The Christmas Coffee Cake that I bake every year and that is an annual Christmas-morning-in-between-opening-presents-tradition had to be moved up on the calendar this year. I couldn’t let Don leave for California without a few warm yummy pieces of coffee cake in his tummy. So I baked it on Saturday, put it in the refrigerator overnight (this step is essential) and warmed it up on Sunday morning. And again this morning.
Best coffee cake ever.
I only make it once a year. We decided it must be this way. Otherwise, it would no longer be special.
The story of the coffee cake: When we were living in California, we used to shop a lot at Whole Foods. (I’d still shop there a lot if one was nearby. Sob.) One day, I grabbed a free holiday recipes booklet at the checkout and took it home to peruse. This particular recipe looked promising, so I made it for Christmas morning.
A huge winner.
We couldn’t believe how yummy it was, how moist (due to lots of sour cream), how perfectly perfect it was. Our annual tradition began that day. Fast forward a few years. We moved to New York. As I got things ready for that first Christmas out East, I realized two things. We had inadvertently put all the boxes of Christmas ornaments in storage (all decorations that year came from the local drug store) and I couldn’t find this recipe. Anywhere. I looked through all my cook books. I scoured every box in the eaves. I looked everywhere. Nothing.
In a panic, I emailed Whole Foods. I explained my situation and what booklet I thought the recipe had been in and asked if they had a record of it somewhere. The lady I was in contact with looked everywhere. She had no record of it.
I explained to Don that there would be no coffee cake this year. There was disbelief on his part. On mine, too.
I resigned myself to finding something else, though I knew it could never be as special, as tasty, as magical. A few weeks later, I got an email from that same lady. She had been cleaning out some shelves and, lo and behold, there was the booklet. She kindly copied the recipe for me and sent it my way. I’ve hung onto it for dear life ever since.
We’ll have another piece this morning and then, later today, I take Don to the airport. He’ll be gone for two months.
Scoutie and I will miss him terribly. She adores Don. So do I.
It’s going to be a little glum around here for a few days.
Happy Monday.
