Bready or Not: Overnight Cinnamon Pecan Coffee Cake
Merry Christmas to those who celebrate! Whether or not you observe the holiday, I offer a breakfast cake recipe that you can throw together tonight and bake in the morning.
It will serve a whole bunch of people. The leftovers are delicious. And heck, it’s CAKE. For breakfast. Actually, it’d be pretty darn good at any time of day.
Sour cream is the secret weapon here. It creates a cake that is moist and luscious without any sour cream taste. Combine that tenderness with the crackled top and the crunch of pecans, and you have a total winner.
Tweaked from Overnight Cinnamon Pecan Coffee Cake at Relish Magazine.
Bready or Not: Overnight Cinnamon Pecan Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Cake:
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sour cream
Streusel:
- 3/4 cup brown sugar firmly packed
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Make the streusel topping first by combining the brown sugar, pecans and cinnamon in a small bowl. Set aside.
- In a big bowl, beat the butter and white sugar until light and fluffy; add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg and salt. Slowly add the flour mix to the eggs and butter. Pause to add in some sour cream, then more flour, going back and forth until it's all blended.
- Apply nonstick spray to a 9x13-inch pan. Pour in the batter and spread to the edges. Sprinkle the streusel all over the top.
- Cover well with plastic wrap and chill overnight, or up to 18 hours.
- Preheat the oven at 350-degrees. Remove the plastic wrap. Bake the cake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Pumpkin Pucks
I don’t follow a paleo diet, but I do follow delicious food. In this case, delicious AND healthy.
These pumpkin pucks are rather like mini pumpkin pie custards with a slight nutty taste. That nutty taste is stronger if you follow the original paleo version of the recipe and use almond flour, which was my preference, though making them with whole wheat and all-purpose flour works well.
I also used different nut butters. Almond butter tastes the strongest–in a very good way–though cashew butter was fantastic, too. Once, I only had 3/4 cup of pumpkin, so I made up for the difference with applesauce. I found no major difference in taste or texture.
This isn’t one of those dishes I make for my husband to take to work. These are mine. Two of them make for a yummy, nutritious breakfast. Pucks also be an awesome snack, and with their size they are very kid-friendly. They keep very well in the fridge for at least a week.
Modified from Paleo Parents.
Bready or Not: Pumpkin Pucks
Ingredients
- 1 cup pumpkin puree applesauce can be substituted in full or part
- 1 cup almond or other nut butter
- 1/4 cup honey
- 2 Tbsp maple syrup
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1/3 cup almond flour or wheat or all-purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup mini chocolate chips optional, or chopped nuts or dried fruit
Instructions
- Prepare a muffin pan with dropping in cup liners, then spray the insides with nonstick spray. Preheat oven at 350-degrees.
- If your almond butter is very stiff, zap it in the microwave for 15 seconds or so to soften it. Mix pumpkin puree and the almond butter together.
- Add honey and syrup and beat in eggs one at a time. Follow with each of the dry ingredients until it's just combined.
- Fill the muffin cups to 3/4 full; a tablespoon scoop makes this easy, as it's almost exactly 2 tablespoons to fill the cups. Top with mini chocolate chips or chopped nuts, if desired.
- Bake at 350-degrees for about 20 minutes. They will not rise much. The tops of some may start to crack. Let them cool for a while and then keep stored in fridge. They'll keep upward of a week, if they last that long!
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: (Pumpkin) Bread Pudding
When I visited home for the week of the 4th of July, I wanted to make something special for my 90-year-old grandma. Like me, her favorite dessert in the world is bread pudding. Therefore, I set out to make her the best possible bread pudding.
Complication: her diet is pretty restrictive these days. She can’t eat most fruits. Nor does she need super-sweet toppings that will mess with her blood sugar.
I found a recipe at Will Cook For Smiles that fulfilled a lot of my needs. It produced a small batch. It included pumpkin puree, but in a small amount that I figured could be omitted without destroying the recipe. I could switch in almond milk for my own taste-testing comfort.
I also loved that the base recipe used King’s Hawaiian Rolls, which are pretty much the only type of store-bought bread I will still eat. It’s awesome. However, because I was going to be in my hometown, that presented another option. Central California has a large Portuguese community, and there’s an amazing Portuguese bakery less than a mile from my parents’ house. Their sweet bread is one of the most divine things on the planet.
