Healthy Harvest Breakfast Bread

2 c whole wheat flour
½ cup raw brown sugar
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

MOIST INGREDIENTS

¾ cup buttermilk (or milk w/ 1 tsp apple cider vinegar added)
¼ c applesauce
1 tbsp non hydrogenated oil (peanut or walnut are good choices)
1 egg

TOPPING INGREDIENTS

¼ c butter
½ c raw brown sugar
½ tsp flavored extract (vanilla, orange, lemon, maple...your choice)
A few dashes of cinnamon (optional).

OPTIONAL INGREDIENTS
Raisins, nuts, flax seeds, oatmeal, etc...

Turn your oven on to 375 degrees. Put all of the topping ingredients in a 9" baking dish (round or square) and place it in the oven. Go ahead and begin mixing the other ingredients, but keep an eye on this. It should only be in long enough for the butter to melt. When it has, take the pan out of the oven, stir the topping ingredients together, and set aside.

Combine all of the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and fluff with a wire whisk. Add any of the optional ingredients you want. I use a handful of each of those I have listed. Make a "well" in the center of the dry ingredients.

Combine all of the moist ingredients. It's handy to use a large glass measuring cup for this. Slowly pour the moist ingredients into the "well" in the center of the dry ingredients, combining with the wire whisk as you go. Keep whisking until everything is thoroughly combined. You should have a fairly stiff batter.

Using a rubber spatula or wooden or plastic mixing spoon, scrape the batter on top of the topping in the 9" pan. Return the pan to the oven for 35 to 45 minutes. A knife or toothpick poked in the center should come out clean when the coffee cake is done.

Remove the cake from the oven and set it on a trivet to cool for about 5 minutes. Not much longer or the topping will cause it to stick in the pan. Turn the cake out onto a plate. Some of the topping will stay in the pan. Just scrape it out with a tablespoon and spread it over the top of the cake. You can serve this immediately with butter, jam, honey, peanut butter or plain. I cut it up (about a dozen pieces) have a piece or two and then freeze the rest to have a fresh piece each morning.