NEW RELEASES
Grandma would be marginally proud
Remember how I told you my dad was staying with us this week? Well, I did and he is.
I drove him out to his house to check on stuff, because he was nervous about it. I drove him way the hell out there because I love his dogs–all 47 of them. Anyway, the house was fine. The dogs were fine. We left covered with hair. It was fabulous.
On the way home he wanted to stop for donuts to have in the morning. I didn’t want to stop for donuts. My brother is always trying to get him to eat more healthy. Besides that we feed him big dinners and such when he’s at our house, there’s still also always plenty of snacks too. Things aren’t working out exactly like they’re supposed to.
“I got Grandma Cook’s coffee cake recipe. How about if I make that instead?” I asked.
My grandma’s recipe is really, really yummy. It was always a really huge treat when she’d make a pan. The recipe has been running around in my aunt’s custody for years. I know my cousin has made it plenty of times. How hard could it be?
Oh, YUM!
I’m stupidly ambitious.
My aunt gave me notes and hints on how to improve the recipe. It calls for 1/2 the batter, then sugary topping, then batter, then more sugary topping. I followed her instructions about the batter being hard to spread cause it’s thick.
HO! She wasn’t kidding. I needed a trowel. And then spreading the batter on the second layer was damn near impossible. Impossible, I tell you. Sassy came in and offered rude and unhelpful advice. How does one smear half-set concrete over loose sand? I wanted to call my aunt, but it was late at night–too late to be making emergency cooking calls. I did my best and then shoved it in the oven with a “let’s see what happens” sort of attitude.
Turns out things went well! Who’d have thought. I’m sort of a disaster in the kitchen. Not sort of, I’m totally a disaster. Even under the best of circumstances something goes wrong. But this? This smelled incredible!
It came out looking gorgeous — exactly like Grandma’s. I’m certain it’s going to taste just as awesome!
Is midnight too late for coffee?
Cmon, you can’t give us a buildup like that and then not post the recipe.
G’ma Cook’s Coffee Cake
1/2 cup margarine (stick, not tub)—I use butter, because . . . it’s butter!! (duh!)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
Topping Mix:
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
Use a greased 11” x 7” dish. (Not a common size, but they do sell them.)
Mix the butter and sugar until creamy; add the eggs and stir until well mixed. Sift together all the dry ingredients, then mix into the butter mixture. Fold in the sour cream and vanilla and stir until well blended. Spread half the batter into the greased pan; top with half the topping mixture. Repeat with the remaining ingredients.
Aunt Debby’s notes: I use slightly less of the batter in the bottom, because it’s thick and hard to spread, especially while applying the second layer on top of the cinnamon sugar. I use slightly more than half of the sugar mixture on the bottom layer, though, because otherwise, I think it is too much loose sugar on the top after it’s baked, and I like the gooey center it creates.
Bake at 350° (325° for glass) for 35-40 minutes, but check it with a toothpick, because, in my experience, it never seems to be done in that amount of time.