Pumpkin Coffee Cake
- by Christiane Matey
- Easy Recipes, Healthy Recipes
The Flavor of Fall
Pumpkin Spice is Everything Nice
Pumpkin spice doesn’t actually contain pumpkin but its ingredients — cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and clove — perfectly complement pumpkin in all forms and trigger feelings of well-being. Make your own or buy a high-quality blend.
- Cinnamon reduces inflammation and cholesterol.
- Ginger relieves pain and improves gut health.
- Nutmeg contains antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds.
- Clove prevents gum disease.
Pumpkin — Delicious and Healthy!
Pumpkin is a seasonal superfood. It’s thought of as a fruit, but it’s actually a vegetable and, when roasted and puréed, has many health benefits:
- Pumpkin is rich in vitamin A, so it’s great for your eyes. Just one serving (about a cup) provides more than 200 percent of the RDA of vitamin A.
- Its high potassium content (16 percent of the RDA) makes it heart-healthy.
- With one-fifth of the RDA of Vitamin C, it’s a powerful immune booster.
- Like other orange, red, and yellow foods, it’s high in carotenoids that fend off the free radicals that have been shown to cause cancer.
- It’s low in calories (50 per serving) yet high in fiber to keep you full.
Keep It in the Can
Most people are familiar with canned pumpkin purée, which I recommend for my Pumpkin Coffee Cake because its low water content holds up better in baked goods. You’ll get the same flavor if you purée pie pumpkins by hand — just be aware your cake might shrink a bit as the water in the hand-puréed pumpkin evaporates.
Bonus Content!
Whether you purée pumpkin by hand or you’re carving a jack o’ lantern, don’t throw out the seeds! Separate them from the stringy flesh, air dry them, and toss them with olive oil. Then, slow-roast at 250 degrees for about an hour. Roasted pumpkin seeds are a healthy and delicious snack.
Ingredients for Pumpkin Coffee Cake:
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup pumpkin purée (canned or puréed by hand)
- ½ cup 2% Greek yogurt
- ¼ cup avocado oil (I recommend Primal Kitchen)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2/3 cup turbinado sugar
- 2 cups 00 flour or all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
Ingredients for Cinnamon-Sugar Topping:
- ¼ cup almond flour
- ¼ cup 00 flour or all-purpose flour
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ cup softened butter
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×9-inch baking pan or line with parchment paper.
- Combine all of the wet ingredients in a large bowl and add the sugar. Whisk until fully incorporated.
- Add all of the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, and pumpkin pie spice) to the bowl. Mix well until smooth, like the consistency of cake dough.
- Spread the dough evenly in the pan and set aside.
- Make the crumb topping: In a small to medium bowl, mix the topping ingredients and combine with a fork until crumbly. Spread evenly over the cake batter.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Make sure there is no batter sticking to the toothpick! Place on a rack to cool.
- Once the cake has cooled, cut into 12 squares. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Looking for other easy, healthy recipes from MINT Nutrition?
As a certified integrative and functional dietitian, it’s my job to come up with tasty, healthy recipes and meal plans for individuals (neat, I know). Start here, and follow MINT Nutrition on Instagram for more recipes, tips, and insights. To learn more about how our meal plans and nutrition services can best serve you, schedule a 15-minute consultation call today.
