Celebrating Change: Gluten-Free Cherry Coffee Cake

This post is sponsored by Lucky Leaf, however all opinions expressed are my own.

Gluten-Free Cherry Coffee Cake is a perfect treat for breakfast or dessert!

As you may have noticed it has been a little quiet here at Nel’s Nook (insert cricket chirping here).   There has been a lot going on in my offline world and quite frankly blogging just got set to the back burner.  But the lots going on in my offline world means a few changes around here – hopefully they will be good changes – they are real, honest, sometimes messy changes but I think it will make for good conversation.
The biggest change is that I have completely eliminated gluten and almost eliminated grains from my diet.  I know there has been a lot of talk lately about how it is not necessary to be gluten-free.  I cannot speak for anybody but myself but I can tell you that it is necessary for me.  I will tell you the whole story at another time.  

If you have been here long you know I love developing new recipes and my specialty is desserts.  I have gone back and forth on what to do for the blog.  I could keep doing the same thing - lots of sweet treats - but that's not really my life anymore and I don't do the whole pretending thing very well.  So I decided to keep blogging but with some changes.  There will still be recipes - gluten-free recipes, grain-free recipes, low carb/sugar recipes - but I am gonna throw in a smattering of whatever else comes about. 

So today we are celebrating change!  Change is uncomfortable and messy but totally necessary.  I want this to be a space where people can be their real, true, honest selves.  No pretending that life is perfect or that we don’t get stressed out – you will see my successes and failures and there will be real, not always full of sunshine, conversations.  My biggest hope is that you stick around  and join the conversation because it won't be the same without you!  

To celebrate I made cake - coffee cake to be exact.  Yes, it is completely gluten-free and still yummy - even my not gluten-free friends loved it!  To celebrate summer (my favorite change every year!) Lucky Leaf kindly gifted me with a sample pack of pie fillings and a fantastic Rachael Ray Oven Lovin' Cake Pan.  I love using Lucky Leaf pie fillings so I was so excited to find out they are gluten-free! 

Gluten-Free Cherry Coffee Cake
Nut Mixture:
0.5 cup Pecans
0.5 cup Walnuts
0.75 cup Gluten-Free Oats (I used Bob's Red Mill)
0.5 teaspoon Cinnamon
2 tablespoons Brown Sugar
2 tablespoons Butter, melted

Cake:
1.5 cups Gluten-Free Baking Mix (I used Pamela's)
2 eggs
0.5 cup Butter, melted
2 teaspoons Vanilla
2 tablespoons Brown Sugar
2 cans of Lucky Leaf Cherry Pie Filling

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a food processor, blend together the pecans, walnuts, oats, cinnamon, and brown sugar.  Set aside.  Don't add the melted butter yet! 

In a mixing bowl, combine the baking mix, eggs, butter, vanilla, and brown sugar.  Mix gently until combined - do not over mix.  Fold in 0.5 cup of the nut mixture to the batter.  

Spread cake batter evenly into your pan.  Spoon the pie filling over the cake batter.  Gently spread the pie filling if needed, careful not to mix the pie filling and cake batter together too much.

Add the melted butter to the nut mixture to create a crumble.  Spread the nut mixture over the pie filling.  

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until you can insert a toothpick into the cake and batter is not present.  

You can enjoy this coffee cake warm or cold! 

I want to hear from you:  How do you deal with change?  Have you ever made a drastic change in your diet or other area of your life?  What was the biggest challenge you faced?

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