No-Fail Blueberry Crumb Cake

I have an email devoted to coupons.....restaurants, groceries, culinary, pharmaceuticals, you name it.

If they say sign up for promos I use that email. Every Friday I open up all my mail and every once in a blue moon I get a nice little bonus.

This week, Chili's sent me a coupon for "2 feast for $35".

Share an appetizer, choose 2 entrees, enjoy 2 top shelf margaritas and share a dessert....all for $35.00.

The are introducing a Hatch Chile Cheeseburger (which is what I want) and they have also included the Classic bacon Cheeseburger (which is The Nudge's favorite).

This new burger is their signature Big Mouth® Burger with mild roasted Hatch green chile sauce, jalapeno Jack cheese, cilantro-lime mayo & house-made pico de gallo.
If it is any good, I will be making one soon at home.

Review: If I was to replicate this at home I would add more flavor to the toppings and put the cheese on the bottom of the burger. The picture shows the toppings split between the top and bottom, but this place put it all on the top.
The whole top of the burger with all those toppings of the chiles, mayo and cheese, slid right off the meat and was way too bland. It just needed some more pop, maybe more lime or spice but it might have just needed more salt. Would I order it again? Probably not. Will I make it at home, yes I will, but I will give it way more flavor.

Can you guess where we will be eating tonight??

I admit Chili's and Macaroni Grill (who are owned by the same corporation) are two of our few chain restaurants that we frequent on a regular basis, Chili's in the summer for their margarita's, especially the El Presidente and the Macaroni Grill for their "create your own pasta dish" options in the winter.

And yes, I also get coupons from Macaroni Grill.

So now that I do not have to cook dinner, I am making a Blueberry Crumb Cake. I used Ina's recipe because it has never failed me but used America's Test Kitchen's technique for forming the crumbs (we are so used to a New York Style Crumb).

Blueberry Crumb Cake
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Recipe courtesy of Ina Garten

Ingredients
For the streusel:
* 1/4 cup granulated sugar
* 1/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
* 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

For the cake:
* 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature (3/4 stick)
* 3/4 cup granulated sugar
* 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
* 2/3 cup sour cream
* 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
* 1 cup fresh blueberries (optional)
* Confectioners' sugar for sprinkling

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9-inch round baking pan.
For the streusel:
Combine the granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl. Stir in the melted butter and then the flour. Mix well and set aside.
For the cake:
Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on high speed for 4 to 5 minutes, until light. Reduce the speed to low and add the eggs 1 at a time, then add the vanilla, lemon zest, and sour cream. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the batter until just combined. Take 1 tablespoon flour and mix with the blueberries. This will stop them from sinking to the bottom of the cake.

Fold in the blueberries and stir with a spatula to be sure the batter is completely mixed.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and spread it out with a knife.

I grab a handful of crumb mixture, squeeze and pull off 1/2" balls and place evenly over the batter. You have more than enough struesel batter to cover the whole top plus extra for sprinkling down in between the balls, so you get total coverage.

Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.

Review: I did use the Splenda brown sugar blend for the crumbs but the rest of the ingredients were as originally written. The crumbs baked up slightly crunchier than if made with regular brown sugar, but The Nudge loves crunch so he thought these were perfect. The cake part was moist and the blueberries (from New Jersey of course) were large, plump and juicy.
Make this for the long weekend coming for eating with coffee in the AM, or bring it to your picnic for dessert. I keeps well simply covered with saran wrap.