With a new year, comes new hopes, goals, and resolutions. For most of us, eating healthier is on the top of the list. Food blogger Jennifer Leaf of SavoringTheThyme.com shows us a healthier way to indulge your sweet tooth by lightening up a classic comfort food.
Coffee cake probably doesn’t strike you as a healthy choice. But eating healthier does not mean that you cannot enjoy your sweet tooth once in a while– particularly when you’re entertaining. We all need some go-to recipes for guests that taste indulgent yet are healthier than the alternatives. Jennifer Leal of SavoringTheThyme.com shares some of her secrets for lighter comfort food as well as a “lighter coffee cake” recipe she developed especially for Villeroy & Boch fans.
When Jennifer makes baked goods, she tries to include less processed flour, lowers some of the fat content without increasing the sugar content and adds some fruit to increase the nutrients. One of her favorite recipes for entertaining company in the morning is coffee cake. Coffee cake usually means lots of sugar, sour cream and butter. In this recipe, she includes whole wheat pastry flour, less butter and substitutes nonfat yogurt for sour cream. Organic blueberries satisfy your sweet tooth while increasing the vitamins and nutrients in the dish.
Blueberry Coffee Cake
Your family and friends will love this lighter version of coffee cake, which has all the flavor of its high calorie counterpart.
Ingredients:
Cooking spray
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour or regular whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons light or dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 Tablespoons canola oil
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup Organic plain nonfat Greek or regular yogurt
1.5 cup fresh organic blueberries (or thawed frozen blueberries)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray the 8 inch CeramicPlus baking dish with a light coating of cooking spray. (Villeroy & Boch CeramicPlus actually has a proprietary glaze that repels baked-on food. If you use cooking spray as well, clean-up is truly effortless with this non-stick bakeware.)
2. In a medium size bowl, combine both flours, baking soda and salt and whisk thoroughly. In a separate small bowl, combine the 3 tablespoons of brown sugar and cinnamon.
3. In a large bowl, beat the brown sugar, butter and oil until fluffy with a hand-mixer. If there are any of those pesky lumps in the brown sugar, use a fork to disperse them. Add 1 egg and beat until fully combined and repeat with the other egg. Add in the vanilla and yogurt and beat until combined.
4. Add half of the flour mixture to the moist batter; stir until just combined and repeat with the remaining flour mixture.
5. Spread half of the batter into the prepared pan. You may find the batter wants to slide around a bit but just keep spreading it around gently and it will stay put. Sprinkle the blueberries evenly over the batter, gently pressing them into the batter. Sprinkle 1/2 of the cinnamon-sugar mixture over the blueberries and then spoon the remaining batter into the pan and spread evenly.
6. Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon-sugar mixture over the cake and bake until a for about 30 minutes. Test with a wooden toothpick and if not clean when removed, baked a few more minutes.
7. Allow to cool slightly and serve.
(Recipe and photos by Jennifer Leal of SavoringTheThyme.com)