Top mini cakes with your favorite fruit

Dear Recipe Doctor: I have a coffee house in my town that makes these lovely mini coffeecakes. They come in different flavors, too! I would like to know how to make these at home with a lower calorie recipe. Please help!

A. What a nice idea. You can make several different flavors of individual coffee cakes with one recipe. Say your friend Sally likes blueberries – blueberry coffee cake coming right up. And your husband is a sucker for anything apple – no problem.

We are keeping this light by using a small amount of a less fat (no trans fat) margarine for the topping and the batter (2 tablespoons in each). We added in some fat-free sour cream and buttermilk to compensate for some lost baking fat. You can even pump up the fiber by using half whole-wheat flour and half unbleached white flour. The fruit topping is completely up to you; you can use blueberries, chopped peaches, canned pie filling – or all of the above.

Individual Coffeecakes

If you want the coffe cakes to look like they came from a coffeehouse or cafe, just use 1 cup of white flour instead of 1/2 cup whole wheat and 1/2 cup white flour.

For the topping:

1/4 cup light or dark brown sugar

1/4 cup unbleached flour

Pinch of salt

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons less fat margarine (with 8 grams fat per tablespoon)

2 to 3 tablespoons oats

For the coffeecake batter:

2 tablespoons less fat margarine

1/2 cup sugar (a sugar blend with Splenda or Equal can be substituted)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 large egg

1/2 cup unbleached white flour

1/2 cup whole-wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup fat-free sour cream

2 tablespoons low-fat buttermilk (or 2 tablespoons fat-free half and half blended with 1/4 teaspoon vinegar and let stand for 5 minutes)

About 1/2 cup fruit of choice (frozen or fresh cranberries, dried cranberries, chopped apples or peaches, or apple or cherry pie filling from can)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line jumbo muffin pan with paper liners or spray pan with canola cooking spray.

Add the brown sugar, 1/4 cup flour, pinch of salt, and 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon to large mixing bowl (fitted with paddle attachment) and beat briefly to blend. Add the 2 tablespoons margarine and beat on low until crumb mixture forms. Work the oats in with your hands and pour into a small bowl and set aside.

Return mixing bowl to mixer and add the 2 tablespoons margarine, sugar and vanilla extract and beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat to combine, scraping sides of bowl.

Add the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon salt to a 4-cup measure and whisk to blend.

Add the flour mixture all at once to the mixing bowl along with the sour cream and buttermilk. Beat on low speed just until blended (scraping down the sides of bowl after five seconds).

Spoon a heaping 1/4 cup of batter into each jumbo muffin cup. Spoon a slightly heaping tablespoon of fruit topping in the center of each then sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the top.

Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until coffee cakes are lightly browned and top springs back after being pushed in slightly.

Yield: 6 individual coffee cakes

Nutrition information per serving: 260 calories, 5 grams fat (1 gram saturated, 17 percent fat calories), 6 grams protein, 50 grams carbohydrate, 36 milligrams cholesterol, 3 grams dietary fiber, 384 milligrams sodium.

Weight Watchers Points: 5