Gingerbread Coffee Cakes

Just two days left in the 12 Days of Christmas series here on the blog and just four days left until Christmas–both make me kinda sad, as it always feels like both come and go too quickly. But here we are.

Have you all done any baking yet? If not, no worries. There’s still time and today’s recipe is a perfect, quick and easy way to get it in.

For Day eleven, I thought that a combination of two of my favorite baked treats–gingerbread and coffee cake–would be a good addition to the series to share. It’s gotta be better than eleven pipers piping, that’s for sure.

Coffee cake is one of those things that I think people either love or they…don’t. I think the latter probably comes down to moisture; some recipes just don’t have it. Sometimes the flavor of the cake itself can also leave a lot to be desired (read, bland).

Gingerbread is, by nature of its ingredients (brown sugar, molasses, milk, and in this case, sour cream), pretty moist. And we all know that it’s not skimping when it comes to the flavor. Thus, it’s a perfect way to make up for coffee cake’s more tricky shortcomings, so that you get the best of both worlds.

Because this is the holidays and because I end up giving away the vast majority of treats I make for the 12 Days of Christmas, I decided to make individual coffee cakes using aluminum pie/tart pans that I knew would fit easily into baking boxes (I included the link to the pans in the recipe below). However, if you’re baking for a crowd, you can feel free to just use one 8-9 inch square or round baking pan; it’ll just required a slightly longer baking time in the oven.

I gotta say guys, there are SO MANY things I love about these. First, the size of the cakes is perfect for a handheld snack or dessert. They’d be great as gifts; c’mon are they cute? But apart from that, they taste phenomenal. The batter is spiced with all the familiar suspects you’d find in a good gingerbread, and there’s also finely diced candied ginger inside to give it added texture.

AND ABOUT THAT STREUSEL?! You can tell how obsessed I am with it by how many shots I took and included in this post lol.

I assure you, it’s every bit as delicious as it looks. It’s thick, buttery and given the perfect texture by the inclusion of not just butter and sugar but crushed gingersnap cookies. Make sure you leave some big chunks in there to make for big streusel bits. So much yum.

Just one more day of the 12 days of Christmas; be sure to check out the recipes we’ve done so far, and stay tuned for the last one of the year.

Day 1: Holiday Style- Biscuits & Gravy

Day 2: Cranberry Pie Bars

Day 3: Pryaniki

Day 4: Iced Lemon Gingerbread Cakes

Day 5: Peanut Butter & Chocolate Biscotti

Day 6: Gingerbread Fudge

Day 7: Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Day 8: Five Spice Snickerdoodles

Day 9: Caramel Eggnog Scones

Day 10: Chai-Glazed Almond Cookies

Day 11: Gingerbread Coffee Cakes

Gingerbread Coffee Cakes

Recipe Adapted from Bake From Scratch and My Own Sweet Thyme

Ingredients

For Cake

¾ cup (165 grams) firmly packed dark brown sugar
½ cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, melted
¼ cup (85 grams) unsulphured molasses
2 large eggs (100 grams)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract or emulsion
1⅔ cups (208 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup chopped candied ginger
1½ teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
½ cup (120 grams) sour cream
¼ cup (60 grams) whole milk

For Streusel

1 cup crushed ginger cookies (I used Trader Joe’s ginger snaps)
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
a pinch of ground cloves
1/4 cup butter

Special equipment: 12 5 oz. disposable aluminum pie/tart pans. (I used these.)

NOTE: You can also make this into one coffee cake in a square or circle 8 or 9 inch pan

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray between 6-8 pie/tart pans with cooking spray and set aside.

Make Streusel:

Place ginger cookies in a quart sized Ziploc freezer bag. Squeeze out the air and seal the top. Crush gingersnaps using a rolling pin.

In a small bowl, combine 3/4 cup of the crushed cookie crumbs, sugar, flour, ginger, cinnamon and cloves. Add the butter in several slices and mix to a crumbly streusel with your fingertips or with a fork, if you prefer.

Stir in the remaining 1/4 cup cookie crumbs. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together brown sugar, melted butter, molasses, eggs, and vanilla.

In another medium bowl, whisk together flour, candied ginger, baking powder, ground ginger, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and cloves.

Whisk flour mixture into butter mixture. Add sour cream and milk, whisking just until combined.

Divide the batter among the pie pans, filling the pie pans just under half full. Place the pie pans on two sheet pans you’ve lined with aluminum foil. Sprinkle each one with an equal amount of Gingerbread Streusel.

Bake until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 20 to 30 minutes. (check it early!)

Let cool in pan for 3-5 minutes, until able to be handled without burning your fingers, or falling apart. Place cakes on a wire rack to cool completely. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Store in plastic wrap or covered plastic containers.