I took my trusty kitchen scale to California so I could measure exactly 12 ounces of sweet bread, the equivalent of a pack of Hawaiian rolls. That ended up being about 2/3 of a loaf.
I prepared the bread pudding, tucked it in the fridge, then baked it after lunch. It cooked in exactly 45 minutes. We let it cool awhile before we dug in. I thought it was just about perfect with a drizzle of maple syrup over the top. It was surprisingly light and spongy–not heavy at all like some bread puddings.
However, the most important thing was my grandma’s reaction. She declared this to be the best bread pudding she had ever had, and she’s tried quite a few bread puddings in her day. Grandma was thrilled to have this as a dessert and breakfast for a few days, and said it was even better cold straight from the fridge.
I declare this recipe a win.
Bready or Not: (Pumpkin) Bread Pudding
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups milk almond milk works
- 1/4 cup butter melted
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1/2 cup brown sugar packed
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree optional
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 12 ounces sweet bread such as a pack of King's Hawaiian Rolls or partial loaf of Portuguese sweet bread
Instructions
- The day before, set the bread out to go stale, if desired. For a chewier result, use fresh bread.
- Preheat the oven at 350-degrees (if you're baking this promptly). Grease an 8x8 casserole dish. Cut the 12 ounces of bread into chunks. Melt the butter.
- In a medium bowl, combine the milk, eggs, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin puree (if using) and vanilla. Whisk until all ingredients are combined.
- Spread the bread evenly within the dish. Pour the milk mixture over it. Press the bread in lightly to make sure nothing is dry. (If you're making this ahead of time, cover with foil and set in fridge for several hours.)
- Bake for 45-55 minutes, until the knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
Serve hot, at room temperature, or straight from the fridge! Top with maple or agave syrup, nuts, whipped cream, caramel sauce, or fruit or nut butter. Anything is good. Plus, leftovers can be chopped into serving-size squares and frozen.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Maple Energy Bars and Bites
Confession: I’m classifying this as a fall recipe because of the maple, but I make these all year long.
I know, I know. If you’ve been following me for any length of time, you know how I love maple. I like to make my own breakfast food, too.
Larabars are found in the energy bar section of retailers. They are delicious but are also awfully expensive–if you’re lucky, you might get a bar for a buck on sale. Me? I’m cheap. I make my own versions. I have a chocolate chip cookie dough recipe that I really need to share at some point, but today is about the maple variety that I created on my own.
To make any homemade Larabar facsimile, you really need two base ingredients: dates and nuts. You switch out the nuts to your taste or based on sales, then change out seasonings to make things fresh and tasty. With the maple flavor, I like using a combo of cashews and pecans, but I’ve also done all cashews. Feel free to do almonds, peanuts, or whatever else you have handy, or combine them all!
I usually make these into a ball shape using my tablespoon scoop, but this time around I made bars. They are a bit more photogenic, I think. And man, do they taste good.
Bready or Not: Maple Energy Bars and Bites
Ingredients
- 1 cup medjool dates chopped
- 1/2 cup cashews
- 1/2 cup pecans or combine other nuts to equal 1 cup
- 1-2 teaspoons candied ginger diced (optional, but tasty)
- sprinkle cinnamon
- 1/2-3/4 teaspoon maple flavor
- water if needed
Instructions
- In a bowl, combine all of the ingredients but the water. Pour 1/3 or 1/2 the mix into a high-powered food processor or blender. Pulse. Stir it with a spoon or spatula--it will be thick and gum up the machine. Pour the blended mix out, then add in more of the nut-date blend until everything is mostly blended. It's okay to have some chunks.
- Squeeze the mash between your fingers. If it doesn't want to stick together, dribble in water by 1/2 teaspoon until it's cohesive.
- You can shape them in two ways. Use a tablespoon scoop to form a ball, then compress them with your hands to tighten. Or, make bars. Place a sling of parchment paper in a bread pan. Pour the mash in. Compress as tightly as you can. Remove using the sling and cut to preferred size.
- Keep stored in covered dish or closed baggie in fridge. Makes about 9 tablespoon-sized balls or 7 bars. Will keep for upward of 2 weeks.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread (2 Loaves)
I declare this recipe to be just about perfect. Oh yeah, it tastes good, too.
I love recipes that use up a full can of pumpkin. It makes things tidy. No worries about measuring it or stashing a bag in the freezer. Even more, this recipe makes TWO loaves of bread. Serve one, save the rest for later! Or serve them both. These things are easy to eat. They might go fast.
