#FoodieExtravaganza: Coffee Cake

Today’s post is coming to you from a hotel room. We have made it to California, but we don’t yet have a place to call home. I’ll share stories about our road trip later this month, so if you’re curious to see how a week long drive went with two under two, stay tuned!

I told myself I wouldn’t be participating in any blogging events in April as I had/have no idea when I’ll have a kitchen again, let alone our belongings. And once we get our things, I’d need to be spending time unpacking boxes and organizing a new home, not losing myself in blog-land.

And then Caroline, of Caroline’s Cooking, chose coffee cake as the theme for Foodie Extravaganza. How could I turn down that theme!? Well, I couldn’t. (The coffee cakes on my blog are some of my most popular posts, all a variation of the Nutella Coffee Cake)  Luckily the theme was declared well enough in advance that I could do some planning. I decided I couldn’t do another flavor combination of the tried-and-true recipe, so I searched my Pinterest account for “coffee cake.” I came down to a couple of contenders and looked at the ingredient lists to see what would be best for emptying out my supplies.

I settled on Coffee Cake Cookies.

I made these cookies when my husband’s family was in town for Treat’s baptism so I doubled the recipe. Doing so utilized all of my flour (I actually had to use two different varieties), shortening, butter, and vanilla bean paste. Happily, the cookies turned out and they absolutely taste like coffee cake, but in a more portable (and therefore dangerous) format. The remainder of my baking supplies went home with my mother-in-law so they wouldn’t have to thrown away! (Actually, my brother-in-law and his fiance took a good bit of our furniture to their new house, and my in-laws graciously offered to store some miscellaneous items for us, too!)

This recipe makes approximately 4 dozen cookies.

Coffee Cake Cookies

Ingredients for topping:

• 1 stick butter, melted
• 1 2/3 C flour
• 1/3 C brown sugar
• 1/3 C sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt

Ingredients for cookies:

• 5 3/4 C all purpose flour
• 1 1/4 C cake flour (you could use all AP flour)
• 2 tbsp cinnamon
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 sticks butter, at room temperature
• 2/3 C vegetable shortening, at room temperature
• 2 C brown sugar
• 1 C sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 tbsp vanilla bean paste (I used Nielsen-Massey)

Steps:

1. Make crumble topping: Mix all ingredients until fully combined. Break apart with fingers to desired texture. Place in the refrigerator.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and shortening with the sugars. Add the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the vanilla bean paste.
5. Add the dry ingredients in batches, just to combine.
6. Form heaping 1/8 C cookies. Press an indent in the center of each cookie. Top with the crumble.
7. Bake cookies 19-21 minutes, or until set. Allow cookies to cool on the pan 2 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.

*This recipe is adapted from Laura at http://piesandplots.net/coffee-cake-cookies-cookielicious/*

Be sure to check out these other great coffee cake recipes:

Almond Raspberry Cake by Food Lust People Love

Blueberry vanilla coffee cake by Fearlessly Creative Mammas

Cappuccino Cake by G’Gina’s Kitchenette

Caramel Coconut Coffee Cake by cookinandcraftin

Classic Coffee Cake by Basic N Delicious

Coffee Cake in a Jiffy by Our Good Life

Coffee Cake Muffins by I’m Hungry

German Beer Coffee Cake by Wholistic Woman

Gluten free hazelnut pear cake by Caroline’s Cooking

Kärleksmums (Swedish Coffee Cake) by Tara’s Multicultural Table

Lemon Thyme n Mint Loaf by Baking in Pyjamas

Orange Coffee Cake with Pecan Streuse by A Day in the Life on the Farm

Polish Placek by Cooking With Carlee

Simple Coffee Cake by Sneha’s Recipe

Strawberry Coffee Cake Muffins by Making Miracles

If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you’re a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board! Looking for our previous parties? Check them out HERE.