Cardamom Coffee Cake.

The end of summer is drawing near and I've been relying on trusted recipes to see me through these final long summer nights. The summer heat drives me away from the oven and toward simple, low or no heat cooking.  But what I miss most during the summer is baking and I won't allow the heat to deter me from my beloved stove, so I decided to bake you something.

I recently made one of my favorite treats, it's one I learned in cooking school.  It takes coffee cake to a whole new level.  Hold on to your horses, cowboys and cowgirls, this coffee cake honors the blessed spice, cardamom.  Other coffee cake recipes cry out, "We're not worthy!!! We're not worthy!!!!" and it's hard to argue with them.

Cardamom Coffee Cake

2 1/2 c. all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. cardamom

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

1 c. brown sugar

3/4 c. white sugar

3/4 c. canola oil

1 c. chopped walnuts

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 egg

1 c. buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl or bowl of Kitchen Aid stand-up mixer, mic the flour, salt, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. cardamom, ginger, brown sugar, white sugar, and canola oil.  Remove 3/4 c. of mixture, and add it to nuts and remaining cinnamon and cardamom.  Mix well and set aside.

To remaining batter, add baking soda, baking powder, egg and buttermilk. Mix to combine.

Spread the batter in a prepared 9" square baking pan.  Sprinkle with the topping and bake 40-45 minutes until done.

Ice Ice Baby.

Alert:: This post is not intended for those who abhor coffee. After typing that statement I realize that was an abomination. Fellow coffee lovers, short and tall, grande and venti, I found a simple recipe for iced coffee. It's not rocket science, but there is an art to the making of the perfect iced coffee. Now I won't get into the particulars and snobbery associated with coffee beans and where you should be purchasing them, but I will recommend you give this iced coffee concentrate a try, if you're an iced coffee lover.

The Pioneer Woman is a blog (really a well-rounded website) I've known about and have visited occasionally, but this past week I've been paying close attention to it. I feel ashamed for not having "plugged" this sooner because this is a site worth of plugging, drooling, and lusting over. I've managed to print several recipes, one of which, was her recipe for the perfect iced coffee.

I'm the kind of girl who can't drink hot beverages on hot days. Sue me, I'm a temperamental lady. I'm making a conscious effort not spend so much money at coffee shops unless I'm buying coffee beans so finding this recipe was immediately of interest to me. I made half a batch of the concentrate over the weekend and have enjoyed several glasses of this refreshing beverage. I chose to use a lesser quality of beans for it, but I'm quite happy with the results. I sweetened my iced coffee with lowfat milk and sweetened condensed milk, because I'm a caffeinated gangsta.