Vegan Whole Grain Blueberry Crumb Coffecake (Cowls And Guitars)

This is a very "crumby" coffee cake: I love it to pieces! Literally. It's baked with tons of good-for-you whole grains and a yummy cinnamon-y, crunch-y topping that, as it sits, gets better by the day. I've had this for breakfast, lunch and dessert. For evening time, if you have a hankering for something sweet, but want to feel "healthy" about it, then this cake's for you! The added bonus are those antioxidant-rich blueberries. I'd probably add another cup of berries the next time I make this, but meantime, thought it totally worth sharing. If you wanted to make giant muffins out of this, or even regular-sized muffins, you could. But you'd need to adjust the baking time and keep an eye on them during baking. Either way--the flavor in this is outstanding.  

I like to pre-cut my coffee cake into pieces, then store in the fridge for nibbling. I don't know why, but this cake truly tastes better served cooled vs. room temperature. Of course, if truth be told, I'd eat the topping alone, and save the "cake" part for another time. But that's the sugar addict in me talkin'.

Here I am in the sixty-five degree January day showing off my latest finished knit: the GAP-tastic Cowl. It's HUGE! Unraveled and hanging in it's finished circle, it drapes nearly to my waist and is 12" wide. So doubled up and around my neck, it feels like I'm wearing a giant llama. I loved knitting this--great TV knitting. Great knitting for the airplane trip I took a few weeks ago. I used Bernat Roving for my yarn in a deep olive green. I love the way the seed stitch pattern worked with this yarn. The recommended needle size was a 13/3 stitches to the inch. I went with a size 10 because I had four hanks of the yarn. It knitted up a wee bit tinier in the seed stitch design than from the original, but I don't think it took anything away from the texture or look of the cowl. Nearly a million other knitters on Ravelry have finished this cowl, so if you see one somewhere on someone, be sure to give a shout out, "Nice GAP-tastic cowl!"

On an entirely unrelated front is: the guitar. Well. I LOVE my new guitar. I really do. But I'm also petrified of it for some reason. I went to my second guitar lesson last night. Same spot in lesson-line, right before the eight year old kid. I had been practicing my string notes: E, F, G, B, C and D. I was sure I'd be able to walk into my lessons and with my eyes closed hammer out, "Ode to Joy" for my instructor. I'd practiced it: Every. Single. Day. (The true test of a husband's love: sitting in the same room while one tackles an entirely NEW musical instrument. It could be worse, I could have said, "I'd love to learn to play the slide trombone", kay?) What I played sounded like something akin to Old McDonald and Free Bird combined. Yes. It got so bad at one point, I thought I might pass out from the stress of playing in front of my teacher. I could feel my face flushing every single time I hit a wrong note. Which would be at least ninety percent of the time as I stumbled through this particular piece. Here I was, a grown woman with so much nervous stage freight, I had flashbacks of "play" tryouts from high school. I could barely look that man in the face! He kindly accepted my pre-payment for my class next week. So I haven't been banished from ever playing the guitar again. . .yet. 

This will not defeat me. 

Vegan Whole Grain Blueberry Crumb Coffeecake

*Adapted from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking

2 cups white whole wheat flour

1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 tablespooons unsalted vegetable margerine

3/4 cup, plus 1 tablespoon Florida Crystals sugar

3 teaspoon Ener-G Egg Replacer mixed with 4 tablespoons water

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened soy milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon imitation butter extract *optional

2-2 1/2 cups frozen blueberries (do NOT thaw them out!)

For crumb topping:

3/4 cup Florida Crystals sugar

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/3 cup rolled oats

1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons unsalted vegetable margerine

Preheat oven to 375. Lightly spray a 9" square baking pan with non-stick baking spray. (You could use a round pan if you don't have a square one.) Combine all the ingredients for the crumb topping in a medium mixing bowl. Using your fingers or a pastry blender, crumb together the margerine and flour and spices until medium-sized crumbs appear. You don't need to use a blender, your hands are fine for this task. Set aside.

For the cake batter: Whisk together in a medium bowl all the dry ingredients (flour, seasonings and salt) and set aside. Whisk your egg replacer together and set aside. Measure out the soy milk and add vanilla extract and butter extract (if using) and set it aside until you are ready to add it to the batter. In a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the margerine and sugar until light and fluffy. Add your Ener-G egg replacer and blend well--until smooth. Scrape down the bowl as you do this. Next, add half the dry ingredients, and then the milk mixture. Give the mixture a good whirl with the blender--but only a quick shot--don't overmix the batter. You are done using the motor blender, the rest of the mixing will be done with a spoon. Add the remaining flour mixture and stir it with a spoon, folding the batter in on itself so that most of the batter is blended (a few dry areas are fine). Finally, fold in the frozen blueberries. Bake for 45-50 minutes. Test for doneness with a toothpick. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely in the pan. Slice into pieces and store in an airtight container in the fridge.