Cinnamon Twist Coffee Cake

We had a wonderful weekend with guests visiting from Austin. There was lots of good conversation and food—the makings of a wonderful weekend! I won’t write about everything I served, except one thing: Cinnamon Twist Coffee Cake. This was one thing I served for Saturday morning breakfast. There’s nothing better than a yeast coffee cake, fresh out of the oven, with a cup of coffee, on a relaxing weekend morning! What made it even better was enjoying it on the patio with friends. The recipe is below.

Cinnamon Twist Coffee Cake

1 batch yeast roll dough (I use ½ batch of the “Cinnamon rolls for a crowd” recipe in my March 18 post )
½ cup butter, melted
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped finely
Buttercream frosting for glaze

Prepare basic roll dough. Let rise one time and punch down. (As a do-ahead alternative, you can put the dough in a covered, buttered bowl, and let it rise for the first time in the refrigerator, and leave it in the fridge for 2-3 days before using.) Grease a 10 by 13 inch glass baking pan. On lightly floured surface, roll dough to a 12 " square. Brush with melted butter. Mix brown sugar, cinnamon and nuts together. Sprinkle half of this mixture down the center third of the dough square. Fold one third of the dough over center third. Sprinkle the double layer of dough with the remaining cinnamon/sugar/nut mixture. Fold the remaining third of dough over; seal edge. Then cut crosswise into 12 1-inch strips. Holding ends of each strip, twist tightly in opposite directions. Arrange two rows of six twists each in greased pan. Cover, and let rise until double (about 30-40 minutes). Bake in 375 degree oven for 30 minutes or so. Remove from oven, and drizzle with your favorite glaze or buttercream frosting.

Here’s a photo of the coffee cake, after I drizzled on the glaze.


It was definitely a “fattening weekend”….but fun!