A great way to begin the day...

When the sun starts peeking through the shades, one sometimes really needs to have a good reason to get out of bed. After an exhausting week, I wanted to make sure that at a certain someone would have enough energy to begin what will hopefully be a less-stressful Memorial Day weekend.

After being awoken at 5:30am by the smallest member of my family, who eventually fell back asleep, I (not as fortunate) decided to stay up and try out a recipe for Dutch Crumb Cake that's served at Clarendon's Liberty Tavern for brunch. (What else is there to do at that hour but bake?)

The fragrant aroma of cinnamon, butter and brown sugar baking in the oven filled every corner of our house, giving that someone the promise of a good start to the day, and he easily got out of bed this morning and made a quick beeline for the breakfast table.

Of course, adding a side of applewood smoked bacon to the crumb cake didn't hurt either. Everything's better with bacon, right?

Whether or not you have bacon, definitely give this recipe a whirl this weekend, especially if you need some coaxing to begin the day.

Dutch Crumb Cake
(Courtesy Liam Lacivita/The Liberty Tavern)

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/3 cup butter or shortening, diced
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla (optional)

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour an 8-inch round cake pan or similarly sized rectangle pan or baking dish.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and cinnamon. With the tips of your fingers, work fat into mixture until completely integrated. It's ok to see flakes of fat. Reserve 1/2 cup of this mixture for the topping, to be used later.

In a separate mixing bowl, combine egg, buttermilk, and baking soda. If using vanilla, add now.

Using a rubber spatula, fold wet ingredients into dry until well combined.

In a small bowl, combine brown sugar with the reserved flour mixture. Pour batter into pan. Top with crumb mixture and bake for about 45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out almost clean.

Coffee Cake: It's What for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner...

This is coffee cake that you can eat all day.  My husband Chris proved that to be true when I made it yesterday, even though I originally made it for breakfast.  But, the cold weather has arrived, bringing with it a need for sweets as he recently proclaimed with great enthusiasm, "Wintertime is upon us...let the excessive eating and weight gain begin!"  I guess I'm just trying to do my best to satiate his sweet tooth (and mine too).

Everyone needs a good coffee cake recipe, and this is about as good, and traditional, as they come.  Admittedly, I wished I could have just opened a coffee cake mix from a box yesterday morning since it would have been a bit quicker, but the result was definitely worth the effort!  (I mean, who has time to let butter soften before breakfast???  I ended up putting the stick of butter in the microwave for a few seconds to speed up the process.)  And yes, Chris ended up eating this for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, along with some "regular" food here and there.  Hope you enjoy this as much as he did!

Very Best Coffee Cake
(Courtesy of Cheryl Bartel, as found in "Favorite Recipes from Quilters")

Ingredients:

Cake
3/4 cup sugar
8 T. margarine or butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup sour cream

Streusel Filling
1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 tsp. cinnamon
3 T. margarine or butter, melted

Method:
Cream together the sugar and margarine in a mixer.  Add vanilla and eggs.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Add this flour mixture to the creamed mixture, alternating with the sour cream.  Begin and end with the flour mixture.

In a small bowl, combine all filling ingredients and mix well.

Spread half of the batter into a greased and floured 10-inch tube pan (I used an 11"x7"x1.5" pan - see adjusted baking time below if you go this route).  Sprinkle with half of the filling and repeat layers.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  (I baked mine for 50 minutes using the different sized pan than the recipe called for.)