Why, you ask? The bread ends up tender and delicious. Kept chilled in the fridge, it doesn’t get horribly tacky as some pumpkin baked goods do.
I made this using shortening instead of oil, chopped pecans for the nuts, and Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips, but the recipe has a good bit of flexibility. You could even do one loaf plain, the other loaded!
As for me, I looooooove Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips. They are big and luscious, plus I love supporting a California company.
I found this recipe in my King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion Cookbook but it is also shown on their website as Easy Pumpkin Bread. Take a look at that star rating! I’m not the only one to fall in love with this recipe.
Bready or Not: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread (2 Loaves)
Ingredients
- 1 cup vegetable oil or 2/3 cup shortening
- 2 2/3 cups white sugar
- 4 large eggs room temperature
- 15 ounce pumpkin puree not pumpkin pie filling
- 2/3 cup water
- 3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans optional
- 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips could also substitute chopped candied ginger, golden raisins, cranberries, etc
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease two 9x5 loaf pans.
- In a large bowl, beat together the oil/shortening, sugar, eggs, pumpkin, and water.
- Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and vanilla, stirring to combine. Mix in the chips and nuts, or whatever add-ins you choose.
- Spoon batter into the prepared pans.
- Bake the bread for 60 to 80 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.
- Remove the bread from the oven, and cool it on a rack. When it's completely cool, use a knife to loosen the loaves and plop them out. Wrap bread in plastic wrap and store it overnight before serving.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Cinnamon Bundt Cake
Am I still alive? Did I survive The Clockwork Dagger’s launch into the world?
I don’t know. In the interest of my sanity (hahahaha) I am scheduling this far in advance. I suspect I will be 1) exhausted, 2) exhilarated, and 3) terrified, with a potpourri of other emotions mixed in.
I mean, MY BOOK IS OUT. How crazy is that? I’ve only wanted to publish a book of my own since I was, oh, four. Thirty years later, here I am.
Pardon me while I go to hug my book again. It’s real.
… ahem. Well, it’s Wednesday, and it’s Cake Month, so I suspect you want to see that Cinnamon Bundt Cake mentioned in the title, right? (I can shut up about the book for a little while. Honest.)
This is a gorgeous cake that’ll slap you upside the head with cinnamon goodness.
The recipe doesn’t produce a large bundt cake, but it’ll still feed a crowd. This is one of those cakes that’s awesome for breakfast, coffee breaks, dessert, or whatever other occasion you want to stuff a slice of cake in your face.
Now, you have a few options for the liquid in the recipe. The original version used Cinnabon creamer; instead, I used heavy cream and greatly increased the cinnamon. Therefore, toggle the cinnamon to your tastes. I love using flavored creamers in recipes like this, so I imagine the Cinnabon-branded one or any other would be delicious here, too.
I guess I should make this again to test that theory out. Oh, darn.
Also, let’s talk about the glaze. Please.
Okay, I really don’t have much to say about the glaze. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.
Modified from Cinnabon Bundt Cake at Shari Blogs.
Bready or Not: Cinnamon Bundt Cake
Ingredients
For the Batter:
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- 1 cup canola oil
- 1 cup heavy cream OR cinnamon-flavored creamer
- 3 eggs room temperature
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon cinnamon [reduce if using flavored creamer]
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
For the Streusel:
- 1/2 cup brown sugar packed
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
For the Glaze:
- 1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
- 4-6 Tablespoons heavy cream or cinnamon-flavored creamer
- 1-3 teaspoons cinnamon to preference
Instructions
To make the bundt:
- Preheat oven to 325-degrees. Thoroughly coat a bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the sugar, oil, cream/creamer, and eggs.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients: the baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and flour.
- Gradually add the flour mix into the wet batter until just combined.
- In another small bowl, mix up the brown sugar and cinnamon for the streusel.
- Pour half of the batter into the greased bundt pan. As evenly as possible, sprinkle the streusel all the way around the batter later. Top it off with the rest of the batter.
- Bake the bundt cake for 45-50 minutes, until it passes the toothpick test. Let it cool for 15 minutes and then carefully tip the cake onto a plate. Transfer it to a wire rack to completely cool.
To make the glaze:
- Once the cake is cool, mix up the glaze until it's at just a pourable consistency. Add the cinnamon to suit your tastes; sample it and check.
- Dribble glaze all over the cake.
Store the cake covered in the fridge.
OM NOM NOM.
