Cornmeal berry coffeecake

4 servings

Ingredients

QuantityIngredient
Cake:
½pounds(2 sticks) unsalted butter,
Softened
cupSugar
3Eggs
2teaspoonsVanilla extract
3Egg yolks
¼cupMilk or buttermilk
2cupsUnbleached, all-purpose
Flour
1cupStone ground yellow
Cornmeal
2teaspoonsBaking powder
1quartBlueberries, rinsed, picked
Over and dried
Crumb topping:
2cupsUnbleached, all-purpose
Flour
cupSugar
cupBrown sugar
½teaspoonCinnamon
¼teaspoonNutmeg
12tablespoons(1 1/2 sticks) unsalted
Butter, melted
10xes15-inch jelly roll pan,
Buttered

Directions

Set a rack at the middle level of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until soft and light. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Stir yolks into milk. Sift together the flour, cornmeal and baking powder and stir into the batter in three additions, alternating with the yolks and milk, beginning and ending with the flour. Spread the batter in the prepared pan. Scatter the blueberries evenly over the batter, and press them in gently. To make the crumbs, mix the flour, sugars, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl. Melt the butter and stir it in. Rub the mixture to coarse crumbs by hand. Scatter the crumbs over the berries as evenly as possible. Bake the cake about 45 to 60 minutes until batter is firm and crumbs are well colored. Cool the cake in the pan on a rack. Cut the cooled cake into twenty four 3-inch squares. Remove the squares from the pan to a platter.

Variations:

APPLE CURRANT CRUMBCAKE SQUARES: Omit cornmeal and increase flour to 2½ cups. Stir 1 cup currants into batter. Spread batter with 6 apples, peeled, cored, diced and cooked in 2 tablespoons butter and 4 tablespoons sugar until limp and cooled. Top with crumbs and bake.

COOKING LIVE SHOW #CL9045

All recipes courtesy of Nick Malgieri