Raspberry CHIPOTLE Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

The MASTER BAKER RETURNS with the best ever coffee cake! Are you tired of hearing about my crush on Mary and her blog, ONE PERFECT BITE yet??? Seems like I have been advertising for her lately. A few days back, Mary posted a coffee cake recipe that she really liked. However, she also did a link to an earlier different coffee cake recipe that she was less excited about. Me, being the type of guy I am, decided that I was going to give the less well reviewed recipe a try. I am sure glad I did...

OK, for details, I am going to ask you to go to Mary's original post of October 24th of this year, and her... RASPBERRY CREAM CHEESE COFFEE CAKE RECIPE (click HERE).

Here's what she said to do...
Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Allrecipes

Ingredients:
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup cold butter
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sour cream
1 egg, beaten
1-1/2 teaspoons almond extract

FILLING:
1 (8-oz.) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup raspberry jam
1/2 cup slivered almonds
Confectioners' sugar (optional)

Directions:
1) In a large mixing bowl, combine flour and sugar. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Remove 1 cup and set aside. To remaining crumbs, add baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add sour cream, egg and almond extract; mix well. Spread in the bottom and 2 in. up the sides of a greased 9-in. springform pan.

2) To make filling, beat cream cheese, sugar and egg in a small bowl until blended. Pour over batter; spoon raspberry jam on top. Sprinkle with almonds and reserved crumbs.

3) Bake at 350 degrees F for 55-60 minutes.

Let stand for 15 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; remove sides from pan. Dust top with confectioners' sugar if desired. Yield: 8 servings.

And here's what I did...

Actually, here's why I did what I did...

A couple months ago, A was praising the virtues of Fischer and Wieser, handcrafted one jar at a time, THE ORIGINAL ROASTED RASPBERRY CHIPOTLE SAUCE (that's what the bottle looks like, next to the autographed picture of me with Bernadette Peters). It was wonderful, but it was also not sold in my area. I used the bottle up (actually, more than one bottle), gave away a couple in contests and as a hostess gift, and made some wonderful recipes with it (remember my raspberry chipotle Yorkshire pudding???). But, once I was out, I was only going to get more if I did mail order. Despite the fact that the good folks at Fischer and Wieser, are offering free shipping on any order placed in time for Christmas delivery, I was still putting off ordering more.

BUT, my local underpriced grocery store started carrying the sauce!!! Not sure if it was going to be just for Christmas, or limited trial. or why... But I snatched up a couple of bottles just two nights before I read about Mary's favorite coffee cake recipe (which directed me to her earlier coffee cake recipe (this one). Everyone following so far?). Yes, before, when I wrote about the sauce, I was reviewing free bottles the good folks had sent me... This time, I am writing about sauce I paid for... Must mean I was honest before about how good the stuff is!

What appealed to me about Mary's recipe was the use of jam as an ingredient. You could use the same recipe with Orange marmalade, Blackberry or Peach jam or whatever you have. So, while I urge you to hunt down the good stuff that I am using, the recipe can be adapted for your tastes...

AND, I also had bought several packages of cream cheese just that week (on sale for just $0.37 a box!). A favorite sauce, a main ingredient on sale, and a day later this recipe screams at me... It's like the stars were in alignment, and who am I to argue with aligned stars?

I wanted to use the Raspberry CHIPOTLE sauce for this recipe!

As someone famous says
KICK IT UP A NOTCH... BAM!

I followed Mary's directions to the letter...

Just added the Fischer and Wieser, handcrafted one jar at a time, THE ORIGINAL ROASTED RASPBERRY CHIPOTLE SAUCE in place of the jam.

And the master baker returns with his very first coffee cake... I need to work on my dusting technique (mine was more of layering than dusting), but what a success! Incredibly easy, incredibly moist (my cream cheese kind of melted into the batter making it almost a thick pudding like center). The chipotle in the sauce is subtle. It is not the most powerful ingredient, but it is certainly there. I served this for dessert when the ladies of the evening returned from their jewelry shopping and the men had finished their spaghetti and fancy meat balls , TV watching and scratching (see yesterday's post).

So, Mary and ONE PERFECT BITE I thank you so much for the easy directions, the wonderful inspiration and as always, I thank you for your wonderful blog (one of my absolute favorites)!