Cherry Coffee Cake

What is your Christmas morning tradition? When I was a little girl we used to all go to my Grandma "P''s house...she had a huge farm house. Us kids would some times sleep right next to the fully lit and decorated Christmas tree, even though there were enough rooms and beds for all of us I remember waking up in the middle of the night staring at the pretty colorful  lights. Grandma always had the multicolored lights - the more colorful, the better. If we didn't wake up first, my Aunt D would come in checking on us kids to see if we were up yet. I think she was just as excited about the days festivities as us kids were! She's fun and super cool like that...still is! So, once Aunt D and us kids were up at around 5 am, we ran around the house gathering everyone else from bed. Still in our jammies we'd all pile into the living room around the tree and start opening gifts. Aunt D delivering the gifts to the kids and Uncle F with his camera. As soon as we were done, Grandma would head to the kitchen and begin her baking and cooking breakfast...well, as soon as coffee was on! We'd get to play with our toys and Aunts and Uncles until someone grab a bite to eat.

I love this tradition and we carry it on as much as we can in my home. One small difference. I want to spend the morning playing and not in the kitchen, so I usually make my well known cinnamon rolls ahead of time and then warm them up or made this Christmas Coffee Cake the night before. This year I'm making Cherry Coffee Cake. My mom used to make a Cherry Coffee Cake similar to this when I as a kid. It was a hit then and it's a hit today!

CHERRY COFFEE CAKE
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 Tbl butter, frozen
2 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
1 can cherry pie filling
1 tsp vanilla
Topping:
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup chopped walnuts
5 Tbl butter, frozen
2 tsp cinnamon

Heat oven to 350. Grease 9x13 pan. In a mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, and baking powder. Grate in butter and mix until it looks kinda crumbly. In a small bowl beat buttermilk, eggs and vanilla. Stir milk mixture into flour mixture until just moistened. It will be lumpy. Spread into the pan. Spoon the cherry pie filling evenly over the top.

Mix brown sugar, flour, oatmeal and cinnamon in a bowl. Grate butter into the mixture and toss until it resembles coarse crumbs. Mix in walnuts and sprinkle over the cherries. Bake for about 30 minutes.
Serve warm and enjoy!

Warmly,
Mary