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Friday, June 15, 2012

Coffee Cinnamon Snack Cake: Recipe Swap

For this round of the Recipe Swap I got paired with Nicole of Cookies on Friday.  I had a hard time choosing from her amazing selection of sweets!  I ended up making a quick decision though, since I originally thought the posting/reveal date was NEXT Friday and on Wednesday realized I had gotten it wrong.  I had an evening event at my school on Wednesday and a combination of not enough time to make it home in between and getting home late made it impractical to bake anything on that night.  Thursday I had another after school event, though this one was immediately after school so I made it home with some baking time to spare, but not much.  Definitely not enough for multiple batches of cookies so a bar cookie it was!  


I agree with Nicole that the texture of the bar is more like a cake than a cookie, so I updated the name accordingly.  It smelled fabulous as the batter came together.  I love coffee and cinnamon so this recipe called to me.  The only changes I made (besides the name!) is to double the cinnamon and leave out the nuts.  It's quite cinnamon-y this way, but that's the way I like it so you can feel free to drop it back down to a 1/2 teaspoon.  I'm not a fan of hazelnuts and normally would have substituted almonds, but we were out of them.  I'm looking forward to having a piece with a great cup of french press coffee this weekend as my breakfast.  I think the flavors and texture lend itself perfectly to breakfast and might even try a version with more of a streusel top versus the glaze here to push it towards the coffeecake realm (and more socially acceptable breakfast option).




I was also playing around with the settings on iPhoto on my iPad and found this 'artistic' rendition amusing:






Coffee Cinnamon Snack Cake
from Cookies on Friday


Ingredients:


Cake:
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup shortening
1 egg
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
1/2 cup warm water
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups flour

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
About 2 tablespoons milk




Directions:
  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Cream the brown sugar, shortening and egg in a stand mixer for 3 minutes.  
  • While the mixer is working, steep the espresso powder in the warm water, stirring to dissolve.
  • Add the water mixture, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda to the sugar mixture and beat slowly to combine.  Add the flour in thirds (1/2 cup at a time), mixing to combine between each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl.
  • Pour into a greased 9x13 pan.
  • Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out from the center with no crumbs.  Allow to cool.
  • Combine the glaze ingredients, starting with just 1 tablespoon milk.  Whisk together and slowly pour in the second tablespoon of milk until reaching desired consistency.  

5 comments:

Lishie said...

YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
One to bookmark!

Moviegirl03 said...

This looks great. I love coffee cakes, but they almost make you feel guilty for eating them for breakfast. Might have to change breakfast rules again and make some of these. I love the artistic rendering of your picture too, that's awesome.

Eva @ Eva Bakes said...

Oooh, I need to make this!

Jessica @ Sunny Side Up said...

My husband is a huge fan of cinnamon type cakes, I bet he would love this - I just won't tell him about the added espresso! :)

Sarah - The Home Cook said...

Looks great! Thanks for being part of the recipe swaps.