Sweet Greens

This weekend we visited the mister’s 98 year old grandfather to celebrate an early Thanksgiving. We brought along one of our favorite holiday treats, a yummy coffee cake! Our coffee cake is layered with a crunchy cinnamon-walnut mixture that isn’t too sweet and perfect for holiday brunch.

As a Stonyfield YoGetter, I wanted to take the Stonyfield Challenge to see if our favorite recipe would be just as good when we substituted the sour cream with Stonyfield Organic Greek yogurt. Guess what? Not only is it just as good – it made our favorite cake more nutritious – packing it with live and active yogurt cultures, protein, calcium, vitamins and minerals – and we saved all of the fat and calories that sour cream would have added. What a fun way to kick off the holiday season – read on for the full recipe and pin this one to your favorite holiday recipe board, you won’t be disappointed!

Step 1: Gather Your Ingredients

• 3 cups organic flour
• 1 cup organic walnuts
• 2 cups organic sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon organic ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon organic baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup organic butter
• 2 teaspoons organic vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups organic Stonyfield Greek yogurt
• 3 tablespoons organic milk

Step 2:
Add 1/4 cup chopped walnuts to a food processor and chop into crunchy crumbs and set aside.

Step 3:
Combine 3/4 cup walnuts, 1/3 cup sugar and 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon to a food processor and chop into a crunchy crumbs. 

Step 4:
In a separate bowl whisk the 3 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and 1 teaspoon salt together.

Step 5:
Add to the bowl 3/4 butter, 1 1/4 cups sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla and beat until creamed.

Step 6:
Add the 5 large eggs, then scrape down the bowl again.

Step 7:
Then add the flour mixture and beat for 2 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl as you go.  Finally, add the 1 1/2 cups Greek yogurt and milk, beat again until creamy.

Step 8:
Sprinkle the 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts that you set aside on the bottom of your 9″ cake pan.

Step 9:
Spoon 2 cups of batter over the nuts, covering them completely but not mixing them into the batter.

Step 10:
Sprinkle 1/2 of the cinnamon-walnut crumbs (careful not to spread them to the edge of the pan). Top with 2 more cups of batter spreading it over the nuts, then layer the remaining 1/2 of the nuts for the third layer and top with the last 2 cups of batter for the final layer. You should have 3 layers total. 

Step 11:
Bake at 375° for approximately 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out completely clean. Let the cake cool for 25 minutes.

Step 12:
When completely cool, you can remove the cake, the top will actually be the bottom of the cake with the nuts on top – so you will have to flip it.

Cooking Tip: Interesting in making your favorite holiday goodies with yogurt instead! Here is a nifty yogurt substitution guide to get you started.

Full Disclosure: I am a Stonyfield YoGetter and received product coupons to complete this recipe. However, all opinions are my own!