Cinnamon Coffee Cake

After traveling all week, I am finally back in the kitchen cooking. This morning, I woke up and enjoyed a nice cup of coffee and decided to prepare individual coffee cakes for the weekend. There is a bit of a chill in the air and the warm cake sounded like the perfect compliment for the morning. Cinnamon was the choice recipe for this fine day so I pulled up a recipe online to get started. I headed to the kitchen with my laptop and went to work pulling the ingredients as follows:

1 cup plus 1 additional tablespoon of all-purpose flour

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup milk

1 large egg

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar - packed

1/4 cup shortning

1 tablespoon cold butter - cut into small pieces

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

With a countertop full of ingredients, preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease individual soufle dishes (4) or one 9-inch baking dish and flour lightly.

In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and 1 tablespoon of flour. Cut in the butter with your fingers until mixture is the consistency of coarse wet sand. Stir in the pecans, and set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar. Add the shortening and milk. Mix until well combined (a minute or 2 with an electric blender). Add the eggs and beat until well blended and you get a batter consistancy.

Pour half of the batter into the prepared dishes. Sprinkle two-thirds of the pecan mixture over the batter in the pan. Pour the remaining batter into the pan, and sprinkle the remaining pecan mixture over the top.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes - until a knife inserted into the coffee cake comes out clean.

Enjoy your coffee cake and the rest of your day!