Deb's Easy Coffee Cake

I adapted this recipe from Aunt Anne's Coffee Cake on allrecipes.com.  I've never made her exact recipe and am sure it's delicious.  What stopped me was the little instruction that said to cut in the butter.  I was pressed for time and had no desire to cut in butter.  I wanted a coffee cake that was quick and easy to put together and that had great taste.  The one I came up with fits my morning time constraints.

Prep time - 10 minutes or less
Cook time - 30 minutes

2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3/4 cup milk (more if needed)
3/4 cup applesauce
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Topping:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup brown sugar (no need to pack or level)
2-3 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 cup butter - partially melted
Pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease 8x11 inch pan with baking spray or flower/oil combo.  (I use an 8x11 pan and get a 1" thick slice of coffee cake.  A 9x13 will net a thinner slice and you will need to adjust the cooking time.)
3. Add  flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt to a bowl.  Stir with fingers to combine.
4. In a 2 cup measuring cup, add egg.  Add enough milk to go up to the 1 cup mark. Then add 3/4 of applesauce and vanilla.  Stirl to combine and break up the egg.
5. Add milk mixture to the flour mixture.
6. Stir until just combined and pour into the bowl.
7. Add 1/4 butter to a small bowl.  Place in the oven to allow to soften/partially melt.
8. While it's in the oven, combine flour, brown sugar and salt in a small bowl.  Mix with fingers until combined.
9. When the butter is ready, pour it over the sugar mixture.  Use your fingers to mix butter through evenly.  If the crumbs are broken apart to much, squeeze handfuls of the brown sugar mixture to make larger crumbles.
10. Place 1/2 to 3/4 of mix over the batter.  Use a knife to do a light swirl pattern through the topping.  
11. Place in the oven for 25 minutes.  Pull it out of the oven and add the additional topping.  Cook for 5 more minutes.
12. Pull out of the oven and let it sit for 10 minutes.  Cut and serve.

The reason I love this is because it is extremely quick and easy.  While other recipes have a better crumb texture, I have yet to find one that beats this recipe when it comes to time involved. And for our family of five (soon to be six), quick but tasty recipes are a life saver!  I can have this in the oven in less than 10 minutes.  You can't beat that for a homemade breakfast!

Also, be sure to put the vanilla into the batter.  I forgot it this morning and I realized that something was missing right away.  It doesn't make it bad, but it's a little flat in the flavor complexity department without vanilla!