domino or C&H Confectioners Powdered Sugar
• 1 roll (16.5 ounces) Pillsbury Create ‘n Bake refrigerated peanut butter cookies, well chilled

Heat oven to 375.  In a small bowl, mix chopped peanuts, granulated sugar, and cinnamon.  Set aside.

In another small bowl, stir peanut butter and powdered sugar until completely blended.  Shape mixture into 24 (1-inch) balls.

Cut roll of cookie dough into 12 slices.  Cut each slice in half crosswise to make 24 pieces; flatten slightly.  Shape 1 cookie dough piece around 1 peanut butter ball, covering completely.  Repeat with remaining dough and balls.

Roll each covered ball in peanut mixture; gently pat mixture completely onto balls.  On ungreased large cookie sheets, place balls 2 inches apart.  Spray bottom of drinking glass with Crisco Original No-Stick Cooking Spray; press into remaining peanut mixture.  Flatten each ball to a 1/4″ thickness with bottom of glass.  Sprinkle any remaining peanut mixture evenly on tops of cookies; gently press into dough.

Bake 7 to 12 minutes or until edges are golden brown.  Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks.  Store tightly covered.

Makes 24 cookies

Picture from Pillsbury.com

This would probably have been a better recipe to share before Easter, since now you can’t possibly make these for breakfast on Easter morning, as we did. However, since it’s an awfully nice recipe, I would say you shouldn’t wait for next Easter to make it. Tomorrow would be fine. 

Every year for about fifteen years now, I’ve intended to make hot cross buns for us to have on Easter morning.  Having grown up on English children’s books, it just seemed the Mary Poppins-Beatrix Potter-Alice in Wonderland thing to do. Somehow, though, even before we had kids, I could never manage to get my act together. I’m not sure what it was that I found so daunting, or dissuading. Buying currants (they’re kind of traditional)?  Setting the dough to rise? Waiting for the rise time? I can’t recall now but suffice to say I still haven’t made hot cross buns.

This year, however, I made something that I’m not sure isn’t even better. Cinnamon Scrolls drew my attention as I was flipping through old Donna Hay magazines. They were the cover shot for issue #8, and they were so impressive looking, with their whirl of filling and their grand stature. I had to try them.

The dough is a simple yeast dough that the instructions say to make in a food processor, then transfer to a lightly oiled bowl for rising. I made one batch of dough and waited the hour and a half as instructed. When I returned to check on the dough, it hadn’t risen a single bit as far as I could tell. Not even a smidge. I thought back over the process of making the dough; had the milk not been warm enough? Or had the food processor rendered the yeast ineffective somehow? Can food processors mangle yeast so badly that it won’t work it’s little gaseous magic on the dough? Was I a heartless killer of single-celled organisms??

With a sigh I consigned batch number 1 to the trash and started over. This time I made sure the milk was nice and warm (I even used the thermometer to measure it), and mixed the whole thing up in the stand mixer, just to avoid a possible murder rap. Once again I put the dough to rise and went about my business for an hour and a half or so. Once again the dough looked exactly the same at the end of that time as it had at the beginning. 

This time I shrugged and moved forward. If they flop, I told myself, they flop, and I’ll just deal with that disappointment when it happens. The recipe called for ground hazelnuts, but since I had almond meal on hand, I swapped that out. I’ve seen hazelnut meal in the stores, and if you want to use that, it’s what the recipe actually calls for, but I can highly recommend the almond flavor as well.

Well, they turned out to be wonderful. They rose nicely in the heat of the oven, as you can see, and actually looked as impressive in real life as they did in the magazine. This is what I love about Donna Hay – her food really does look as beautiful when you make it yourself as it does when her professional stylists get ahold of it. With Donna Hay’s books and magazines, even a rank amateur such as myself can produce something that looks like it belongs in . . . well, in the pages of a magazine or cookbook.

