Blueberry Buttermilk Coffee Cake

Okay, so this is actually the second time I'm typing this. I somehow pressed the wrong key and the previous entry just vanished before my eyes. Yeah, figures. Anyway, would I be considered a recipe thief if I've borrowed more than one recipe from a good friend's blog? I actually kinda feel guilty for it. But in my defense, Melissa's got so many simple and delicious recipes on her blog, Love at First Bite, that I totally believe call out, "make me! make me!", every time I'm on her site. Check it out...you'll probably end up doing it too.

Apparently, Melissa made this for her family while on vacation and they totally devoured the whole thing--which was no different in my household. The only problem...there was only my sister and I to do the eating. Thankfully, we couldn't eat the whole thing, but if I had absolutely no control, I probably would have. But Melissa, thanks so much for introducing me to another great recipe, which she found from a Good Housekeeping magazine. I'm going to try your Spaghetti Pie recipe next!

Well, I knew I had blueberries waiting in the refrigerator to be used. Not surprisingly, they'd been in there long enough to have a small patch of mold developing in the bottom corner of the container. Yikes! Yuck! Conveniently, we have a Safeway less than half a mile down the road and Roz and I set out to get blueberries and buttermilk, which the recipe also calls for. Duh--Blueberry Buttermilk Coffee Cake! Correct me if I'm wrong, but blueberries must be out-of-season, because they weren't where they usually are in the produce section--next to the packaged strawberries and raspberries. Or maybe I was just losing my mind--who knows? That happens a lot! Highly disappointed, we set out to the freezer section to get frozen blueberries. We got enough of those and buttermilk to make another batch on the weekend and headed home.

The frozen blueberries, just slightly thawed, folded into the batter so easily. The batter was just so creamy and rich when we poured it into the pan and even more enticing when we scattered the streusel topping on. Yummy!

Oh my gosh! And when it came out, the smell was just heavenly. I can't even describe it! You're supposed to cool the cake for a while before digging in, but we couldn't help it. We totally just scooped ourselves out a generous serving.

This is seriously how much the two of us ate all by ourselves. I'm taking it to my mom's house before I head out to school, just so I'm not at home alone munching on it! I have my uncles coming back out to my house this weekend to finish up my fence. They're just going to love it to start out their morning! Here's the recipe and I do hope you enjoy it. Thanks again to Melissa for sharing this recipe!

Blueberry Buttermilk Coffee Cake

(from Good Housekeeping magazine)

Streusel Topping:

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

4 Tbsp. cold butter or margarine, cut up

Coffee Cake:

2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 and 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 and 1/4 cups granulated sugar

10 Tbsp. butter or margarine (1 and 1/4 sticks), softened

2 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 and 1/4 cups buttermilk

1 pint blueberries (about 2 and 1/2 cups)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 13" by 9" metal baking pan; dust with flour.

2. Prepare streusel topping: In medium bowl, combine brown sugar, flour and butter. With fingertips, work in butter until mixture is crumbly. Refrigerate streusel while preparing cake.

3. Prepare coffee cake: On waxed paper, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In large bowl, with mixer at low speed, beat sugar with butter until blended. Increase speed to medium-high; beat until creamy, about 2 minutes, frequently scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Reduce speed to low; add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.

4. At low speed, beat in flour mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat just until batter is smooth, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. With spatula, fold in all but 1/2 cup blueberries.

5. Spoon batter into prepared pan; spread evenly. Sprinkle batter with reserved blueberries. With fingers, press streusel into clumps; sprinkle evenly over batter. Bake coffee cake 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on wire rack 1 hour to serve warm, or cool completely to serve later.

Makes 16 servings.