Dessert for breakfast? That’s how I felt every time my mother made coffee cake for breakfast. Of course, her coffee cake really was pretty much a dessert, so we didn’t get it very often. But when we did, we were ecstatic. My mom’s coffee cake was the best, and we always ate more than we probably needed. Well, I’m here to share that recipe with you but with some healthy twists.

This coffee cake is a breakfast cake that many people eat with coffee (not to be confused with coffee cake made with coffee). We don’t drink coffee, so that doesn’t apply but the name is the name. The invention of coffee cake has been an evolutionary process and there are similar things all over the world. The evolution leads us, though, to Colonial America when the Dutch and German settlers became pretty well-known for their coffee cakes. Then by 1879, most every one in the U.S knew about this great breakfast option. And aren’t we glad!

This recipe keeps all the best things about my mom’s recipe but uses whole grain einkorn flour and sucanat so the nutrient density skyrockets. Now you can eat dessert for breakfast with a clear conscience (at least occasionally).