A new favorite breakfast at our house

Awhile back, I went on a canning spree.  I do this every so often.  This time, I happened to be home with a three day weekend when one of the local supermarkets had their 10# flats of strawberries on sale for $10.  I thought to myself, jam sounds fun, I'm home this weekend, and we only have two weddings and a quilt show. :)

What in my head was a little project, evolved into cleaning out the washroom/pantry, three trips to said supermarket and over fifty jars of product.  Yes, fifty!  In the process, I cleaned out my stash of previously canned stuff and found about a dozen pint jars of apples.

When it came time to make breakfast this morning, Anne wanted pancakes.  Anne wants pancakes every morning, but since we had them yesterday, I didn't feel obligated to make them again.  I negotiated an apple coffee cake.  To cut down on fat, I searched for buttermilk apple coffee cake and found a recipe from Cooking Light. I made a few modifications which comprise the recipe below.  The original is linked below.

Buttermilk Apple Coffee Cake

Cake:

• 1 1/2 cups thinly sliced peeled Granny Smith apple
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
• Cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. To prepare the cake, combine the first 4 ingredients in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook 5 minutes or until syrupy, stirring frequently; cool.
3. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Combine granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well-blended; add egg and extracts, beating well. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture; beat well after each addition.
4. Fold the batter and apples together.
5. Spoon the batter into an 8-inch round cake pan coated with cooking spray.  Sprinkle topping.  Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until cake begins to pull away from sides of pan. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.
6. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Original recipe from Cooking Light, April 2001