These little scrolls made an excellent Easter breakfast, and while I may one day make hot cross buns as I’ve so long intended to, for now I’m satisfied with these. The dough is firm enough to hold the filling, yet still flaky and tender. The filling itself is subtle, not too sweet, with a hint of cinnamon and almond. Their unusual shape makes them real attention grabbers, and they’re a snap to make. Even if the dough doesn’t rise, I urge you to forge ahead and make them anyway. You won’t be sorry.

Cinnamon Scrolls
from Donna Hay magazine, issue #8
Makes 8 scrolls; how many that feeds depends on how hungry you are and/or how willing you are to share

3 cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
¾ teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoons active dry yeast
1/3 cup lukewarm milk
2 tablespoons lukewarm water
2 eggs
4 oz butter, softened

Filling
3½ oz butter, softened
½ cup brown sugar
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¾ cup almond meal

Preheat oven to 330 degrees F. Place flour, sugar, salt, yeast, milk, water, and eggs in a food processor and process until the mixture forms a dough. With the motor running, add the butter, a little at a time, until combined. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a clean tea towel, and set aside in a warm place for 1½ hours or until the dough has doubled in size. (Don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t rise; mine never did, not either batch.)

To make the filling, place the butter, sugar, cinnamon, and almond meal in a bowl and mix to combine. Set aside.

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to an 18” x 10” rectangle approximately ¼” thick, with the long side facing you. Spread evenly with the filling, leaving a 1” border at the top. Roll up the dough, starting with the side closest to you, shaping it into an even roll.

Cut into 8 pieces and place in paper baking cups (available at baking supply stores) on a baking tray, or in paper cupcake liners in a muffin tin. Bake 25 minutes or until lightly golden. As always seems to be the case with Donna Hay recipes, mine took closer to 35 or 40 minutes to get golden, but start checking at 25 minutes.

]]> http://justbaking.net/2008/04/02/not-cross-buns-cinnamon-scrolls/feed/ http://justbaking.net/2008/03/14/filling-the-bucket/ http://justbaking.net/2008/03/14/filling-the-bucket/#comments Fri, 14 Mar 2008 05:00:52 +0000 Tracy DeBlois Recipes Cookies http://justbaking.net/2008/03/14/filling-the-bucket/  
The bucket, at last, is full again.  For the past four days my sons have been pointing to a kitchen cabinet and saying, in a tone reminiscent of Oliver asking for more, “Mommy, the bucket’s empty.”  Horrors.

The bucket, you see, is the large, deep rectangular storage container in which we keep the cookies.  I love cookies, and I love having homemade ones on hand.  They take so little time and effort, and they repay you a thousand times over.  There are dozens of fantastic varieties detailed on the back of any ingredient packet you care to buy, so finding a good recipe is a cinch.

Usually I make either chocolate chip, or some variation on oatmeal (plain oatmeal, oatmeal raisin, or oatmeal chocolate chip).  Any of these meets with cheers of approval from the Peanut Gallery.  And for my part, I know they contain butter and not partially hydrogenated anything, sugar and not high fructose anything, flour and not soy byproduct anything. 

This tendency to keep homemade cookies on hand may be genetic.  My grandmother still does it, even though my grandfather, for whom she primarily made them, has been dead for over ten years.  She’s told me that when he was alive, they’d run out of cookies and she’d say, “Well, I’ll need to make some more cookies; we’re out.  What kind shall I make?” and he’d look up and say with genuine astonishment, “What’s wrong with chocolate chip?”  I’m not sure if they owned stock in Nestle, but they must have been responsible for a good portion of the sale of chocolate chips over the last fifty years.

Two weeks ago I made two batches of chocolate chocolate chip cookies, one using regular cocoa, and one using Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa.  The ones made with regular cocoa were fine, but not distinguished.  But of the ones made with the Special Dark cocoa, I can only say wowowow!  This stuff is my new favorite ingredient in baked goods.  I think my husband thinks I might want to marry it.  These cookies were rich, complex, subtle.  I adored them.  Interestingly, Alex did not.  His complaint was that he didn’t get the contrast between the light vanilla flavor of the cookie dough (in a traditional Toll House type of chocolate chip cookie) and the chips.  But what does he know?

