Pumpkin Pecan Gingersnap coffee cake

This is a pretty intense coffee cake.. a pumpkin "cake" base with a streusel topping made of ginger snap cookies and tossed with pecans. 

I had no gingersnap cookies on hand so I reached for my holiday gingerbread cookies, even though they were frosted with a lemon and powder sugar icing I crushed them all up and this went into my strusel. 

Here is the original recipe but some adjustments that I will make next time around is to not put the layer of streusel in the middle of the cake, it just seems to merge with the cake and make it dense.  I would maybe make half of the amount in total and just put it over top as it was enough to cover it generously.

The recipe called for almond milk, I just happened to have some on hand from some of the holiday vegan recipes so I used that up - I'm sure milk would be fine. 

Recipe adjusted slightly from Ambitious Kitchen

Brown Butter Pumpkin Coffee Cake topped with Gingersnap Pecan Streusel

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

3 cups flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 tespoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup milk 

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin puree)

3 tablespoons plain greek yogurt or sour cream

For topping:

1 cups gingersnap cookies

1/4 cup of flour

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup  cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks

pinch of salt

3/4 cup chopped pecans

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9×13 baking pan lined with parchment.

To make the streusel:

In a blender or food processor, add the gingersnaps and pulse until they resemble fine crumbs.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, crumbs, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Add the cold butter pieces to the bowl and cut with a pastry cutter or rub together with your fingers until the mixture resembles a crumble texture. Stir in the pecans and set aside.

To make the batter:

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. The butter will begin to foam. Make sure you whisk consistently during this process. After a couple of minutes, the butter will begin to brown on the bottom of the saucepan; continue to whisk and remove from heat as soon as the butter begins to brown and give off a nutty aroma. Remove from heat and immediately transfer the butter to a bowl to prevent burning. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.

In a medium bowl whisk together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.

In a separate large bowl, whisk the milk, eggs, yolk, and vanilla together until combined. Whisk in the brown butter until combined. Fold in the pumpkin and yogurt. Gently stir in the flour mixture. The batter will be thick.

Spread the batter in the prepared pan. Generously sprinkle streusel over the batter.

Bake about 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and cool for 10-15 minutes.