Coffee Cake in a Mug

I'm a morning person. I'll admit it. I'm that girl. In high school, I used to do the morning announcements and drive everyone crazy with my overly awake and perky voice. Sorry guys but...once I'm awake, I'm AWAKE. Even so....I tend to find myself dragging my feet when it comes to actually doing stuff in the morning. Particularly making food. Because I'm tired and hungry and I just wish food would magically appear in front of me, no effort required.

Now, while I don't have the magical ability to summon up an instantaneous, effort free, breakfast....this recipe comes pretty close.

You pretty much just combine some ingredients in your favorite mug (yes...I made mine in a Disney princess mug and yes...I made Michael one in a Batman mug. I enjoy this about us. I think it's charming. sooo...yeah...) then you microwave for a few minutes and...that's it. You have coffee cake.

CUHRAAAZY.

Now, on the real real...not my favorite. It was fine just...I dunno...I felt like the cake was a bit bland tasting. Not enough cinnamoooon! It was good though, especially considering it took like 5 minutes to make. I just prefer real coffee cake. 

That said-Michael really enjoyed it and didn't see anything wrong with this simple little breakfast. And just imagine how much fun something like this would be if you have a bunch of girls waking up after a slumber party at your house! Or if you partied hard last night and need a quick easy breakfast. You know...just depends on your current life situation.

Or you could just be like me, a perky little Disney princess, waking up, singing with the birds, and then being like "ughhh but...doin' stuff?" and then remembering, "Oh hey! I can have a little coffee cake in my belly like..practically right now!" and then you run to the kitchen.

...and to be honest..if this is me we're talking about...and I'm running to the kitchen...

...I probably trip.

Coffee Cake Muffins with @ZulkaSugar

Hey there guys! Happy Monday! I've got a little breakfast treat for you, and-on top of that-I'm gonna introduce you to my new favorite thing: Zulka Pure Cane Sugar.

You're probably all like-huh? What's that? Don't worry fair readers, I'm getting to that. Zulka Pure Cane Sugar is a Non-GMO Project verified “Morena” sugar. Morena sugar describes granulated sugars that do not undergo conventional refining processes, which remove the complexity and flavor in raw sugar cane after it has been pressed. So to sum up-it's like all natural n stuff AND you can use it to replace granulated sugar cup by cup (so a recipe calls for 1 cup granulated sugar? Use 1 cup Zulka. Simple.) for cooking, baking, beverages, in coffee...literally anything.

I've always been semi-skeptical about using natural sugars in my baking (WHAT IF IT DOESN'T TURN OUT RIGHT??!) but omg I am in love with Zulka Pure Cane Morena Sugar! It's completely revolutionary. I've been using it in everything, and all has turned out perfect (and tasting even better)! To celebrate the awesomeness, all 3 recipes I'll be sharing this week are featuring the Zulka Sugar (and they all have healthier twists to them). Fun right? So-Zulka is sold at major retailers nationwide, so you should be able to get your hands on it (trust me, you want to!) and you can also keep up with them via facebook and twitter!

Now, let's talk breakfast.
To be exact-muffins.
To be more exact-coffee cake muffins.

I threw these together a couple weeks ago, in preparation for my film shoot-I wanted to have something easy to grab in the mornings before self-reporting to Staten Island. And as we know, I'm quite fond of breakfasts that incorporate cinnamon/sugar. One of my handy dandy (but far too often forgotten) cookbooks provided me with this recipe, and then I just tweaked it a smidge to make them a bit healthier for mornings (whole wheat flour and-of course-the use of Zulka morena sugar. They were pretty low cal to begin with, however.)

These are absolutely the perfect mix of muffin and coffee cake-they have a wonderful crumb, and just the right amount of streusel. And they served me well for those crazy pre-shoot mornings. I'm sure they'd be equally (or even more) wonderful on a lazy morning with a mug of coffee/tea and a newspaper...or whatever people do in the mornings. Yeah.

Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake + CHOBANI Review

I don't like coffee.

But, like, everyone else does. And when 20-somethings get together, it is often for "coffee". Many times this coffee takes place at a Starbucks. And, so as not to appear rude, I have managed to find a few things there that I frequently order and like...of course they're not a beverage. My most favorite thing to get there is their coffee cake. I loooove it. It's cinnamon-y and brown sugar-y and cake-y but with a delicious crunch from the streusel. *sigh*. This is why, when I saw a recipe on The Baker Chick for a coffee cake that was hailed as BETTER than Starbucks', I immediately bookmarked it. I am so so SO happy I did. It IS even better. The cake is so moist, so fluffy and it is completely bursting with cinnamon goodness. I oftentimes find the cake to streusel/filling ratio lacking, but not here. This cake is heaven. AND you can make it the night before and bake it in the morning, which is so amazing because as ambitious as my morning plans are when I go to bed, that is how sleepy and lazy I feel when I awake. With this all I needed to do was take it out of the refrigerator and put it in the oven, and then sit on the couch, enjoying the heavenly smells wafting through the apartment. Ah yes, this is a coffee cake of wonders.