by Gale Gand
from Gale Gand’s Brunch!: 100 Fantastic Recipes for the Weekend’s Best Meal
(Clarkson Potter, 2009)
Makes one 8-inch square cake; serves 8

My grandma Elsie on my mother’s side was a great baker in the Austro-Hungarian tradition. Strudels, poppy seed cakes, coffee cakes, and cookies always seemed to be in her kitchen when we visited.

I found a great apple streusel coffee cake recipe in her card files when I became the keeper of those treasures. Here it is, revived, with my little twist of using pears instead of apples.

Ingredients
For the cake
Unsalted butter, for the baking dish
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 large egg
1/2 cup whole milk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 ripe pears (I like Bartlett), unpeeled, cored and chopped (1 1/2 cups)

For the streusel topping
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut up
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Method
1. Heat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Butter an 8-inch square baking dish.

Make the cake
1. Combine the flour with the baking powder, sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl.

2. In a separate bowl, beat the egg and then mix in the milk and melted butter. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, add the pears, and mix well.

3. Pour this into the buttered baking dish.

Make the streusel
1. Mix the sugar, flour, cold butter, and cinnamon in a bowl by pinching them together with your fingers until well combined. Sprinkle over the top of the batter.

2. Bake the cake for 30 to 35 minutes, until it is golden and dry on top. Cool in the pan, and then cut into squares. This cake keeps for up to 4 days, covered, at room temperature.

Recipe © 2009 Gale Gand. All rights reserved.