Yummy Yam Praline Coffee Cake – Easy Mother’s Day Brunch

By Holly Clegg –

With May here and summer fast-approaching, I’m sure your calendar is filled with tons of important dates. Graduations, family reunions, and Mother’s Day are just a few of the popular May celebrations. One of my favorite ways to entertain for these special occasions is to prepare a wonderful, stress-free brunch. Whether you’re celebrating Mother’s Day or enjoying the arrival of spring, my simple recipes will entice your taste buds and impress your guests. And don’t worry’ no one ever said brunch meant spending an entire morning in the kitchen. After all, the purpose of brunch is to sit down and delight in your company.

I understand your days are extremely busy, so when a special occasion rolls around, you don’t have all day to cook. The best brunch recipes are those you can make ahead of time to surprise your family the next morning. And this time-saving dish is nutritious, delicious and my personal favorite, Yummy Yam Praline Coffee Cake (made with Louisiana yams, of course!). Best of all, you can prepare these dishes whenever you have time, freeze them, and pull them out when it’s time to “wow” your company!

I have gathered a few more terrific tips to make your next brunch celebration a simple, delicious, and memorable morning-to-afternoon meal.

• Buy pre-made fruit trays from the grocery store. They are effortless and appetizing, and will keep you trim and terrific!
• Serve smoothies in small glasses on a tray or platter as a starter.
• Wrap forks in cloth or paper napkins and tie with ribbon ahead of time. One convenience of a brunch menu is that a fork is often the only utensil your guests will need!
• Fresh Louisiana yams or canned yams may be used for the coffee cake. One medium sweet potato (Louisiana yam) equals one cup mashed.

Yummy Yam Praline Coffee Cake
This melt-in-your mouth coffeecake starts with a time-honored family pantry staple, biscuit baking mix. My personal favorite recipe — love the naturally sweet yams with the tart cranberries.

Makes 16 servings

2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons light brown sugar, divided
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 1/2 cups biscuit baking mix
1 (15-ounce) can sweet potatoes, drained and mashed or 1 cup mashed Louisiana yams (sweet potatoes)
1/3 cup skim milk 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/4 cup dried cranberries

1. Preheat oven 400°F. Coat 9x9x2-square baking pan with nonstick baking spray.
2. In bottom of prepared pan, mix together butter, 1/2 cup brown sugar and corn syrup. Spread mixture evenly in pan. Sprinkle with pecans.
3. In large mixing bowl, beat together biscuit baking mix, sweet potatoes, and milk until dough forms a ball. Turn dough onto surface heavily dusted with baking mix and roll or pat into 12-inch long rectangle.
4. In small bowl, combine remaining 3 tablespoons brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle brown sugar mixture and cranberries evenly over dough. Roll up dough jellyroll style from longer side. Cut crosswise into one-inch pieces and arrange sitting on top of the pecan mixture in pan. Dough will spread when baking.
5. Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and immediately run knife around sides and invert onto serving plate, scraping any brown sugar mixture from pan to top cake.

Nutritional information per serving:
Calories 184 Calories from fat 30% Fat 6g Saturated Fat 2g Cholesterol 4mg Sodium 254mg Carbohydrate 31g Dietary Fiber 1g Sugars 16g Protein 2g Dietary Exchanges: 1 starch, 1 other carbohydrate, 1 fat

Spicy Advice: Don’t let this dough intimidate you as it’s so easy to work with- can pat out with hands!
Recipe from Holly Clegg’s trim&TERRIFIC Too Hot in the Kitchen: Secrets to Sizzle At Any Age
Holly Clegg, author of the best selling trim&TERRIFIC® cookbook series, includes the newly released women’s lifestyle cookbook, Too Hot in the Kitchen: Secrets to Sizzle at Any Age, in addition to the specialized trim&TERRIFIC® Diabetic Cooking and Eating Well Through Cancer. With 1 million copies sold, Holly has promoted her healthy lifestyle recipes on national shows including Fox & Friends, NBC Weekend Today, and The 700 Club. Recently, she has partnered with Walmart to help them develop healthful and affordable meal solutions with cooking videos on www.walmart.com/greatvalue She understands the demands of the busy person and with her user friendly, pantry friendly, and time friendly cookbooks, she has garnered a national reputation as the healthy “Queen of Quick!” For more information, visit www.hollyclegg.com or http://thehealthycookingblog.com/.