Cherry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

Happy Friday!!!! How has your week been? Can you believe it's the last Friday of January already?!?!? One-twelfth of the year is GONE almost! :D Time does fly - faster the older I get. :D

So, this is the last review from what I served Saturday for my hostess club Stampin' Up! get-together. It's a cherry cream cheese coffee cake from - guess who! - Taste of Home. :D

OK. I did three tweaks, one kinda big and the other two are tiny. :) The big one is I didn't use almond extract in the crust, I used vanilla. I just don't particularly care for almond extract - I don't use it in my sugar cookies or icings, and just don't tend to use it, period. I know that lots of people think the cherry and almond go together, but to my palate, the almond extract is overpowering. So there. :D

The two little ones are that I used Splenda-sweetened cherry pie filling, and the almonds I used were sliced, not slivered. :D Oooooh. LOL

This is definitely a YES, PLEASE! It's not too sweet - there's a total of a cup of sugar in the whole thing! - so it's really nice for a breakfast treat. It didn't take as long to make as I thought, either. The crust part IS very sticky, however; I tried spreading it into the springform with my hands, and ended up deciding that an offset spatula was going to be my best friend with this one. :D

I'm kind of wondering why this wouldn't work in a 13x9 if you don't have a springform. It might not come out as "pretty" when you slice it, but I couldn't get it off the bottom of the springform as a whole, either. Also, I might use my largest springform pan the next time I make this, and maybe double the fillings. It's a lot of crust - but it's GOOD. I just tend to like filling better. :D I also think I'll try blueberry instead of cherry - or maybe half and half!

I know this was a hit! I also know I'm going to make this on the beach as a keep-in-the-fridge, go-to quick breakfast when we have guests. So, if you make it, let me know what you think! :)

Have a WONDERFUL weekend! Try something new! :) Be BLESSED!