Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake with Cinnamon Swirl

This coffee cake is given an extra dose of cinnamon with the swirl through the middle. It is the perfect sweet treat. The cake is very moist (due to the sour cream) so it allows for the heavier impact of all that cinnamon sugar and those delicious chocolate chips. This cake is also very easy to make, so it is great for bringing to a dinner party (plus, you are guaranteed to impress everyone with your baking skills!).

Recipe yields 24 cookies

Ingredients  

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup light brown sugar

2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp water
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup of the granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and chocolate chips. Mix everything together and then set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and baking powder.

In a larger mixing bowl, cream together the butter, remaining granulated sugar and eggs.

Add in the sour cream, vanilla extract and water. Mix well so all ingredients are fully incorporated.

Slowly add the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and stir to incorporate. Do not overmix, you want your batter to stay airy and soft.

Butter and flour your baking pan. I used a foil one as I was taking mine to a party, I could just leave the foil pan there and not have to worry about it. Split your batter in half and spread half the batter on the bottom of the pan.

Evenly top with half the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Repeat with the second half of the batter and the second half of the cinnamon sugar mixture so you have two layers of goodness.

Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until the cake is cooked through and a tester comes out clean.

Slices into individual squares and serve for dessert with coffee or tea. You can easily cut this into 24 squares, as it is so sweet, you do not need a big piece. If there are any, store leftovers in an airtight container. The cake will stay fresh for about 5 days or so. Enjoy!

Mother's Day Breakfast (Sausage & Veggie Hash + Homemade Cinnamon Buns)

I hope everyone had a very Happy Mother's Day! This year, I treated my mom to a deliciously simple, homemade breakfast. We started off with Sausage & Veggie Hash with eggs and finished things off with Homemade Cinnamon Buns. First up, the hash.

Recipe yields 4 large servings

Ingredients
5 medium red potatoes
4 sweet Italian sausage
1 small red pepper
1 carrot
1 celery stalk
1 medium yellow onion
1 large clove garlic
1-2 tsp salt
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 tbsp paprika

8 large eggs (2 per person)

 

Start off by preparing all your vegetables. Finely dice the carrot, celery, pepper and onion. Mince the garlic and cut the potatoes into a small dice.

Coat the bottom of a cast iron skillet with canola oil and heat on high. Add your vegetables and stir to cover in oil. Remove the casing from the sausage and crumble it in the pan with the vegetables.

Cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until potatoes are tender.

Prepare your eggs however you like them, I did sunny side up. Plate the hash and top with your eggs.

Next up is the recipe for a batch of delicious cinnamon buns. This recipe was lightly adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction. Check out her website for many other delicious treats.

Recipe yields 15 cinnamon buns

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour

3 tbsp granulated sugar

1 tsp kosher salt

1 package dry yeast

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup milk

2 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter

1 large egg

Pan Preparation:

1/2 tbsp unsalted butter

3 tbsp brown sugar

Filling:

2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

Glaze:

1 cup confectioners' sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp milk

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the flour, sugar, yeast and salt. Combine ingredients using the paddle attachment.

In a separate bowl, add the water, milk and butter and heat until butter is melted and mixture is hot.

Change to the dough hook attachment on your stand mixer and add in the liquid ingredients. Mix on low speed and increase speed as ingredients become incorporated. Add in the egg and continue to mix. Now you have the option of removing your dough and kneading on a well floured surface, or you can leave it in your mixer and increase the speed to medium for 3 minutes. The mixer will knead your dough for you - now isn't that easy.

Remove your dough to a greased bowl and allow to rest for 10 minutes or so. Really all we are doing here is letting the yeast work its magic. In the meantime, you can prepare your baking dish. I chose to use a round dish, but you can use a baking sheet as well if you want to double the recipe and have more room. I greased the bottom and sides of my dish with the butter and then sprinkled it with the brown sugar. This gives the bottoms a little extra sweetness!

During your wait, you can also mix together the sugar and cinnamon for your filling.

Now it is time to roll out the dough. Make sure your work surface is well floured and use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a rectangle. Mine was about 9 inches wide and 14 inches long and it gave me 15 perfect sized buns.

Next, you want to take your softened butter and spread it all over the surface of your dough in an even layer. Make sure to get every last inch covered.

Now you can sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon mixture over the butter in an even layer.