My children are far less discriminating.  If it’s round, made with butter, sugar and flour, and in The Bucket, it’s awesome.  Thank you, Mommy!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

makes approximately 5 dozen cookies 

2 sticks butter at room temperature
¾ cup brown sugar 
¾ cup granulated sugar 
2 eggs 
2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
2 ¼ cups all purpose flour 
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ cup Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa 
1 teaspoon salt 
2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 °F. 

Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

]]> http://justbaking.net/2008/03/14/filling-the-bucket/feed/ http://justbaking.net/2008/02/12/saving-cake-jam-crumb-cake/ http://justbaking.net/2008/02/12/saving-cake-jam-crumb-cake/#comments Tue, 12 Feb 2008 06:00:04 +0000 Tracy DeBlois Recipes Cakes http://justbaking.net/2008/02/12/saving-cake-jam-crumb-cake/
Did you ever find a recipe that you fell so in love with at first sight that you just had to make it, and then when it didn’t work out, you were determined to make it work?  I had this happen a couple of weeks ago.  I came across a recipe for Jam Crumb Cake in the December issue of Gourmet magazine, and it sounded so delicious, so interesting, so different, that I just had to make it.  A light coffee cake with a swirl of raspberry jam in it, topped with a buttery sugary crumb topping.  Such a nice change from the usual sour cream streusel coffee cake type of offering, I thought.

When it flopped, I was crushed.  And it flopped big time: the batter ran out of the pan and down into the oven and filled my house with the smell of burning cake, the center was still doughy, the preserves all sank to the bottom of the pan, and there was so much crumb topping you could barely tell there was a cake under it.  I set my teeth and determined that I would make this cake work.

One thing I did consider was that part of the failure may have been my own fault.  I use homemade single-acting baking powder, which can be a shade temperamental.  I reread the instructions for how to make it, and decided that perhaps the cream of tartar and the baking soda hadn’t been sufficiently combined, so I sifted them together multiple times before I tried the recipe again.

The second time I made it, it still flopped, but less dramatically.  The original recipe called for a 9” round cake pan, but when I used that, it was impossible to get the cake out of the pan intact.  When I did manage to pry it out, the preserves had sunk again.  I also decided that the cake itself needed a little pep, so I resolved to add a teaspoon or so of vanilla to the batter.

Don’t they say, “The third time’s the charm”?  Well it was in this case too.  I was extra super careful and took meticulous care with the prep process to ensure that any failures weren’t my fault.  And lo and behold, there were no failures.  And so, here is the Jam Crumb Cake that I made, complete with meticulous preparation instructions.  I’m sure as I make this more and more I’ll relax and be more willing to play fast and loose with the order of the ingredient combinations, but for a little while, I’ll err on the side of caution.  And maybe add just one more teaspoon of vanilla.

Jam Crumb Cake

adapted from Gourmet magazine, December 2007
serves 6-8

For Cake
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder (I use single acting homemade baking powder)
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ stick unsalted butter, melted
½ cup milk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
½ cup raspberry jam or preserves
Juice of ½ a lemon

For Crumb Topping
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of salt
½ cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Make Cake:
Preheat oven to 350 °F, with rack in middle. Generously grease an 8 ½” or 9” springform pan, line the bottom with parchment paper, and spray parchment paper with cooking spray.

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.  Set aside.

Whisk together butter, milk, vanilla, and egg in a large bowl.  Set aside.
 
Over medium heat, warm preserves in a small pan with the juice of ½ a lemon until almost completely melted. Remove from heat and stir until all jam is melted.  Set aside.

Make Crumb Topping:
Whisk together butter, sugars, cinnamon, and salt until smooth. Stir in flour, then blend with your fingertips until incorporated.

Finish Cake:
Whisk flour mixture into butter mixture until just combined. Pour batter into cake pan.  Drizzle melted preserves over batter. Using a knife, stir preserves into the batter until well incorporated, but not completely combined (some streaks of jam should still be visible in the batter).  Sprinkle crumbs in large clumps over top of the cake.

Bake until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean, and sides begin to pull away form the pan, about 30 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes, then remove outer ring of springform pan and let cool to room temperature.

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