I wake up early every day, whether I need to or not. That’s just my body clock.
But I can’t really start the day until I’ve had my second cup of coffee. I love my coffee, and have since I began drinking it in college.
(I’m so thrilled that the recent health pundits have been touting the benefits of caffeine! Whew!!!)
Although I do love croissants, muffins, scones, danish pastries (especially cheese), and all kinds of coffee cakes along with a cup of coffee I really try to avoid them and have something healthier for breakfast.
Although I may cave later in the day I can get through breakfast most days without succumbing to those high carb sugary cravings.
Not so this past Sunday morning. For some time now I have had visions of sugarplums in the form of coffeecakes dancing in my head.
And this Sunday I adamantly announced to my husband that I was making a coffee cake for breakfast! That’s it…just coffee cake, my coffee, and the Sunday paper, and I would savor it guilt free.
I found the perfect coffee cake to accomplish this. It is from Ree Drummond aka The Pioneer Woman’s blog.
It is called The Best Coffee Cake. Ever.
And it is.
See for yourself.
Just don’t make a habit of it.
The Best Coffee Cake. Ever. (from The Pioneer Woman’s Blog)
(16 servings)
Ingredients
For the Cake:
1 and ½ stick butter, softened (I used unsalted)
2 cups scant sugar
3 cups, flour, sifted
4 teaspoons powder
1 teaspoon salt (I used kosher salt)
1 and 1 and ¼ cup whole milk (didn’t have whole milk so I used 1 cup non-fat milk and ¼ cup half and half. It worked)
3 whole egg whites, beaten until stiff
For the Topping:
1 and ½ stick butter, softened (unsalted, again)
¾ cups flour
1 and ½ cups brown sugar ( I used light brown, dark brown would be okay, too)
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 and ½ cups pecans, chopped
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat egg whites and set aside.
Cream butter and sugar. Add flour mixture and milk alternately until combined. Don’t overbeat.
Fold in beaten egg whites with a rubber spatula.
Spread in a well-greased 9×13 baking pan. A cake pan with higher sides would be best.
In a separate bowl, combine topping ingredients with a pastry cutter until crumbly.
Sprinkle all over the top.
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until no longer jiggly. Serve warm. Delicious!