Starting at one of the long edges, tightly begin to roll your dough into a long tube. Roll it nice and tight.

Once it is all rolled together, it is time to slice the tube into little buns. The best trick for this is to use a piece of unscented dental floss. It will make a perfect edge without squishing down the roll. Make the buns about 1 inch wide each. Arrange in your dish and lightly cover with tin foil.

Now we have to wait for our buns to rise, about 1 hour and 15 minutes should do it. I know, I know its grueling and painful when all you want to do is eat them. To keep my mind busy, I prepared my dough early in the morning and cooked the rest of my breakfast while I was waiting. The buns went into the oven once we were finished eating our eggs. With about 20 minutes to go, preheat the oven to 375F degrees. Once ready, pop the buns in the oven and bake for 28-30 minutes. While in the oven, whip together your sugar glaze by combining all ingredients with a hand mixer or a whisk.

Once the buns are ready, drizzle with a generous amount of glaze and serve warm. I hope you enjoy these delicious treats!

Crispy Apple Crumble

I had a bunch of apples leftover around the house and I know there could only be one solution, warm apple crumble. If you are thinking apple crumble must be just like apple pie, you are on the wrong track. Apple crumble is so easy to make almost anyone can do it.

Recipe yields 10 servings

Ingredients
10-12 apples (I used a mix of Jonagold, Fiji and Macoun)
4 tbsp unsalted butter
4 tbsp flour
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup water

1 cup flour
3/4 cup old fashioned oats
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
6 tbsp unsalted butter

Toppings:
Vanilla ice cream
Caramel sauce

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Peel all of your apples and cut them into a large dice.

Melt 2 tbsp butter in a large skillet and stir in your flour. Add half the diced apples, half the spices and half the brown sugar. Add 1/4 cup water and stir so that all apples are evenly coated with the mixture. Cover skillet and cook on medium high for 8-10 minutes. Repeat with the second half of your apples.

While apples are cooking, combine ingredients for the crumble in a medium bowl.

Using your fingers, mix all ingredients together and mash up the butter. You want to create 'crumb' like pieces.

Remove cover from skillet. Apples are done when they are soft and easily pierced with a fork. Additionally, the spice mixture will now be thick and syrupy.

Remove apples into a baking dish.

Top the apples with an even layer of the crumble.

Place in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes. The crumble is ready to be removed when the top is golden brown and the syrup is bubbling around the outsides.

Spoon the crumble onto a serving dish and top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce. Enjoy!

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes with Apple Pie Topping

On a cold fall morning, there is nothing that will warm you up and fill you up (that tastes delicious) like these pancakes. Think of them as a cross between pumpkin and apple pie flavoring, but all rolled into an acceptable breakfast meal.

Recipe yields 12 pancakes

Ingredients
Pumpkin Pancakes:
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (See here for recipe)
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup milk
3 large egg whites

Apple Pie Topping:
4 medium apples
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup water

Let's start off with making our apple topping. First we need to peel and dice our apples into about 1" cubes. Since the apples are round, it is hard to get perfect cubes, so just try your best!

Heat a small skillet on medium-high heat and add your butter. Once melted, add flour and whisk together. Throw in your diced apples and coat with the butter/flour mixture.

Add your spices and sugar to the pan and mix to coat all the apples.

Add the water and mix in with the apples so that the spices are now melted away into the liquid. Bring to a simmer, cover and let cook for 15-20 minutes.

While the apples are cooking, we can prepare and make our pancakes! In a medium mixing bowl, add flour, baking powder, salt and pumpkin pie spice. Whisk to combine all ingredients well.

In the same bowl, add your milk, canned pumpkin and egg whites. Stir well with a spoon until all dry clumps are gone and the batter is smooth.

Heat a large skillet and coat with non-stick cooking spray. Drop batter into skillet in small rounds. I prefer 'silver-dollar' sized pancakes. If you want bigger pancakes, just add more batter.

Let cook for about 3-4 minutes before you flip. You will notice the edges begin to curl up and little air holes begin to appear on the surface of the pancake. Those are signs the pancake is ready to be flipped.

When you have finished all your batter, remove the cover from the apples and stir. The liquid should now be thick and gooey!

Place pancakes on a plate and top with a spoonful of apples and sauce. Serve & enjoy!