twelve days of christmas baking: day five

I am totally behind with this project because of our little jaunt to Utah so I am going to have to double up on my recipes for a few days. I hope you won't mind. I don't think you will. The following recipe is a staple item on our table every Christmas morning. I can't remember a Christmas without it. My mom used to wake up super early to start the coffee cake and warm water for hot chocolate. Oh how I loved waking up to the smell of cinnamon and chocolate. I am grateful my mom taught me how to make this because now I wake up before Tim and our peanuts and quietly bake this scrumptious treat every Christmas. Here's my mom's coffee cake:

Day Five: Kathy's Coffee Cake

Cake
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. shortening
2 eggs
1 c. sour cream or milk (I always use sour cream, but if you don't have any, milk is fine.)
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Topping
1/4 c. sugar
1/3 c. brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Cream together sugar, shortening, eggs and sour cream or milk. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix well. Add dry mixture to wet mixture. Mix well. Put 1/2 batter in greased 8x8 pan. Cover with 1/2 topping. Spread the rest of the batter over topping in pan and sprinkle the remaining topping on top. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.


(I can't stress enough how important it is to mix the dry and wet mixtures in separate bowls. I used to think it was more important to save dishes rather than follow the recipes that asked me to do this, but I have since learned that the recipes work so much better if done the correct way.)