GF Overnight Cranberry Almond Coffee Cake
Are you planning for overnight guests during the holiday season? It can be quite a juggle to keep everyone fed and not feel like you are living in the kitchen. Enter the overnight coffee cake: full of fresh cranberries and almonds, you can put this delicious breakfast treat together the night before and then in the morning top with the crunchy crumb topping before you pop it into the oven to bake. Serve warm or at room temperature – perfect for people who wake and eat at different times. This is my go-to baked item for our New Years Day brunch with neighbors.
GF Overnight Cranberry Almond Coffee Cake
Serves: Makes 12-18 pieces depending on how large you cut your squares.
Ingredients
Coffee cake batter
- 2 1/2 cups (9 oz) Better Batter Gluten Free Flour, divided
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg or cinnamon
- 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 8 oz sour cream
- 1 3/4 cups coarsely chopped fresh cranberries (I use my food processor to make quick work of the cranberries)
- 1 Tbl. finely shredded orange peel
- 1/4 orange juice or milk (I have both ways; the juice enhances the citrus flavor)
- 1 Tbl. finely shredded lemon peel
Crumb topping
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup coarse chopped almonds
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 3 Tbl. unsalted butter
Instructions
Grease and lightly flour a 13×9 baking pan. In a medium bowl stir together 2 cups of flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg or cinnamon. Set aside.
Mix Ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, beat the softened butter with an electric mixer (or in the bowl of a stand mixer) on high speed for 30 seconds. Add the granulated sugar and beat until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl once or twice. Beat in the eggs and sour cream until combined. Add the flour mixture, mixing on low speed just until combined. Stir in 1 cup of chopped cranberries, orange and lemon peels, orange juice or milk. The batter will be thick. Spread batter in the prepared baking pan and cover with foil. Refrigerate for 2 to 24 hours.
For topping, in a small bowl stir together the remaining 1/2 cup flour, brown sugar, almonds, and cinnamon. Using a pastry blender, cut in 3 Tbl butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Cover and refrigerate topping and remaining 3/4 cup cranberries separately until needed in the morning.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. About 15 minutes before baking, remove the coffee cake batter, topping, and remaining cranberries from the refrigerator. Sprinkle the coffee cake first with the cranberries and then layer on the crumb topping.
Bake for 35 minutes then loosely tent with foil and continue baking 15-20 minutes more or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
Cool on a wire rack for 35 minutes. Enjoy!
Note: Stock up on fresh cranberries while they are widely available this month! I throw the entire bag directly into the freezer to have later in the winter. Yum!
