Pumpkin Cranberry Coffee Cake
In last month’s Bon Appetit magazine there was a coffee cake recipe from a restaurant. The recipe contained a lot of ingredients but it was truly delicious. I made the blueberry flavor as in the original recipe and then, I tried raspberries and blackberries.
Now that we have changed the clocks and taken down the Halloween decorations I am officially in Thanksgiving mode. Craving the flavors of pumpkin, cranberries, cinnamon, and maple on the sweet side of my palate it is time to think up some new recipes as well as start baking old favorites. The magazine’s coffee cake recipe seemed a perfect launching point for a recipe to use up canned pumpkin and leftover frozen cranberries and my recipe for cranberry sauce with orange which I happened to have in the refrigerator from last week’s Shabbat dinner.
Adding some ingredients and taking out others made a fantastic cake, moist, slightly sweet, a little acid tang and I could have consumed the whole cake myself. The only thing holding me back was the fact that I have to weigh in for the diet lady every week! Try this and serve it Thanksgiving morning or for lunch before Turkey. It is dairy.
Makes 9 to 12 pieces:
Crumb Topping:
1/ 2 cup flour
1/ 4 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1/ 2 teaspoon salt
1/ 4 cup pecans, toasted, chopped
3 tablespoons chilled butter, cut in 1/ 4 inch cubes
Cake:
1 1/ 2 cups flour
1 tablespoon cornmeal
1/ 2 teaspoon baking powder
1/ 2 teaspoon baking soda
1/ 4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon (I used Saigon/Vietnamese)
3 tablespoons sugar
1 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
3/ 4 cup sugar
6 tablespoon butter (3/ 4 stick)
1/ 2 teaspoon vanilla
2/ 3 cup canned pure pumpkin puree
1/ 3 cup brown sugar, packed
1 1/3 cups leftover cranberry orange sauce (my recipe)
1 1/ 2 cups fresh or whole frozen cranberries
In a small bowl measure the crumb topping ingredients. Using your fingers, work butter into dry ingredients until large, moist crumbs begin to form. Cover and set this aside in the refrigerator.
Heat oven to 350° F. Grease a square brownie pan 8 by 8 inches. I tried one with a removable bottom, either works fine. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit and grease the parchment paper as well. I used butter.
Place dry ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside. Place cinnamon and additional sugar in a small bowl and set aside. Measure buttermilk in a liquid measure and set aside.
Cream butter with 3/ 4 cup sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 to 4 minutes on medium speed, using a handheld mixer or a stand mixer. Add vanilla, beat, and add eggs one at a time, beating to blend between additions until mix is light and fluffy. Occasionally stop mixer and scrape down sides of bowl. Next, add pumpkin and brown sugar and beat until incorporated.
With mixer set on low, alternate dry ingredients with buttermilk in three additions ending with dry. Mix until just incorporated. Spread about half the batter in prepared pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mix. Pour in rest of batter and spread evenly. Scatter fresh cranberries over top and drop cranberry sauce by spoon full’s to evenly distribute over the top of the cake. Lastly evenly scatter the crumb topping over all.
Place cake in oven and bake for about 55 to 60 minutes until golden and tester inserted in cake comes out clean. Remove cake and cool on a rack. When cake is completely cool invert to remove cake from pan and then, invert again to have crumb topping side up. At this point, you can freeze cake or serve it. Enjoy. See the original recipe for instructions with blueberries, raspberries or blackberries.
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