Welcome home from the dud parent

We know ourselves only as far as we’ve been tested.

            —Wislawa Szymborska, “Moment of Silence,” Map: Collected and Last Poems

Whenever you're being tested, Mom is the rock who props you up so that you can pass the exam. She really is a font of endless patience and wisdom when you are in need. Of course, to obtain her emotional wisdom, you'll also have to put up with an undeterrable stream of suggestions that includes: meditation; yoga (but only if you do it in a 105-degree death chamber); neurofeedback; acupuncture; and ingesting and/or rubbing on yourself various non-FDA-approved substances.

Still, to my half-Italian brain, it's impossible to achieve emotional and spiritual growth without sustaining the body, too. In other words, you can't fill your heart if you have an empty belly. And if it's physical nourishment you're after, I'm your guy.

When Dylan finally arrived home for Thanksgiving after his long and arduous trip from Seattle, dinner was ready and the food on hand included Black Bean Chili (as requested), cornbread, banana bread, homemade bread, spiced nuts, a full bag of Bodo's bagels, and this coffee cake, which was his favorite growing up. (Coffee cake for dessert sounds weird, but it was supposed to be Dylan's breakfast, until the airlines intervened to push his arrival back from the morning to the evening.) And nothing says "Welcome home!" from the dud parent like a warm coffee cake (even if it's not warm any more).

Cranberry-Nut Coffee Cake 

Adapted from Cooking Light

The original recipe calls for cake flour. You can make a reasonable facsimile of cake flour by sifting together 1 cup less 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour + 2 tablespoons cornstarch for each cup of cake flour you need in a recipe.

Streusel
50 grams (¼ cup) brown sugar
30 grams (¼ cup) cake flour or all-purpose flour
30 grams (¼ cup) chopped hazelnuts or pecans (I like Trader Joe's Unsalted Dry Toasted Pecan Pieces)
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
25 grams (2 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted

Cake
200 grams (1⅔ cups) cake flour; or 175 grams all-purpose flour + 25 grams cornstarch (see note)
1½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
8 ounces/227 grams (1 cup) sour cream (any fat level) or plain whole-milk yogurt
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
70 grams (5 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
200 grams (1 cup) granulated sugar
200 grams (2 cups) fresh cranberries, rinsed, picked over, and roughly chopped or pulsed in a food processor 5 or 6 times (now is the time to break out your food processor’s mini prep bowl if you have one; see the top photo above)

    1. Place a rack in the center of the oven, and heat to 350 degrees. Coat a 9-inch springform or 8-by-8-inch square pan with cooking spray.
    2. For the streusel: In a small bowl, stir the brown sugar, flour, nuts, and cinnamon with a fork. Add the melted butter, and stir with the fork until everything is evenly moistened.
    3. For the cake: In a medium bowl, sift together, the flour (and cornstarch, if using), baking powder, and baking soda. Whisk in the salt.
    4. In a small bowl, whisk together the yogurt or sour cream, eggs, and vanilla.
    5. In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until lighty and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the flour mixture alternately with the egg mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, mixing until just combined after each addition.
    6. Scrape half of the batter (~400 grams) into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the chopped cranberries evenly over the batter. Scrape the remaining batter over the cranberries. Sprinkle the streusel mixture evenly over the batter.
    7. Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 45–50 minutes depending on the size and composition of your pan. Cool completely on a wire rack. Makes 10 servings.