easy brunch – Twice as Tasty

I offered up a streamlined version of one of my favorite coffee cakes in my Twice as Tasty column this week for the Flathead Beacon. The simplified recipe is easy to make with store-bought ingredients, many of which you probably already have in your kitchen. It’s also easy to pour the batter into a muffin pan and bake it into muffins.

Both shapes have their pluses and minuses. It’s attractive as a coffee cake for a group brunch, especially if you bake it in a springform pan, which makes it easy to release and shows off the streusel layers as you cut and serve it at the table. But that shape may be less ideal for an outdoor gathering or if the coffee cake will be eaten over several days at home. That’s when muffins make sense: They’re more informal but easy to eat on the go and keep well in the fridge or freezer. With either shape, you can upgrade my streamlined recipe by using scratch-made ingredients, like Homemade Sour Cream.
Learn to make Sour Cream–Applesauce Coffee Cake or Muffins

The name “coffee cake” says it all: you’re making a cake but have an excuse to eat it before 10 am. Get coffee cake recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
Because I tend to enjoy sweet things more for breakfast than after-dinner dessert, coffee cake has always been high on my list. The name says it all: you’re making a cake but have an excuse to eat it in the morning.

Although the sugar and fat in granola and muffin recipes might be scaled down or up to make them healthier or more like candy or cupcakes, coffee cakes tend to be both sweet and buttery. They have far more sugar than your standard “sweet” breakfast fare, from a pinch in crepes, to molasses-sweetened Gingerbread Pancakes, to a few tablespoons in scones. So I save my longtime coffee cake favorites for special occasions, tweaking them where I can to cut back on the richness but mostly just enjoying every bite.

Learn to make Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake and Big Berry Coffee Cake