We're going to make graham cracker coffee cake.
And my lovely assistant for this one Ysabel.
Thank you.
So you don't cook at home?
I don't.
Well, so I cook for myself.
But Maddie usually will cook dinner.
But what I'll cook is pancakes that Caleb
always teases me about because they are always burnt.
- You can take this recipe home. - I could.
You can wow them.
Yes.
Are you going to wow them when you go home?
Yes, I am. I am.
I'm going to show them what I made,
and they're going to be so impressed.
It's going to be amazing.
They are.
We turned the oven on to 350 because that's
the magical temperature of everything in the world.
YSABEL: Beautiful. - And then we prepared the pan.
Butter, straight up butter in the pan,
and then parchment paper.
So this is the filling and the topping.
We have a block of graham crackers
and 1/2 a cup of melted and then cooled
butter, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, and 1 and 1/2 cups
of brown sugar, like, pressed.
So you're just going to throw those into this bowl.
- Me? - Yeah.
OK, just--
Because I'm giving you mad skills--
Yeah, right, right, right, right.
To go home and be like--
What if I don't--
OK, wait, OK, cool.
Well, that's beautiful, all of that.
Why do you cool the butter instead of putting it in hot?
Maybe because I don't want it to burn me.
I don't know.
OK, cool.
Down low, so it' doesn't splatter.
Oh.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Cool beans.
Good.
And then take this, and you just hit the snot out of it.
If you're having a bad day and you're angry,
this is a great meal to make when you're angry.
I feel like that's dangerous.
I feel like they won't let me do this.
Wack the snot out of that.
Really?
Yeah, just hit it.
YSABEL: Just let me--
like, how much do you want? CHRISTINE: I don't know.
That looks great.
That's great, perfect.
I'll take that as a time to stop.
Maybe when it bursts, it's done hitting, being hit.
Beautiful
So go ahead and to take it open and empty
it into there, all of it.
YSABEL: Even though there's, like, chunks?
That's fine? CHRISTINE: Yeah, I think so.
The thing is, cooking is a lot-- it's pretty easy.
It's just easy.
There's a lot you can mess up.
It doesn't matter.
I feel like there's some many people
who would disagree with that.
That's sad.
I think you just have a skill with it.
You think it's easy because you have fun with it.
But some people are nervous in the kitchen.
Do you like-- oh.
I get really nervous because I'm
worried that something's going to go wrong
and they won't like it.
So I'm more of a nervous cooker than anything.
We're going to use our hands with this recipe,
I'm just letting everybody know, straight up.
Get used to it.
Your best tool in the kitchen is, in fact--
Your hands.
For the main body of the coffee cake,
it's 1 and 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour, 1 teaspoon
of baking powder.
Beautiful.
And 1 tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice.
Yes.
Smell that, so much goodness in the spice.
That smells fantastic.
I know.
It's my favorite spice.
Let's go and mix that really well.
Your dad loves angel food cake.
It's an abomination.
It is amazing.
There's no chocolate in it.
But however, do think this tastes better.
But for my birthday, I think I always
to towards angel food cake.
So we're just going to set this aside.
And then we have 1 and 1/2 cups of butter
and a 1/2 a cup of sugar.
And we're going to cream that into goodness.
That's good.
Do you not want to-- which part do you not want to mix too
much because the cake will be--
what is it, like, gammy?
Like, at the end.
It'll be rubbery.
And so right now, you're fine to mix it.
So we're kind of beating it a little bit.
You can be done.
We're going to add 2 eggs into it.
Yeah, perfect.
See, it's just a little tiny seam.
YSABEL: OK, you're right, you're right.
CHRISTINE: And then we have a 1/2 a cup of sour cream.
Cool?
Cool.
And then it's like a teaspoon of vanilla,
or just, like, a cap, a cap of vanilla.
A cap of vanilla?
I like-- every time it calls for a teaspoon.
I just do a cap, maybe more.
Generous, do it with love?
Because I love vanilla.
I love to measure with love, baby.
And then does it matter the speed?
Let's just start slow because it doesn't make a sloppy mess.
Right.
Perfect.
That's good.
Yeah, that's great.
This is the flour mixture.
- Pour it in now? - Yeah.
Go on.
Now, this is the spot where you can overmix it.
And you don't want to.
So just gently put it all together.
Like, fold, is that the right term?
Yeah.
Really?
Yeah, you can fold it.
OK, that's probably good. I wouldn't do more.
Really? OK.
So now is the fun part.
So you're going to take about half of that batter
and put it on here, just half of it.
So you're just scooping out little bits.
That way, it's easier to spread.
YSABEL: Very little?
CHRISTINE: I think so.
That way, it's easier to spread.
So this is the part that you're going to get in your hands
messy.
So what you do is you just get your hands wet.
You can use butter spray or water.
And you just press it in.
See that?
YSABEL: And it doesn't stick because of the water?
CHRISTINE: Because your hands are wet.
OK, let's grab the topping in the center.
So half of it is going to go here.
And this is part where let's just kind of take half of it
and sprinkle it, so you kind of take it like this
and maybe just like sprinkle it on it like that.
I think the best part of that coffee cake
is the inconsistency because sometimes
you get that bite of goodness, and you're like, I need that.
Let's go ahead and get the next layer.
YSABEL: Like that big, you think?
CHRISTINE: I think so.
Just kind of-- yeah, you're going to put
maybe nine little scoops. YSABEL: Nine?
CHRISTINE: So I've got, like, three and three,
like a mathematical equation.
I don't know.
We wanted to experiment with this recipe a lot.
So remember when we went to store, and we got granola,
and we were going to mix the granola?
We got oats. - Oh my gosh, I remember that.
Remember, we just went crazy.
We're going to just try cookies.
So my kids aren't--
you don't like nuts.
Sometimes.
Yeah, but you don't want it in this.
No.
I don't want it to take away from the flavor.
Yeah, so my kids, they don't like
nuts in things, not all the time,
like nuts and cookies, anything like that.
So we decided to experiment a little bit.
And we tried several variations.
One was an oat one, which was your favorite.
My favorite, yeah.
And then this graham cracker one, which
was definitely my favorite.
It just tasted like coffee cake.
The other one didn't really taste like coffee cake.
- No. - It just tasted like--
Deliciousness.
Deliciousness, exactly.
CHRISTINE: So you can also use two forks
and kind of get the forks wet and spread it with the forks
as well.
So let's just grab the topping now.
We can still use the spoon.
You're just going to kind of put it on.
- Cool. - So put it on.
You can just kind of pour it and just--
YSABEL: Really? OK.
CHRISTINE: You're going to use all the rest of it now.
YSABEL: OK, cool, so I don't have to--
CHRISTINE: No. YSABEL: I can just go crazy.
Think that looks good?
Yeah.
- OK, cool beans. - Put it in the oven?
Yeah.
CHRISTINE: All right, let's do it.
Parchment paper lift, here we go.
YSABEL: It's so fancy. Whoa.
CHRISTINE: Whoa.
That's what you can wow them with at home.
YSABEL: Just that.
CHRISTINE: What if we do this?
YSABEL: Wow.
Look at that look, Mom.
CHRISTINE: Look at that. YSABEL: That was incredible.
Do you want to take that piece?
Yeah, it's a little bigger, all of them.
I want a middle one.
You like middle?
Yeah, I like the goo.
Really?
I like the gooey center of everything.
So brownies, I like the gooey center.
Wow.
CHRISTINE: Hey, look at that.
YSABEL: That's amazing. - Ready?
Yeah.
You going to make this at home for Maddie
and Caleb, the babies?
Yes.
They're going to let you In the kitchen all the time.
Yeah.