Coffee...and Cake

Every month I always looking forward to my coffee date with one of my besties B...we have a standing date to meet once a month early on a Sunday morning for coffee, goodies and a chat.  We met at my last workplace and we pretty much clicked right from the very beginning - which is funny because we worked in departments who tend to be (but not always) at odds with each other...Finance and Human Resources.  It was awesome because not only did we become friends, but we worked together really well.  I'm so happy that we're still in touch!

Anyways, today was our coffee date, and I was thinking about the "goodies" portion of the program.  Normally I pick up store muffins - our favourite grocery store has these fabulous apple ginger muffins that are delicious...spicy, ginger-y and...full of fat.  Yikes!  What to do?  I dug around in my cookbooks for something that tasted good but wasn't off the charts for fat and found this little gem from one of my fave cookbooks:

Blueberry Crumb Cake - from America's Test Kitchen's Healthy Family Cookbook

makes one 8-inch square cake
serves 12

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled (this is a little less than 1/4 pound)
1 cup lowfat sour cream
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup blueberries
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly coat an 8 inch square baking pan with baking spray. 

Pulse the two flours, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda together in a food processor to combine.  With the food processor running, add 5 tbsps of the melted butter and process until the flour mixture looks sandy.

Transfer 1/4 cup of the flour mixture to a medium bowl and set aside for the topping.  Add the sour cream, egg, and vanilla to the flour mixture in the food processor and pulse until the mixture just comes together, about 8 pulses (do not overmix).

Transfer the batter to a large bowl and gently fold in the blueberries with a rubber spatula.  Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Stir the remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar and cinnamon into the reserved flour mixture.  Add the remaining tablespoon melted butter and toss gently with a fork until incorporated and some larger pea-sized crumbs have developed.  Sprinkle the crumb mixture evenly over the batter.  (At this point, if you are making this ahead of time, you can wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 24 hours or frozen up to 1 month.  Bake as directed, increasing baking time to 40 - 45 mins if refrigerated or 55 to 60 minutes if frozen).

Bake until the topping is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out with just a few crumbs attached, 30 to 35 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through. Do not overbake, as it will be very dry;  err on the side of underdone when testing for doneness.

Per serving - 240 calories, 7g fat, 4 g saturated fat, 35 mg cholesterol, 38 g carbs, 3g protein, 1g fibre, 170 mg sodium.

This was a hit!  My adjustments:  I used frozen, not fresh berries so baked it for the full 35 minutes and probably could have baked it another 5 minutes...the frozen berries made it really moist and it was just ever so slightly underdone in the middle.  I also didn't use the food processor because...well, I'm a lazy baker, so hate washing the food processor.  Yes, I know.  This cake would have been fabulous warm as the topping is sooo yummy and cinnamon-y.  Definitely a keeper!