Growing up, my grandparents flew out to visit us once or twice a year. During every visit, Grandpa would bang around in the kitchen one morning after drinking his coffee, pulling out measuring cups and mixing bowls to make his famous Cowboy Coffee Cake.
Despite the overpowering temptation to eat dessert for breakfast, my brother and I turned up our noses at Grandpa’s treat. He studded it with raisins, but we only nibbled on those in trail mix or oatmeal cookies. Not cake!
Yet Grandpa refused to cook a separate breakfast just for us grandkids, so on his next visit, he rummaged around in the pantry until he found an acceptable substitute.
After 45 minutes of microwaving (yes, microwaving, not baking in a conventional oven; that was part of his magic!), Grandpa cut out two big pieces and set the plates in front of us. We poked at the speckles, confused by his handiwork.
“Grandpa, what are those?”
“Fruity Pebbles,” he replied with a twinkle in his eye. “Don’t you kids like those?”
To this day, Grandpa still makes our coffee cake with Fruity Pebbles, even though my brother and I both qualify as full-fledged adults. (And we ask for a second slice every time!)
This can be eaten warm or cold. (My mom would suggest warming it up and adding butter on top!)
- Preheat the oven to 350°, and lightly coat an 8”-square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- To prepare the streusel, stir together the flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Cut in the chilled butter with the back of a fork until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Set aside.
- To prepare the cake, whisk together the all-purpose flour and next 6 ingredients (through cloves) in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the yogurt, egg and vanilla, mixing well. Alternate between adding the flour mixture and milk, beginning and ending with the flour, mixing just until incorporated. Gently fold in the Fruity Pebbles.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and sprinkle the streusel topping on top. Bake at 350° for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
Neat story….I love that he microwaved something for an entire 45 minutes! That’s crazy! I’m not sure I’ve ever run the microwave that long before.
Thank you! Me either. I was too afraid that my microwave would explode if I used it for that long, so I turned to my trusty oven instead! (Funny enough, the original recipe used the conventional oven instead of a microwave… Not sure why Grandpa changed that, but it’s part of his charm! 🙂 )
These are so cute and fun, and I LOVE the story behind them! Congratulations on your cookbook!! SO exciting!
Aww, thank you!! We haven’t had Grandpa’s coffee cake for a few years, so it was a wonderful trip down memory lane. 🙂 And thank you again! Have you gotten your copy yet?
Gotta love the microwave recipes! That has to have been a 90s thing… my mom had a breaded chicken recipe we referred to as just “microwave chicken” that we actually used to request quite frequently! Couldn’t stomach the thought now!
Love the story and the fruity pebbles… unique! What a sweet grandpa!
It’s true! My grandpa told us a story about when they first bought their microwave. Apparently, the civic center started offering “microwave” classes in addition to their usual cooking classes! Hmm, breaded microwave chicken? Our taste buds must not have been quite so refined as kids… 😉
Things must be short for you these days when you use Cowboy coffee cake for a source food.
Not at all! I’ve been meaning to make it for months now. I probably should’ve saved it for Father’s Day, but I just couldn’t wait any longer. And it got rave reviews from everyone I shared it with — you’re famous!
Beautiful recipe. Thank you, Amy. Happy Holidays to yu9 and your family!
My pleasure Liz, and thank you! I hope you and your loved ones had a wonderful holiday too. 🙂