Roasted red cherry Greek yogurt coffee cake

Cherries were on sale at the grocery store a few weeks ago, so we decided to buy a bunch of them. For reasons unknown, they did not get eaten very quickly. My husband suggested that we make something with the remaining cherries, and he strongly hinted at a cherry pie. I'm not a big fan of cherry pie (they are too tart for me), but I thought that a coffee cake sounded like a good idea. Thankfully, my husband liked the suggestion, and off I went to find a coffee cake recipe.

I eventually found one on King Arthur Flour that incorporated sour cream. Since Chobani was kind enough to send me some of their plain and vanilla yogurt, I swapped out the sour cream for Greek yogurt instead.

I decided to roast my cherries and add them into the cake, and that proved to be a great idea. The cherries added a fun texture to the cake and made it more complex. This cake was not overly sweet like a traditional coffee cake. It was just sweet enough to balance out the tartness from the cherries and the Greek yogurt. I brought a few slices to the rink and both Coach B and Coach S were beyond the moon after tasting a bite. Coach S said that these were her 2nd favorite dessert to date (the whole lemon bars are her #1 favorite).

I'm not sure what to do with the rest of the cherries - maybe I'll just snack on them after dinner tonight.


Roasted red cherries

• About 1.5-2 cups of cherries, pitted and de-stemmed
• About 1-2 TBSP of sugar

Greek yogurt coffee cake

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter 
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup Greek yogurt (I used Chobani 0% vanilla)
• Cinnamon-sugar mixture: Mix about 2 TBSP sugar with 1/2 TBSP of cinnamon

Directions
For the roasted cherries: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Pit and de-stem your cherries. If desired, you can slice the cherries in half. Place the cherries onto an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle the cherries with the sugar and allow to roast in the oven for about 20 minutes. The cherries will shrink a bit after roasting. Remove from the oven and allow to slightly cool.

For the Greek yogurt coffee cake: While the cherries are roasting in the oven, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium to large mixing bowl. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer over medium speed (or in a large mixing bowl if you are using a handheld mixer), cream the butter and the brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and mix until they are fully incorporated. Turn the mixer down to low and alternately add the dry ingredients with the sour cream. Mix well after each addition.

Grease a 9x9 or 8x8 inch baking pan (I used a silicone baking pan and did not grease it). Transfer half of the batter to the prepared baking pan and smooth out the top with a spatula. Sprinkle on about half of the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Add the roasted cherries on top. Then transfer the remaining batter on top of the cherry layer. Smooth out the surface with a spatula and sprinkle on the remaining cinnamon-sugar mixture. Bake in your preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean (mine baked for 40 minutes).

Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool for at least 10-15 minutes before serving. The coffee cake can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for about 5 days.

Yield: About 16 squares

Source: adapted from King Arthur Flour