A moment of silence, please, for one of the greatest recipes on Earth.



Thank you.

I admit I find it difficult to post this recipe to my blog. A family favorite--from my Auntie Nunu--I feel like I am betraying her by posting this in such a public place as the internet. However, there is something to be said for sharing, and I often give this one to friends who ask for it, so I shed a small tear and get to typing. If you ever find yourself on this entry in my blog don't leave it without writing this one down and trying it for yourself. I don't exaggerate when I tell you this one is great.

Canadian Coffee Cake
From Auntie Nunu

Blend the following ingredients like pie crust:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt

Remove 1 cup of mixture for topping. Add:

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup sour cream
  

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
  
• Grease bottom of a 13" x 9" pan only.
  
• Sprinkle with chopped walnuts (2 cups).
• Pour batter over nuts.
• Sprinkle with topping.
• Bake 30 minutes.

Elegant in its simplicity, you may find the instructions a tad on the laconic side. So I will elaborate some of the steps starting with "blending like a pie crust." For this step you need a tool called a pastry cutter, pictured in the bowl to the left, or a fork and a very strong arm. The butter goes in cold and you use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into very small pieces into the rest of the ingredients. The picture shows the finished product. The butter is in very small, less than pea-sized bits.

From here you remove one cup of the mixture and set it aside because you will use it as a topping for the coffee cake just before it goes into the oven.

After reserving 1 cup for the topping, add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl and stir with a wooden spoon. It will be very thick but it should all come together. If it's not, add a couple teaspoons of milk or half & half just to get everything wet.

Grease the bottom of your pan and sprinkle enough chopped walnuts to cover the bottom. You can leave this out if you either don't have any walnuts or don't like nuts in your coffee cake.

Gently pour the batter over the nuts being careful not to push all the nuts to one side. Since the batter is very thick, I usually just drop it on top in three or four large blobs and then use a spatula to gently push it into the corners.

Take the topping you set aside aftrer step 1 and sprinkle it evenly over the top of the batter. I just do the best I can by shaking it out from a small bowl. Once it's all on, I shake the pan from left to right to even it out. This is, for me, an easy step to forget and I have been known to remove a half baked coffee cake to add the topping. It's one you don't want to forget.

Thats' it, just put it in the oven and bake until a wooden toothpick comes out clean. Let it cool enough not to burn your mouth and enjoy what is undoubtably one of the greatest pleasures on Earth.

A few other things: I always use light sour cream and if you want to be even healthier with a cake that has 2 cups of sugar in it, go a head and use plain yogurt. The recipe also calls for dark brown sugar, which is best, but in a pinch if all you have is light brown sugar, my Auntie Nunu and I will overlook it.

p.s. I have no idea why this is called "Canadian" coffee cake, but it is.

p.p.s Want to make friends at work? Bring this and share.