Overnight coffee cakes are the best way to start a Christmas morning. Then fire up "Let's Ditch Christmas" to get in the mood to open presents. Lazy Christmases are the best.
Overnight Cranberry-Eggnog Coffee Cake
Adapted from a Taste of Home recipe submitted by Lisa Varner of El Paso, Texas, who was inspired to use up leftover holiday ingredients.
Ingredients
½ cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup eggnog
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
2½ cups flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
Zest of 1 orange
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup dried cranberries
Streusel ingredients:
⅔ cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter, softened
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup chopped pecans
Glaze
½ cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon eggnog
Method
Cream butter and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time,
beating well after each addition. In a separate bowl, combine eggnog, sour
cream and vanilla. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, orange
zest, baking soda and salt. Add eggnog mixture and dry mixture to the
butter-sugar mixture, alternating between the two. Stir in cranberries. Spread
mixture into a greased 9- by 13-inch pan.
Combine ⅔ cup sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, 2 tablespoons butter and cinnamon in a small bowl. Stir in pecans.
Sprinkle mixture over cake batter in pan. Cover and refrigerate until ready to
bake.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Set pan out of the refrigerator while it heats up.
Bake 35-40 minutes until it passed the toothpick test.
For glaze, combine powdered sugar and eggnog. Drizzle over slightly cooled cake
and serve warm.
Rating: This makes a very soft, moist coffee cake. It's not super looky, since the cranberries don't show up on the top of the cake, but no one will mind. And you didn't have to scurry around in the morning to get it ready, plus the prep dishes are already done. You did do the dishes the night before, right? Best Christmas present to future self is a clean kitchen counter. Until they invent those magic elves.
