Butternut Squash Cinnamon Crumb Coffee Cake #Halloween

LUCY BURDETTE: This isn’t exactly a Halloween recipe, but I did make it for you for Halloween week! It’s chock full of fall flavors including roasted butternut squash. (An ulterior motive was wanting to use as much of the squash from the garden as possible.) You could change it up by substituting canned pumpkin for the squash. Definitely decorate with candy corn when you serve, maybe with some pumpkin ice cream? 

For the crumbs:

1/4 cup unsalted butter (1/2 stick)

1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup oats

½ cup dark brown sugar, packed

1 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt

Melt the butter. Stir in the remaining ingredients and set aside while you make the cake.

Ingredients for the cake

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 cup mashed cooked butternut squash

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Beat in mashed squash and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Stir this into the squash mixture. 

Grease a springform pan. Spread half of the batter into the pan, cover with applesauce and then half the crumbs. 

Top with the remaining batter, followed by the rest of the crumbs. 

Bake at 350 for about 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry. 

Allow the cake to cool for 10-15 minutes before removing the sides of the pan.

A DISH TO DIE FOR is now available wherever books are sold!

About A Dish to Die For (#12 in the Key West food critic mystery series):

Peace and quiet are hard to find in bustling Key West, so Hayley Snow, food critic for Key Zest magazine, is taking the afternoon off for a tranquil lunch with a friend outside of town. As they are enjoying the wild beach and the lunch, she realizes that her husband Nathan’s dog, Ziggy, has disappeared. She follows his barking, to find him furiously digging at a shallow grave with a man’s body in it. Davis Jager, a local birdwatcher, identifies him as GG Garcia, a rabble-rousing Key West local and developer. Garcia was famous for over-development on the fragile Keys, womanizing, and refusing to follow city rules—so it’s no wonder he had a few enemies.

 When Davis is attacked in the parking lot of a local restaurant after talking to Hayley and her dear friend, the octogenarian Miss Gloria, Hayley is slowly but surely drawn into the case. Hayley’s mother, Janet, has been hired to cater GG’s memorial service reception at the local Woman’s Club, using recipes from their vintage Key West cookbook—and Hayley and Miss Gloria sign on to work with her, hoping to cook up some clues by observing the mourners.

But the real clues appear when Hayley begins to study the old cookbook, as whispers of old secrets come to life, dragging the past into the present—with murderous results.

Kirkus Reviews said: 

“Key West food critic Hayley Snow proves once again that she understands crime as well as cuisine. A suitably steamy background for a complex tale of murder and deceit.” 

Escape with Dollycas said:

 "All the characters Ms. Burdette has created are strong and gain depth in every new story. When she introduces a new character she gives just enough background and allows that character to evolve over the course of the story and beyond if they return in another book.

The mystery was complex but I was really drawn to the vintage cookbook, notes, and diary aspect of the story even before I realized their relevance. Soon I was totally engrossed by the story. The well-plotted storylines, the descriptions of the fragile Keys, and all the glorious food. Lucy Burdette is a wonderful storyteller and again her talent shines in A Dish to Die For.

I love catching up with these characters. I am always entertained by their daily lives and the drama that always seems to find them. I am excited to see where the author takes her character next."

 A DISH TO DIE FOR is now available wherever books are sold