Good Morning

Any morning can be a good morning if you add a freshly baked coffee cake! As much as I love coffee cake I am new to making them, but this one was so easy I may have found a new hobby. I would love to tell you about the lovely Sunday brunch when I served this to adoring friends, and how much they loved it. I cannot tell you about that brunch, because it didn’t happen. What actually happened is that I woke up, and decided that my morning would not be complete without some coffee cake, and so I made some for myself.

There are moments when I think I’d be much better off if I didn’t have the belief that I can whip up anything that I want, any time I want it.  This was one of those moments. Who really needs coffee cake ever? Certainly not me! But I forged ahead, let us say I did it for you as much as for myself. The first piece warm from the oven was exactly what I was craving, but the last piece my daughter ate four days later, warmed in the microwave was almost as good. So feel free to make it ahead of time.

This is a simple cake, and you can use pears instead of apples, and walnuts instead of pecans. You could easily double the recipe and make it in a 9×13″ pan too. The recipe is based on Mark Bittman’s, but he doesn’t add fruit, and the apples were a good addition. I also prefer brown sugar in my streusel. I think the next time I try a coffee cake I’ll make a yeasted one. Do you have a go-to coffee cake?

Apple Coffee Cake

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Serves	8
Prep time	20 minutes
Cook time	40 minutes
Total time	1 hour
Meal type	Breakfast
From book	How to Cook Everything

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour (plus 3 TBL)
• 1 stick butter (separated into 3 and 5 TBL and cut up into small pieces)
• 1 cup pecans (toasted and chopped)
• 1 Medium apple (peeled and diced)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cups brown sugar
• 2 pinches salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 pinch nutmeg
• 3/4 cups milk

Directions

Step 1

Preheat oven to 375F Generously grease a 9" square or round pan Toast pecans until fragrant, about six minutes, and cool

Step 2

Combine 3 TBL of flour, brown sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon and the nutmeg and 3 TBL of butter with the nuts, to make the crumb topping, using a pastry cutter or fork

Step 3

Combine remaining flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining sugar, cinnamon, and butter in the bowl of a mixer, or food processor Mix until mixture is grainy and flour is coated with butter

Step 4

Add egg, then add milk, and mix until combined

Step 5

Put half the apples in the bottom of the pan, top with half the batter Add the remaining apples, and half the streusel mixture Add the rest of the batter, and smooth it out Top with remaining streusel Bake for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean Cool for 15 minutes