Christmas morning is calling for Gingerbread Banana Coffee Cake. For many years, it’s been our tradition to have orange sweet rolls on Christmas morning…this year, I’m petitioning for a switch to this coffee cake.
I have to tell you, I worked on this one til it was just perfect. Oddly, it was a little reminiscent of the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears… the first time, it was too dry and not sweet enough, so I added more banana and molasses. The second time, it was too gooey, so I cut down on the oil and banana, and added some maple syrup. The third time…was juuuust right. And we ate it all up.
Oh my golly, is this delicious. It’s sweet from the banana and spicy from the ginger, cinnamon, allspice and cloves, and sweet again from the brown sugar crumb topping and then…sweet yet again from the sugary glaze on top. All three times I made this coffee cake, we said we would give some of it away…but, no… we ate it all. Yep, all three coffee cakes.
Make it the day before and drizzle with that sweet sugary glaze before serving it on Christmas morning.
This Christmas, it’s me, Jon, Em, a cup of milk (for her), two hot cups of tea (for us), a cold Chicago morning and this Gingerbread Banana Coffee Cake.
Santa will wish he stayed for breakfast.
Little Hands Can…
- Measure and mix the ingredients for the crumb topping
- Mash the bananas
- Measure and mix the wet and dry ingredients for the cake
- Sprinkle the crumb topping on top of the cake batter before baking
- Measure and mix the glaze ingredients
- Drizzle the glaze on top of the baked coffee cake with a spoon
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup packed dark brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ cup cold, unsalted butter (1/2 stick) cut into small cubes
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1½ teaspoons ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 large bananas, very ripe (this is equal to about 1 cup mashed)
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil (or melted coconut oil)
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- ¼ cup molasses
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 9 inch round pie plate (deep dish) or an 8 or 9-inch square baking dish with cooking spray or butter.
- In a small bowl, mix together the flour, brown sugar, salt and spices with a whisk. Using a pastry cutter or two forks, cut in the cold butter until the butter is incorporated and the mixture is crumbly. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt. Whisk together and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, peel and mash the bananas well. Add the brown sugar, oil, maple syrup, molasses and milk. Whisk to combine.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Take care not to over mix.
- Pour the cake batter into your prepared pan and use a spatula to spread it out evenly. Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly on top, pressing down lightly to help the crumbs adhere to the batter.
- Bake the cake for 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees. The top of the cake should be fairly firm and should not wiggle at all if you gently shake the pan.
- Let the cake cool for 20-30 minutes before glazing.
- Mix together the powdered sugar and milk. Using a spoon, drizzle the glaze on top of the cooled cake. Cut into wedges or squares and serve. You could also cut the coffee cake first and then drizzle the glaze over individual pieces.
Recipe inspired by Sally’s Baking Addiction Iced Pumpkin Coffee Cake (which we made several times this fall…and it is amazing. She also wrote about having to try to perfect her cake three times too!)
On the Side
The flavor of gingerbread is right up there with pumpkin in my book and I’ll be sad to see these seasonal flavors come to an end soon. Em seems to share my love for all things gingerbread, so to go along with our coffee cake, I thought she’d really enjoy turning our favorite play dough recipe into GINGERBREAD play dough!
The original recipe for Gingerbread Play Dough is from an amazing blog called The Imagination Tree. It is AWESOME and if you have little ones, it is a “must bookmark” site. Anna, the writer, has so many wonderful, creative ideas related to literacy, math, science, and sensory play for babies through school age children. When I’m looking for a fun activity for Em and I, especially during the long days of winter spent indoors, this site is where I go first. And in keeping with the gingerbread theme, she recently wrote about Gingerbread Man Learning Card Games and a Gingerbread Sensory Writing Tray! We’ll be checking those out soon.
What I love about this play dough is that 1) it’s edible, in case your little ones still like to put things in their mouth (I wouldn’t recommend eating it because it’s salty, but if they did try some, it would be fine), 2) it’s easy to make and does not require cooking, and 3) it smells AMAZING!
I changed up the spices a bit for our dough to reflect the spices we use in our Gingerbread Cut-Out Cookies. For the Gingerbread Play Dough, you’ll need:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup salt (regular table salt, not kosher salt)
- 2 tablespoons cream of tartar (which can be found in the spice aisle)
- 1 tablespoon each ground cinnamon and ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon each ground allspice and ground clove
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- about 1 and 1/4 cups boiling water
Mix all the flour, salt, cream of tartar and spices in a bowl. Add the oil and mix. Then add the boiling water carefully and stir. Add 1 cup to start and then add the remaining 1/4 cup if needed. The mixture should be soft and should not stick to your hands if you touch it. If it is too dry, add a few more tablespoons of boiling water. If it is too sticky, add another tablespoon of flour. Dump the play dough out onto a cutting board and knead it a few times until it’s smooth. Then, you’re ready to play!
Break out the cookie cutters, rolling pin, play utensils and other fun play dough tools. A fun tool that Em loves? Chopsticks! She loves using them to poke holes and draw lines in the dough. This is sensory play at it’s best.
We keep our play dough in a Ziploc storage container in a kitchen drawer with all the tools she uses. The play dough will last for at least 6 months stored this way (without getting dry!), which means we’ll be able to enjoy these gingerbread smells til June!
Disclaimer: As with all of our recipes, my suggestions for how kids can help with a particular recipe are based on what has worked in our kitchen. Your child may be able to help more or less based on their age and/or ability. As always, make sure you are properly supervising kids in the kitchen.
Carol says
December 22, 2015 at 8:22 AMI can’t wait to make the gingerbread play dough for the grand kids for Christmas! Great recipe! Thanks Sally! Merry Christmas!
Carol says
December 22, 2015 at 3:38 PMHi Sally,
I tried to leave a comment this morning around 8AM but got glitched out on my end. Anyway, I plan to make the gingerbread play dough for or perhaps with the grandkids this Christmas. Merry Christmas and thanks again for creating this site and inspiring me and I’m sure many other people.. I look forward to reading your posts!
Sally says
December 23, 2015 at 2:06 PMHi Carol, I think your first comment did go through, but thank you for writing again. The play dough is really fun and I love that I know all of the ingredients that go into it! Merry Christmas to you as well!