Breakfast Coffee Cake Cookies

Growing up in a small town in Lancaster County, there was a small grocery store right across the street. It was a family-owned grocery store that, unfortunately, that is no longer around. So, my mom would leave for her job reasonably early, and that left us kids (I was 15) to get ready for school. Well, I use to go to that store before the school bus would come and get one of two breakfast treats by Drake's "Ring Dings" or "Coffee Cakes." The breakfast of champions, I always said!

I always liked most types of coffee cakes, but I never had time to make any. But I wanted a more portable coffee cake. I wanted to make a cookie that you could carry around and eat on the run. It, of course, had to have the crumble, with a few pecans on top. It also had to have the brown sugar and cinnamon, my favorite two ingredients. Throw in butter, and I am ready to make this cookie.

Ingredients for the Coffee Cake Cookie

I divided the ingredients photos into two photos: cookie and the crumble.

Cookie Dough

• Butter unsalted 
• Cream Cheese
• Light brown sugar
• Sugar white
• Vanilla bean paste
• Egg
• All-purpose flour
• Baking powder
• Kosher Salt

Crumble Topping

• All-purpose flour
• Light brown sugar
• Ground cinnamon
• Kosher Salt
• Butter unsalted 
• Pecans 

Making the Crumble Topping

You have two options for making the crumble. You can add all the ingredients, whisk and then cut the butter through with a pastry cutter. Or you can do this in a food processor. I have not used the pastry beater for the Kitchen Aid simply because I do not own it. I used the pastry cutter, but it is a little more work.

Weigh or measure the flour and add it to a bowl. Next, weigh or measure the light brown sugar and add it to the bowl. Follow with the remaining ingredients of cinnamon and salt.

Run a whisk through to blend them all together.

Cube or break the butter into small pieces and add it to the dry crumble mix.

Next, using a pastry cutter, blend the butter throughout the dry ingredients. You want a crumble texture.

Making Coffee Cake Cookies

Now for the cookie!

Prepping

Weigh or measure the white and light brown sugar into a bowl and set it aside. Weigh or measure the flour into a bowl. Add to the flour the baking powder, cinnamon, and the salt. Run a whisk through to blend.

I also do a rough chop of the pecans or buy them already chopped.

Mixing

Cube the butter and also add the cream cheese to a mixer bowl.

Blend for a minute or two to combine them. If your butter and cream cheese are still really cold, it will take at least 2 minutes.

Add both sugars and mix on a medium mixer speed for 3 minutes. You should get some fluffy looking peaks.

Add the vanilla bean paste and the egg and blend them together. This only takes about 15 seconds on a low-medium mixer setting. It was the 2 setting on my Kitchen Aid mixer. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and across the bottom.

Now, on a low mixer setting, add about a third of the flour mixture at a time. I add a third of the flour mixture about every 10 to 15 seconds. You do not want to over mix your flour, or your cookie could turn out a little tough. If you do not get all the flour mixed in, use a spatula to finish.

Cover the bowl and chill for 30 minutes.

Rolling and Assembling

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C or 180°C) and line 2 cookie sheet pans with parchment paper.

You will also need a pastry mat or your flat counter. I have a rolling pin that I have put rolling pin bands on the ends. They are ¼-inch-thick bands on the ends. This way I have the same thickness of cookie dough when I go to cut out my shapes. This will ensure a more even bake.

Flour the surface and the rolling pin. The circle cookie cutter I used was 2 ⅜-inches across.

I take about a third of the cookie dough and roll it out. Using the cookie cutter, get as many circles as you can and lay them on one of the prepared cookie sheet pans. Using the same cookie dough that you just cut the circle out of, gather it together and roll it out again. Cut as many circles as possible out of that round and continue until you have 12 circles on a pan.

Now I like to make an indentation, so it is easier to add the crumble. You can use any flat top off a bottle or what I used was the top of my salt grinder. Washed it off, and it worked perfectly. Press down so you have a little indentation of a circle.

Spoon the crumble onto the cookie. I try to follow the indentation I made. I press down lightly on the crumble just a little to help keep it in place. Then add a few of the chopped pecans on top. I press down lightly on the pecans so they will stay put.

Bake at 350°F (175°C or 180°C) for 7-9 minutes. After taking them out of the oven, leave them on the cookie sheet pan for a couple of minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.

Enjoy!

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