Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake

Happy Saturday everyone! Today is one of my besties birthdays so I gotta give her a shout-out: Happy Birthday Tamara! Tamara, is also one amazing chef and we became really good friends after discovering our mutual love and appreciation for cupcakes :).  She is pretty awesome and she is one of my bridesmaids!  I hope you have a great day, Tamara!

Today is also pretty exciting in that I am picking up my race day swag for the Rock and Roll Half Marathon.  I am going to be running that tomorrow and I am keeping my fingers crossed for a cool morning and no thunderstorms...Even though the weather is pretty awful right now, I am still very excited!  

Today, Bri and I are also going to see the new movie, Trainwreck.  After that is when we are gonna head over to the half marathon expo, and then we have to scurry back to get ready for dinner at Due Lire with my parents.  My birthday is coming up, so we are starting the celebration tonight with dinner.  I have never been to this restaurant, but I have heard amazing things and I will for sure report back.  

I figured that today was a great day to share this Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake.  I made this a while back, but I was in a coffee cake mood this morning.  I mean, it's Saturday, I'm running 13.1 miles tomorrow, and my birthday is this week.  Is there a better way to celebrate than with a good, ol' coffee cake? 

Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake

(adapted from Barbara Bakes)

Note: Please go check out her blog for some amazing photos and the recipe.  I changed a few things, so I will tell you about that, but she did a really lovely job with the dough and has some amazing photos of it! 

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 package of yeast (I used regular as opposed to quick rise)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup skim milk
1/4 cup unsalted butter, cold and cubed
2 eggs
Apple Filling
4 large apples (I used Granny Smith)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 tbsp unsalted butter
Streusel Topping
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
Icing
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp skim milk

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, beat 1 cup flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, sugar, yeast, salt, and cinnamon.
2. Place butter and milk into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1 minute.  Add warm milk to the flour mixture and mix until combined.
3. Lightly flour a clean surface and remove dough from the bowl to knead.  Knead for about 8-10 minutes or until dough is smooth and springy.  Place into a lightly greased bowl and place bowl in a warm location.  I turn on my oven to 100 degrees and then leave the bowl in there with the door open.  Let the dough rise until doubled in size.  This took a little over 1 hour.
4. While the dough is rising, peel and chop apples.  Place apples, sugar, cinnamon, and lemon juice in a bowl and toss to combine.  Pour mixture into a pan and add the butter.  Saute the mixture for about 10 minutes so that the apples start to soften.  Let cool.
5. To make the streusel topping, combine the brown sugar, flour, oats, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl.  Add the melted butter and combine until your mixture forms small clumps.  Set aside.
6. Prepare two 9 inch cake pans.  Place parchment paper in the bottoms of the pans and generously spray with non-stick spray.
7. Once the dough is ready, divide in half.  Take one half and divide that into two pieces.  One piece should be about 2/3 of the dough and the other should be about 1/3 of the dough.  Take the large piece and roll it out so that it fits into the bottom of a cake pan.  With the small piece, roll it out so that it looks like a long rope.  Use this to wrap around the edge of the pan.  You are basically creating a wall to go around the bottom of the pan.  Repeat this with the other half of the dough for the second pan.
8.  Divide the apple filling into each of the pans and then sprinkle the streusel over the tops.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled.  This took about 1 hour.
9.  Preheat the oven to 350 and once the cakes are ready, bake for about 20 minutes.
10.  When you are ready to serve, mix the powdered sugar with the milk to create your icing and drizzle over the tops of the cakes.

Enjoy :)