Coffee Cake Cookies with The Healthy Little Foodie

When we look back at this time 10 years from now, I’m hoping that amongst the virus and the illness and the loved ones we may have seen suffered, I hope we also remember all the games we played, walks we went on, loaves of bread we baked and cookies we ate. I love how more and more people are getting in their kitchen more, baking and cooking up a storm.

While I’m pretty used to working from home already, this new stay at home order isn’t too far from my normal. I’ve been busier which I’m so thankful for, but still working in the time to be in the kitchen. Quarantine brought a baking bug, and I’ve caught it. The baking bug has also come with a new push of creativity and confidence honestly. I started doing regular Sunday afternoon Instagram Live baking videos the first Sunday of self-quarantine and it was well, really fun.

My friend Elyse has also been bit by the baking bug and coming up with all kinds of treats in her kitchen. Elyse bakes completely gluten-free and her recipes are typically made with no refined sugars and dairy-free. You can always count on Elyse for a healthier treat recipe. With all these Live videos and people “going live”" together on Instagram, I pinged Elyse if we should bake together and we jumped on the idea.

So we would LOVE if you joined us this Sunday, April 19th at 1pm CST on Instagram! We came up with this recipe for Coffee Cake Cookies which is just really hitting all the trigger points for me right now. Crumb topping, fluffy cinnamon cookie. They taste like a buttery snickerdoodle with a crumb topping. Hi, hello, yum! The recipe can easily be made gluten-free and we give options if you want to use the OG flour and sugar or cleaner ingredients - ha!

The Healthy Little Foodie + Take A Bite Coffee Cake Cookies 
Yields 20-22 (or 10-12) cookies
disclaimer: we developed this recipe during self-quarantine and assumed people didn’t need 20 cookies lying around, so we included the measurements to easily half this recipe.

Ingredients:

Crumb topping:
6 tbsp. (3) unsalted butter, cold and cut into small cubes
1/4 cup (2 tbsp.) packed brown sugar (sub for coconut sugar)
1/4 cup (2 tbsp.) granulated sugar (sub for monk fruit sugar or coconut sugar)*
1 (1/2) cup all-purpose or gluten-free flour
1 1/2 (¾) tsp. cinnamon
1/4 (a pinch) tsp. Salt

Cookies:
1 (½ cup or 1 stick) cup of unsalted butter, softened (we prefer Kerrygold or Vital Farms)
1 (½) cup packed brown sugar (sub for coconut sugar)
1/2 (¼) cup granulated sugar (sub for monk fruit sugar or coconut sugar)*
2 (1) eggs
2 (1) tsp. vanilla extract
3 (1½) cups all-purpose or gluten-free flour
2 (1) tsp. baking powder
1 (½) tsp. salt
1 (½) tsp. cinnamon
Powdered sugar or monk fruit powder for dusting 

*if you are using coconut sugar for both the brown and granulated sugar, use ½ (¼)  cup for the crumb topping and 1½ (¾) cup for the cookies. 

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

In a small bowl, using your hands, a fork or a pastry cutter, combine all of the crumb topping ingredients. Work the butter into the dry ingredients until coarse crumbs are formed. Set aside.  

With an electric mixer, cream the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until well combined. On low, add in the vanilla extract.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. In batches, gradually add the dry ingredients into the mixer with the wet ingredients, until the dough comes together. 

Using a cookie scoop or spoon, form golf ball size balls of dough and place on prepared baking sheet 2 inches apart. Make an indention in the center of each cookie with the back of a teaspoon or your finger and fill with 2 teaspoons of crumb topping (be generous with your topping). Bake for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. Remove from the oven and let cool on the pan. Then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. Once completely cooled, dust with powdered sugar and enjoy!

We hope you have most of these ingredients already in your kitchen, if not, see if you can get all of the groceries delivered by Sunday so you can bake with us!

Don’t forget! Come watch us on Instagram Live Sunday, April 19th, 2020 at 1PM CST! And if you are reading this post after our Live baking date I’ll be sure to link to the video we record.

Annie + Elyse