Easy Lightened Up Coffee Cake

I think my body is still recovering from the sugar high that I experienced during the holidays. It's the only reason I can think of as to why I am constantly craving sweets. Now I have always had a sweet tooth, but lately it has been out of control. In attempts to force myself to cut back on sugar consumption, I have purposefully not bought any sugary snacks and have tried to refrain from baking lots of sweets. So what do I do instead? Grab a bag of plain chocolate chips and munch on those. Sweet tooth, you win once again.

Instead of fighting my sweet tooth, I embraced it with this coffee cake. To lessen the guilt experienced by indulging in scrumptious, sweet confections, I took a family recipe and lightened it up a bit. The original coffee cake recipe calls for sour cream, which gives the cake a rich, tangy flavor. To capture that flavor with a healthier ingredient, I simply substituted vanilla greek yogurt for the sour cream; and boom, you have yourself a lightened up batch of sugary goodness.

This coffee cake, which goes great with coffee in the morning, as an afternoon snack, or late night dessert, is very easy to make. Just mix up the wet ingredients for the cake, add the dry ingredients, mix all of them together (careful not to over mix-you want a light and tender cake, not a dense and tough cake), and pour the batter into a pan. Mix the crumb topping in a small bowl, sprinkle that on top of the cake, and you are done! Two dirty bowls and 15 minutes later and you have yourself a delicious coffee cake in the oven. I must warn you that the smells that will fill your kitchen as this cake is baking will make your mouth water. It'll be a very painful 30 minutes, but once that cake is out I fully support devouring half of it. After all, it is lightened up. So for all of you sweet toothers, here is a reason to eat sugar for breakfast and not feel too badly about it!

Easy Lightened Up Coffee Cake
(10-12 servings)

Cake:
1 egg
3/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 cup fat free Vanilla Chobani Greek Yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Crumb Topping:
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
3 Tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray an 8 inch square baking dish with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, beat egg with a whisk until frothy. Whisk in sugar and butter. Add yogurt and vanilla, and blend well.

Sift dry ingredients together; slowly add to wet ingredients until all ingredients are incorporated, careful not to over mix. Pour mixture in prepared baking dish.

For the topping, mix all of the ingredients in a bowl. Sprinkle evenly over cake batter.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until center springs back when touched. Cool slightly before cutting and serving. Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

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Nutritional Info
Servings Per Recipe: 12
Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 184.5
Total Fat: 3.3 g
Cholesterol: 23.3 mg
Sodium: 66.7 mg
Total Carbs: 38.6 g
Fiber: 0.6 g
Sugars: 26.1 g
Protein: 4.1 g

Pros:
-Easy to make
-Mixed and baked in less than an hour
-Great breakfast, snack, or dessert
-Versatile-add nuts to crumb topping, mix in chocolate chips into cake batter, use different flavor yogurt to change cake flavor

Cons:
-High in sugar per serving (reduce sugar or use sugar substitute to reduce this)