Chase Freedom Rewards 5x Grocery Bonus Sunday Brunch: Pumpkin Coffee Cake

Welcome to the fifth in our Chase Freedom / Trader Joe's series of maximizing Chase Ultimate Rewards points using the Chase Freedom card and Chase Exclusives while eating well for less. Here are the past posts:

We're now up to $880 in spend via 16 transactions. With Chase Exclusives, that equates to:

880 base points

3520 bonus points (4x, on top of 1x base)

88 as 10% bonus on 880 base

160 for 10 bonus points for each of 16 transactions

4648 Total

As we wrote earlier this week, you can currently Get Over 7x Points Everywhere with the Ink Bold and Staples, so you could even do better than the 5x back if you have the Ink Bold and buy Staples gift cards through the Ultimate Rewards Mall.

Today's brunch, Pumpkin Coffee Cake, is an ideal fall and holiday brunch, but my family enjoys pumpkin so much that we make it year round. If you don't have pumpkin, you could substitute mashed sweet potato or even banana–both substitutions will still go well with chocolate chips and cherries, although you could also simply use raisins, currants, pecans and/or walnuts if you don't have or don't care for chocolate chips and cherries. While you could substitute flour for the almond meal, it won't yield as tender or moist a cake.

Here's the lowdown on the cost, points, prep time and shopping list:

Cost: ~$7 for the coffee cake (prorated cost of ingredients used)

UR Points:

Only 56 points for the prorated $7 spent on two transactions, at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods; but see our total UR points above for total earned to date on grocery spend of $880

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Total baking time: ~35 minutes

Shopping List, Pumpkin Coffee Cake

1 15 oz. can of organic pumpkin (available Oct.-Dec at Trader Joe's, or year-round at Whole Foods)
Trader Joe's pumpkin pie spice (available Oct.-Dec at Trader Joe's, or year-round at Whole Foods)
Trader Joe's almond meal
Trader Joe's dried pitted Montmorency cherriesh
Trader Joe's brown sugar
Trader Joe's pecan pieces
Trader Joe's Presidents Reserve olive oil
Trader Joe's white whole wheat flour
Trader Joe's cage free eggs
Trader Joe's European style nonfat yogurt
Trader Joe's bourbon vanilla extract
Dark chocolate chips (I used Ghiradelli double chocolate)

Pumpkin Coffee Cake (makes a 9″ x 9″ cake)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease bottom of nonstick 9×9 pan

Combine 1 cup almond meal, 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 cup olive oil with a fork in a mixing bowl, until crumb-like.

Chase Freedom Rewards 5x Grocery Bonus Sunday Brunch: Pumpkin Coffee Cake

Remove 1/2 cup of the above mixture, mix in an extra 1/2 t. pumpkin pie spice and add 1/3 cup pecan pieces; reserve for topping

In blender, blend 1/4 cup plain yogurt, 3/4 cup water, 1 cup pumpkin, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 t. baking powder and 1 t. baking soda

Pour blender mixture into almond meal/flour mixture and blend on medium speed until thoroughly combined (do not overbeat).

Fold in 1/2 cup dried cherries and 1/3 cup chocolate chips, then spread in pan, leveling with spatula.

Sprinkle reserved crumb mixture over top and bake until center of cake tests done with a skewer, ~35-40 minutes (ovens vary, so check at 35 min. to avoid overbaking).