Coffee Cake Muffins

Having a dozen freshly baked coffee cake muffins in your kitchen is like having all 12 new episodes of House of Cards waiting for you on Netflix, brand new and ready to be enjoyed. In fact, I think the muffins are even better, because I can make more of them whenever I want. Once I finish watching that last House of Cards episode, I'm out of luck for a long time.

Can you tell that I've already watched all of Season 3 (and eaten all of these coffee cake

muffins)? What is left for me to look forward to?

Nutella Coffee Cake + Paleo Nutella

I'm sharing a recipe for nutella coffee cake with homemade paleo nutella over on the Healthy Aperture blog this week!

I had to turn in the post a while ago, so it's been over a month since I actually ate the cake, and now I REALLY want some.  I can barely focus enough to write this little blurb because I am desperate to get up, go to the kitchen, and make it again.  The sweet, vanilla-scented cake has huge swirls of dark, rich nutella, and the combination is totally addictive.

Here are five reasons you should be making nutella coffee cake right now:

Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake with Brown Butter Streusel

This morning when I woke up, I wanted to bake something to celebrate being on summer vacation.  I didn't have anything fun like berries, but I always have cinnamon, so I decided to make my first coffee cake.  Pretty soon I realized I was totally out of regular sugar, so this recipe doesn't have any.  It has plenty of brown sugar and agave, but no white sugar.  That, along with part whole grain flour, makes this a teensy bit healthier.  But don't worry, it still tastes really good!

This recipe requires the use of way too many bowls (one for the streusel, one for the swirl, one for the batter, one for the milk and yogurt...).  But, in my opinion, it's worth it in the end.  Plus, most of the bowls are small and you could probably use a measuring cup for some of them.

Coffee cake needs that rich, dark swirl and the crunchy topping, right?  I think so.

Ingredients (adapted from King Arthur):

For the streusel:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
3 tablespoons brown butter
Pinch of salt

For the swirl:

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cocoa

For the cake:

6 tablespoons butter (3/4 stick), at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup light agave nectar
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon light brown sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1/3 cup plain greek yogurt (I used Fage 2%)
1/4 cup milk (I used 2%)
3/4 cups whole grain pastry flour
1 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease an 8x8 or 9x9 baking pan.

To make the streusel and swirl, combine the ingredients for each in two small bowls and set aside.  For a tutorial on how to brown butter, see this post on How Sweet It Is.

To make the cake, cream the butter, salt, agave, brown sugar, baking powder, and vanilla until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time.

In a small bowl, whisk together the milk and yogurt.

Add the flour to the butter mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk and yogurt mixture.  Stir just until smooth.

Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan.  Sprinkle on the swirl, then top with the remaining batter.  Use a butter knife to swirl the layers together a litte.  Sprinkle the streusel evenly on top.

Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool in the pan for at least 15 minutes before cutting and serving.