Peanut Butter Coffee Cake

Peanut Butter Coffee Cake

I made this Peanut Butter Coffee Cake for Sunday School this morning, and we all thought it was really good! This recipe is from the our cookbook giveaway, Better Homes and Gardens New Baking Book.

I doubled the ingredients and baked it in a 9x13 inch pan. I also just chopped some Hershey’s Milk Chocolate chips in the food processor in place of the miniature semisweet chocolate pieces.

Besides great baking tips, great photos and recipes, this cookbook contains interesting tidbits of information. Here’s the recipe I used today:

The Peanut’s Progress
For more than a century before this country was colonized, African cooks were using peanuts (or groundnuts) in many ways in their creative cooking: as a vegetable fresh from the garden, as the base for a creamy soup, and in a chicken dish served with a peanut sauce. Southerners (and eventually the whole country) adopted the peanut as a staple in its myriad forms: raw, baked, roasted, or boiled;
in peanut soup, peanut gravy, and peanut brittle; and perhaps most beloved of all,
whirled into peanut butter.

Peanut Butter Coffee Cake

The makers of the famous candy bar that combines chocolate and peanut butter know
a good thing when they taste it. So go ahead:
Get some chocolate in your peanut butter - or peanut butter in your chocolate - and
discover how delicious it can be.

Topping:
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1 tablespoon butter
¼ cup miniature semisweet chocolate pieces

Batter:
¼ cup peanut butter
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup miniature semisweet chocolate pieces

1. Grease an 8x8x2-inch baking pan; set aside. For streusel topping, in a small mixing bowl combine the ¼ flour, the ¼ cup brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons peanut butter, and the 1 tablespoon butter. Stir together until crumbly. Stir in the ¼ cup chocolate pieces; set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl beat the ¼ cup peanut butter and the 2 tablespoons butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds or until combined.

3. Add about half of the 1 cup flour, the ½ cup brown sugar, half of the milk, the egg, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until thoroughly combined, scraping the side of the bowl constantly. Add the remaining flour and remaining milk. Beat on low to medium speed just until combined. Stir in ¼ cup chocolate pieces.

4. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Sprinkle with the streusel topping. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Cut into squares. Serve warm. (Cover any leftovers and store at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.)