and finally the piece de resistance! the dish i made for the first time that i intend to make again and again, so many variations on this theme to be made…

Nutty Orange Coffee Cake
Recipe courtesy Paula Deen
Show: Paula’s Home Cooking
Episode: Mothers’ Day – I actually saw part of the episode on Saturday and watched Paula make this with her sons and i just HAD to make it myself!

3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 teaspoons orange zest
2 (12-ounce) cans refrigerated buttermilk biscuits (10 count)
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese
1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter
1 cup sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a small bowl, combine the granulated sugar, pecans, and zest; set aside. Separate the biscuits. Place about 3/4 teaspoon cream cheese in the center of each biscuit. Fold each biscuit in half over the cheese, pressing the edges to seal. Dip the biscuits in melted butter, then dredge in the granulated sugar mixture. Place the biscuits, curved-side down, in a single layer in the hollows of a lightly greased 12-cup bundt pan, spacing them evenly (do not stack). Place any remaining biscuits around the tube, filling any gaps. Drizzle any remaining butter over the biscuits, and sprinkle with any remaining sugar mixture. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until golden brown. Immediately invert the cake onto a serving platter. Combine the confectioners’ sugar and orange juice, stirring well; drizzle the glaze over the warm cake. Serve warm.

in a word: SCRUMPTIOUS

seriously this was so easy and so delish and we devoured half of it between 3 people after eating almost an entire quiche because it was just that GOOD.


it was a little bit rough to make them all fit into the pan, and i missed the bit of the episode when Paula was squeezing them all in, so i just did my best, but i was worried…
i used the generic brand of biscuits and they were just fine!

and as you can see it turned out great!

it looks poofier than the image with the recipe on foodnetwork.com but i’m cool with that. and my glaze was maybe not thick enough (needed more sugar i guess?) but i’m cool with that too.
and it certainly tastes great – nutty, orange-y, buttery and sweet, with pockets of cream cheese that cuts through the sugar – YUMMY!!!

oh yeah and in an homage to Sandra Lee (who i despise) here’s my tablescape:

i set the table with the linens and napkin rings Bear and i gave mama owl last christmas, i bought her flowers and arranged them, i had the orange juice ready to have champagne poured over it for tasty mimosas, i accidentally set the table for 4 without realizing it but then left it because it looked pretty… yep, i’m pretty awesome