Add This Thanksgiving Leftover To Your Next Coffee Cake Recipe

Last Thanksgiving I purchased quite a few bags of cranberries and stuffed them into my freezer for a later date. Now I’m trying to use them and thought that a good way to do that would be to adapt my blueberry breakfast cake recipe. I love that blueberry cake, and figured that taking a cake recipe I already love and adding some spices and a different topping for the cranberries would be the perfect way to come up with my next cake creation -- a white chocolate cranberry coffee cake recipe. And really, what better complement to cranberries than white chocolate?

There’s no long story about these, other than I had a major craving for something sweet, so I baked them. I did totally love this twist on a traditional coffee cake recipe, though, it's truly delicious! And they were a great reason to use my ceramic baker again that I bought from King Arthur’s Flour. I knew it was good for more than just cinnamon rolls!

White Chocolate Cranberry Coffee Cake

CAKE:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
1/2 cup white chocolate chips for topping

TOPPING:
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup finely hazelnuts
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons cold butter or margarine

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, baking powder and sugar. Add egg, milk, almond extract, butter and orange peel; mix just until dry ingredients are moistened. Fold in the cranberries. Spread in a greased 9-in. square baking pan.

For topping, combine sugar, flour, hazelnuts and cinnamon in a mini food processor or bowl. Add butter and process, or cut in if doing by hand, until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle over batter. Bake at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until cake tests done.

For drizzle, melt white chocolate chips in microwave for 35 seconds. Stir until completely melted, then drizzle over the top of the cake and allow to sit until chocolate hardens.

Amanda Formaro is the crafty, entrepreneurial mother of four who loves to bake, cook, make kids' crafts and create decorative items for her home. She is a crafting expert and guru in the kitchen, and is the Home & Garden channel editor for Craft Gossip, and owner of FunFamilyCrafts.com. You can see her crafty creations on Crafts by Amanda and her delicious recipes on Amanda's Cookin'.