Christmas Coffee Cake

Up until this year, I have always gone back home for the holidays.  This year was different.  We now have a 1 year old and want to start some traditions of our own.  One of which is for him to wake up in his own home on Christmas morning at least every other year.  So, this was the first year in 30 years I was away from my parents on Christmas morning...

It took me a long while to grasp the idea of not waking up on a cold snowy morning to my mom's sausage and egg casserole baking in the oven, the smell of my dad's coffee brewing, and my sister a few feet from me in the next room.

However, once I accepted the fact that I am a grown-up now and married with a family of my own, I thought of how exciting it would be to create new unique traditions that we can do here to celebrate the season knowing that every other year, we can still share the old ones together up there.

Then I realized, I had got to do all the cooking!

So, I started out by making a list of what we would have for each meal.  Then, I decided which of them I would make and which I would buy pre-made.

Christmas Eve Dinner
Turkey
Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans
Stuffing
Gravy

Christmas Morning
Sausage and Egg Casserole
Coffee Cake
Fruit

Christmas Dinner
Beef Wellington
Roasted Fingerling Potatoes
Glazed Carrots
Rolls

A big thanks to Fresh Market for helping me with all of the Christmas Eve Dinner items so I could make the rest on my own.  I did the grocery run on Sunday, then made the Coffee Cake on Monday, the breakfast casserole on Tuesday, and the Beef Wellington on Wednesday.  Oh yeah and I made some Vanilla Maple Cookies in there too which I'll share with you soon!  I'll spare you bloody, flaky, and wet details of making Tyler Florence's Beef Wellington but I will say things were great until it was time to eat.  It tasted great and the fam liked it, but it could have cooked longer and didn't turn out very pretty...

Anyway, on to the star of this post...the Coffee Cake!  My mom always buys a coffee cake from a place nearby to enjoy on Christmas.  It is one of the highlights of the morning for me.  So, I made one to have here this year.  Isn't she a beauty?!

Here is how to make it:

Coffee Cake

Ingredients:

For the Cake:

1 stick butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 cup sour cream

For the Topping:

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup pecan pieces

1 Tablespoon cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a small bowl, combine the topping ingredients and set aside.

In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.  Add the eggs.  In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, and baking powder together.  Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and combine.  Add half of the sour cream and mix.  Add the rest of the sour cream and mix.  Spoon half of the batter into a well-greased bundt pan.  Sprinkle half of the topping mixture on the batter.  Then add the remaining batter and sprinkle with the remaining topping.  Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.

Enjoy!