Overnight Coffee Cake

Sunday is Valentine's Day. Have you ordered your roses? Reserved the corner table at a fancy restaurant? Put the champagne on ice? No? Okay, good. Me neither.

Overnight Coffee Cake is your perfect plan for a lovely Valentine's Day. Prep the batter the night before and pop it in the oven while you're bleary-eyed the next morning. By the time you've changed out of your jammies and brewed your tea, it's ready to devour, perfectly warm from the oven. Bonus points if you bring it to your honey while they're still snuggled in the covers. Double bonus points if the breakfast tray includes a mimosa. Just saying...

Let's get cooking!
Erin

Overnight Coffee Cake
From the Randall Church Cookbook (You know I love a good church cookbook recipe.)

Coffee Cake:
2 cups flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup buttermilk*
2/3 cup butter, melted
2 eggs

Topping:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon cinnamon

THE NIGHT BEFORE:
Combine flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Add buttermilk, butter, and eggs. Beat at low speed until combined, then continue to beat at medium speed for 3 minutes. (If you don't feel like using your mixer, I had success beating the batter by hand with a whisk.) Pour batter into a greased 9" x 13" baking dish.

Combine topping ingredients in a small bowl. Sprinkle evenly over batter. Cover and refrigerate 8-12 hours.

IN THE MORNING:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Uncover coffee cake and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Serve warm.

*Don't have buttermilk? Don't let that stop you! You can easily make a buttermilk substitute. Mix 1 cup milk and 1 tablespoon lemon juice or white vinegar. Let it sit on the counter for about 5 minutes until it thickens and starts to curdle, then proceed with the recipe.

Sour Dough Coffee Cake

When a friend gave me a bag of Amish Friendship Bread starter earlier this year, I had no choice but to experiment.

To me, that's really what these bags of goo are all about. If you have kids (especially boys!) they will love squeezing and 'burping' the bags of starter as the yeast ferments with the milk, flour and sugar. And you can teach them a little science along the way. In fact, I've caught Sam several times sneaking into the dining room to squeeze the starter bags.

My sour dough starter is still going strong since I received it in March. And I've learned quite a bit, as Erin did when she received some starter a few years back.

If you haven't been gifted a bag, I encourage you to make your own. The recipe is here. When you (and your friends) get tired of using the starter, I'm happy to report that the freezing method does work. I made this coffee cake with a bag of starter slush that I thawed and re-started after it spent about two months in cold storage. Those little yeast molecules picked up fermenting right where they left off.

Once you make the traditional Amish Friendship Bread, it's easy to use starter for other things, including cakes, brownies, cookies, pancakes, biscuits and pie crust. If you need ideas be sure to visit the online bible of friendship bread recipes at the Friendship Bread Kitchen.

I'm not a huge fan of the instant pudding mix and loads of sugar that many starter recipes use. Luckily for me, when Robin T.  delivered my first starter bag, she included pudding-free recipes developed by her co-worker Claudia T. This coffee cake recipe is a spin off. And it is the best coffee cake. Ever. The day after my recipe tinkering I had to give away batches of cake to my neighbors because we could not stop eating it.

Mangia! Mangia!
Andrea

Sour Dough Coffee Cake

For the cake batter
2 cups of sour dough starter
1 1/2 cups of flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

For the topping
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg or ginger, or 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (experiment!)
1/2 cup butter at room temperature
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts, almonds, etc.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan with cooking spray or grease with butter or shortening.

Using a plastic or wooden bowl and spoon, mix together all ingredients for the cake batter. (Do not use metal. It reacts with the yeast in the starter and gives it a funny taste.) Pour mixture into pan and spread out evenly.

Place all topping ingredients in a second bowl. Using two knives or a pastry cutter, incorporate butter into other ingredients until crumbs begin to form. Sprinkle topping generously over cake batter. You might have some left over. (You can freeze the extra topping and use it when you make this coffee cake again — because there will be a next time.)

Place pan in oven and bake for 30 minutes to 40 minutes, until the top is browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Let the cake cool. Then cut yourself a piece and indulge. And keep your starter going so that you can make this again.

Here's Max holding one of our starter bags.

Fan Friday

We love it when you guys make our recipes. And we really love it when you tell us what you think after you've made them!

Today, in honor of you—the fabulous fans of Hot Dinner Happy Home—and your stellar culinary skills. we're sharing pictures and comments from HDHH readers. These are their favorite recipes, but what about you? What's your favorite Hot Dinner recipe? Share your kitchen creations with us, and we might feature them on the next fan Friday! Find us on Facebook, email us at hotdinnerhappyhome@gmail.com, tweet us (Amy, Andrea, Erin), or give us a shout-out on Instagram.

xoxo,
The Ladies

Mo made Shepherd's Pie II.

As you can see in her picture, she whipped up four shepherd's pies at once. Impressive! We asked her about bulk cooking, and here's what she shared, "I made four pies in the picture and froze at least 3. I cover in foil then put in a plastic produce bag with twistie. Then when I want to serve I put in the oven at 400 degrees for about 2 hours, or thaw for most of the day and then put in the oven til hot and bubbly. Still delicious! I can't get enough of it!" (Mo, we're impressed by your planning ahead. And by your recycling of plastic produce bags! Great idea.)

Dave made Turkey, Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili.

Here's what he had to say, "This was a really, really good chili recipe and I have made dozens of versions before. When I posted this on Facebook, one of my friends, who lives in Oregon, dissed it as impossible to be chili because it has sweet potatoes and other non-traditional ingredients. But I totally disagree, a really interesting recipe. Of course, I messed with it since I used both black beans and kidney beans, and doubled up on the tomatoes and some of the spices." (Dave, we're glad you made this dish your own. And thanks for defending this non-traditional chili!)

Cindy made Carmelitas.

She also baked Brown Sugar Oatmeal Coffee Cake.

She says, "The carmelitas turned out perfect. One of the best recipes I've found for these addicting bars. The oatmeal coffee cake was a big hit with my family and friends. The oatmeal, brown sugar and not too sweet outcome made it delightful. This blog and variety of recipes is fantastic. The blog is so pleasing to the eye and stomach and the recipes I've tried make my family smile." (Thanks, Cindy! You're making us blush.)

Brown Sugar Oatmeal Coffee Cake

It is cold.

I recognize that it's February—the doldrums of winter—and that cold weather should be expected. But the entire eastern half of the country is blanketed in a bone-chilling, arctic blast, and I just don't like it.

What better way to show the weather who's boss than to crank up the oven and bake something warm and cozy? Brown Sugar Oatmeal Coffee Cake is rich, filling, and topped with a sweet, crunchy crumble that will knock your socks off.

So, Jack Frost, you just bring it. We've got Brown Sugar Oatmeal Coffee Cake, and we're ready for anything. Even spring.

Brown Sugar Oatmeal Coffee Cake

Coffee Cake:
1 3/4 cups old-fashioned oats (not instant)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2 1/2 cups boiling water
1/4 cup yogurt (plain or vanilla would be lovely)
2 cups brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 eggs
2 3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional, but tasty)

Topping:
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9" x 13" broiler-safe (i.e. probably not glass) pan and set aside.

In a large bowl combine oats, butter, and boiling water. Allow to sit for 20 minutes. Stir in yogurt, brown sugar, vanilla, eggs, flour, baking soda, salt, and (if using) cinnamon. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix topping ingredients together in a small bowl until crumbly. Sprinkle on top of baked coffee cake. Turn the oven to broil and move the oven rack a bit closer to the broiler element. Broil for 3-5 minutes, until the topping begins to melt and get crunchy.

Serve warm for the most delicious treat.