Family Favorites: Mom's Coffee Cake

Here's a family favorite near and dear to my heart - my mom's coffee cake.  I'm pretty sure she would title this the same way, since my grandma used to make it when she was a kid, too.  Oh, how I love those recipes! 

 This one's even under my mom's name in our family cookbook - I believe the couple in the center of that picture are my Great-Great-Great Grandparents.  Pretty cool, huh?

My mom also made this all the time when I was growing up, and whether it was for breakfast or an after dinner snack, we absolutely loved it.  I can't even tell you how many times we got in trouble for picking off the crumb topping and eating it.  This past weekend I was able to take a personal day and make a 4-day weekend, so to celebrate the extra family time, I decided to make this for breakfast one morning.  Peanut was more than a little surprised by the idea of cake for breakfast!  Here's how generations of mamas in my family make it:

Mom's Coffee Cake

Ingredients:
- 1 c. sugar
- 5 T. shortening (my Mom always used butter-flavored Crisco)
- 1/2 t. salt
- 1 egg
- 3/4 c. milk
- 1 1/2 c. flour
- 1 1/2 t. baking powder
for the topping:
- 1/4 c. sugar
- 1/4 c. brown sugar
- 1 t. cinnamon
- 1 T. flour
- 2 T. cold butter

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Cream the sugar and shortening.  Add the salt.

(why did I do this step by hand again? 

who knows, it was early!)

2.  Beat egg well and add with milk, flour, and baking powder.

3.  Beat cake mixture with a mixer. (I decided to use my old hand mixer out of nostalgia - just like my mama!).  Pour into greased 8x8" pan.

4.  Combine all topping ingredients except the butter.  Cut butter into chunks and using a pastry blender, fork, or two knives (my mom uses knives but I can never get the hang of it - I use my pastry blender), cut butter into the topping ingredients until small clumps form.

5.  Sprinkle topping over the cake. Bake for 30 minutes.  Serve hot or cold.

before...

after baking! 

How pretty is that crumb topping?!

and that fluffy center?

printable recipe

Peanut wasn't sure what to think when we gave her cake for breakfast...

cake?  for breakfast? 

am I still sleeping?!

well, ok, I suppose I'll just dig in!

yep, I'm definitely getting away with something right now...

and I'm pretty happy about it!

love, love, love