APPLE TEA COFFEE CAKE

Last week while visiting my elderly parents, I came across a brochure my Mom had gotten in the 1980's.   It was from the Lipton Tea Company and included 6 recipes with tea in them.  Some of you will remember how we often wrote away for free recipes - before internet days!   If you go to the Lipton Website they have quite a few recipes - although many don't necessarily contain tea but are foods to accompany tea.

Here's one of the recipes from the brochure:

APPLE TEA COFFEE CAKE:

You will need:  2 cups boiling water, 4 teabags, 1 tart apple, peeled, cored and chopped, 1 1/4 cups sugar, 2 cups flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 12 tablespoons butter, softened, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup of sour cream and 1 tsp vanilla extract

For the topping: 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, 3 Tb cold butter cut into pieces and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  In a med. bowl, pour boiling water over tea bags and brew 5 minutes.  Remove tea bags and stir in the chopped apple and 1/4 cup of the sugar.   Let stand for 1 hour and then remove the apples. Reserve 1/4 cup of the tea liquid.

In another med bowl, combine flour, baking powder and baking soda, set aside.

In a larger bowl, mix butter and sugar until blended, adding eggs, sour cream and the 1/4 cup of tea liquid and vanilla.  Gradually beat in flour mixture and apples. Turn into a greased 9" spring form pan.  Top with crumb topping and bake for 1 hour.  Cool before removing from pan.    Serves 10