Yummy Dessert!

Dark Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Coffee Cake

I have been searching for dark chocolate chips for the longest time. Being that there have been so many studies that have shown dark chocolate to be good for you (in moderation) why wouldn't they have dark chocolate chips for baking? I even looked for dark chocolate baking bars, figuring I would either shave the chocolate or chop it. Then finally, I came across just what I was looking for.

I was so excited to finally see these in a store, I couldn't care less how I was going to use them. I looked for a recipe that would be worthy of a holiday dessert and found the following recipe which I altered to include the dark chocolate chips.

This recipe is a little hard to spread, the dough is quite thick but the cake is moist and it is a chocolate lovers dream! Not too much chocolate- just enough. The cinnamon gives it a nice touch also! I made this in a large pan (8x13).

Ingredients
1/2 cup softened butter
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream (I used fat-free)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour ( you could mix whole wheat and all-purpose)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour a 9x13 pan
In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and soda. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and 1 cup of the sugar. I did this by hand with a wooden spoon. If the butter is soft enough, it will be no problem.
Add the eggs, sour cream and vanilla and mix well.
Add the flour mixture and combine well.
The batter WILL be thick.
In a small bowl, combine the chocolate chips, 1/4 cup of sugar and cinnamon. This is your filling.
Using a rubber spatula, spread half of the cake batter in the pan. This will be tough, it does not need to be evenly spread-just make sure it covers the bottom of the pan.
Spread half of the chocolate chip mixture on top. Use a spoon or all the sugar and cinnamon will be left in the bowl.
Top this with the remaining batter. You can drop it by spoonfuls and spread it - not worrying about covering all the chocolate.
Finish off with sprinkling the remaining chocolate topping over the batter.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Allow to cool before cutting into pieces. Absolutely delicious!