Coffee Cake in a Pinch

Coffee Cake in a Pinch

It has been quite a while since I have blogged and shared some recipes.  This holiday season was rough to say the least.  Between injuring my foot in the beginning of November to just recently seeing healing finally take place to a loss of a job in our home, things just haven't been the same.

We are praising God that a job has come with growth potential, but in the mean time I am learning to cook and bake on a smaller budget, causing me to use the very last of each and every ingredient before shopping again.  Regardless of family income, I think this is a great frugal way to bake anyway!!  Why waste what is still good and useful??  It may take meal repetition at times, cooking for a few days at a time and LOTS of creativity, but it's a good challenge and I am up for it, are you?  

Well, this morning I looked into our fridge to find myself in the exact situation I just described.  I had just a little bit of some staple items so I went with it- the best thing about this recipe is that it was like it was made for our exact morning's time allowance and ingredients on hand.  Most coffee cakes take a bit of time to prepare and/or bake- this had about 5 minutes prep and 25 minutes to bake and even better ... right out of the oven I could slice it and it didn't crumble so it was perfect for Jeremy's breakfast on the way to work.

ok, enough rambling- here is how you do it-

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.  Oil a 8 inch square pan and set aside.

In a bowl stir together 1 1/2 c flour, 2 tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt.  Add in 3 tbsp melted butter and mix with an electric mixer.  Add 1/3 c sugar with 1 egg and continue to beat together.  Finish by mixing in 2/3 c milk.  Pour batter into your prepared  pan.

For a sugary topping, melt 1 tbsp butter in a saucepan.  Once melted, add 1/2 c brown sugar with 1 tsp cinnamon.  Take off of the stove and scatter on top of the batter evenly.  

Bake 25 minutes and serve.

I love that there wasn't an absurd quantity of any one ingredient, it preps and bakes quickly and all the ingredients are what would be in a typical kitchen!