Francine’s Almond Coffeecake
Francine baked this almond coffeecake for Christiane in A Rose at Midnight. My family complains that I never make the same recipe twice. What can I say, I like to fiddle. I’ve made this recipe with dried cranberries or dried cherries in place of the raisins or changed the almond extract to lemon extract, the cinnamon to nutmeg, and the raisins to dried blueberries as variations.
Francine’s Almond Coffeecake
Ingredients
- 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup skim milk
- 1/4 cup light olive oil
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/2 cup currants or raisins
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons cold butter
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar
- 1/3 cup slivered almonds
Instructions
- Lightly grease an 8” square pan. Heat oven to 400° F.
- For cake: Sift first five ingredients in a bowl, stir to blend and make a well in the center.
- In a small bowl, whisk egg, milk, oil and almond extract, then add all at once to the flour mixture. Stir only until flour is moistened. Gently fold in currants, then pour into prepared pan. Lightly dust with cinnamon.
- Prepare topping: In a small bowl, cut butter into fine pieces, add brown sugar and almonds. Sprinkle evenly on top of batter.
- Bake in a preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
From A Rose at Midnight
