“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man,” Ernest Hemingway wrote in a 1950 letter, “then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.” Hemingway’s autobiography, A Moveable Feast, to which the title of this blog pays tribute, captures his life as an expatriate in Paris, struggling to be a writer. Hemingway’s experiences revolve around writing, but because he so often writes in Paris cafes, they revolve around food too, and the autobiography is filled with coffee, wine, oysters, and cherry tarts, with pockets stuffed with mandarin oranges and sandwiches eaten at the racetracks.
Hemingway is right—some experiences stay with you. Places are like this, but so are books, and so is food; they are all experiences we carry and relive, and Hemingway’s autobiography captures perfectly the way in which atmosphere, writing, and food all shape our lives.
This blog is obviously still in its infancy, but the idea of it is to combine the experiences of reading and writing with the experiences of food, cooking, and baking. I’ll be sharing recipes and discussing what I’m reading, because they’re probably connected. Not every recipe will have a literary inspiration—many recipes will be posted simply because I love them—but some will.
For this first post on Hemingway’s poignant autobiography, I’ve chosen my favorite pastry, Cream Cheese Coffee Cake. Hemingway writes that in Paris you can make a meal out of bread, especially if you are poor, and on one occasion berates himself for not doing so, thinking hungrily, “I should have bought a large piece of bread and eaten it instead of skipping a meal. I could taste the brown lovely crust.”
This coffee cake is not by any means a French pastry, but it is a delicious breakfast bread, and pairs so nicely with a cup of coffee that you can make a meal of it while reading or writing—even if you aren’t in a café in Paris.
This coffee cake is a little time-consuming (because the dough must be made a day in advance and rises in the refrigerator) and has several steps, so I have included step-by-step pictures. I’m just getting started with the photography aspect of this, so I hope picture quality will improve as I go. I hope, as Hemingway says, “Hunger is healthy and the pictures do look better when you are hungry.”
For more excerpts from A Moveable Feast, see after the recipe.
Cream Cheese Coffee Cake:
Dough:
1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
½ cup sugar
½ cup butter
1 teaspoon salt
2 packages (4 ½ teaspoons) active dry yeast
½ cup warm water
2 eggs, beaten
4 cups flour
Filling:
2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
¾ cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
Glaze:
2 ½ cups powdered sugar
¼ cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Sliced almonds
Making the Dough
1. Combine the butter, sour cream, sugar, and salt in a saucepan. Cook over low heat until combined, stirring until combined. Set the mixture aside to cool to room temperature.
2. In a large bowl (or stand mixer), dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Add the sour cream mixture and eggs. Mix well. Stir in flour one cup at a time. The dough will be very soft. Transfer the dough to a large, greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.
Assembling the Loaves
3. Punch dough down and place on floured surface (I use a silicon baking mat, but a floured cutting board also works). Knead 5-6 times (if the dough is too sticky to work with, incorporate a little more flour as you knead). Divide the dough into fourths. Roll each piece into a 12 X 8 in rectangle (approximately the size of a sheet of paper).
4. To make the filling, mix the cream cheese and sugar together until well blended. Beat in the egg, vanilla, and salt.
5. Spread approximately ½ cup of filling on each rectangle of dough, to within 1 inch of the edges.
6. Roll each loaf up, starting at the long side, and pinch the seam and edges to seal. Place the loaves seam side down on greased baking sheets. With a sharp knife, cut X’s in the top of the loaves. Cover the loaves and let them rise about 1 hour (until close to doubled).
7. Bake the loaves at 375 for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. Cool on wire racks.
Glaze:
8. Combine the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla. Once the loaves are completely cool, drizzle the glaze on top of the rolls. Sprinkle with sliced almonds.
Store any leftovers in the refrigerator; slices can be easily reheated in the microwave.
Recipe adapted from Taste of Home Baking Book.
* * * *
More from Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast:
What does it mean to be poor?
It was all part of the fight against poverty that you never win except by not spending. Especially if you buy pictures instead of clothes. But then we did not think ever of ourselves as poor. We did not accept it. We thought we were superior people and other people that we looked down on and rightly mistrusted were rich. . . . We ate well and cheaply and drank well and cheaply and slept well and warm together and loved each other.
How does one become a writer?
All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.
Paris: A Moveable Feast
There is never any ending to Paris and the memory of each person who has lived in it differs from that of any other. We always returned to it no matter who we were or how it was changed or with what difficulties, or ease, it could be reached. Paris was always worth it and you received return for whatever you brought to it.
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