Blueberry coffee cake

A morning treat like Grandma made

When I was little and my family went up north to Bayfield every year, my grandma always made blueberry coffee cake with a brown sugar crumble topping for breakfast. With Grandma no longer with us, I took it upon myself to carry on the tradition. But when I asked my mom about the recipe, I was in for quite a shock: Grandma's coffee cake came from a box! Determined to ditch the box, I searched for a blueberry coffee cake recipe to build upon. I found a winner that, once tweaked, would make Grandma (and her box mix) proud.

 - - - - - - -

BLUEBERRY COFFEE CAKE 

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
CAKE
1/2 cup butter
1 and 1/3 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups buttermilk 
4 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 cups blueberries (I used frozen)

CRUMBLE TOPPING
1 and 1/3 cups flour
1 and 1/3 cups packed brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
12 TBS butter, softened

WHAT YOU'LL DO:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 x 13-inch pan. Sift together 4 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

2. In a large bowl, cream together 1/2 cup butter with 1 and 1/3 cups brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Beat in flour mixture, alternating with buttermilk, until just combined. Stir in blueberries (it's okay if some bleed into the batter). Pour batter into prepared pan.

3. For the crumble topping: Combine 1 and 1/3 cups flour, 1 and 1/3 cups packed brown sugar, and 1 tsp cinnamon. Cut in 12 TBS butter until the mixture resembles course crumbs. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the top of the batter. Bake in preheated oven for 40 to 60 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

- - - - - - -

When I made this coffee cake up north, we didn't have electric beaters -- so I whisked everything by hand. I was amazed at how perfect it turned out, so I can only imagine how divine the cake would be with all the proper tools on hand!

P.S. Idea for next time: Lemon zest.