coffee cake

I’m not a coffee drinker.

Correction — I am not a real coffee drinker.

I like to have a cup of General Foods International Coffee in the morning and I will occasionally get “so sweet it might as well be a milkshake” iced coffee from the coffee shop when I justify the cost. And the calories.

In my mind, thought that’s not real coffee, though. Real coffee is brewed in a coffee pot with that distinct taste I never quite took a liking to. I figure if I didn’t start drinking coffee regularly when my kids were babies, it’s going to happen.

My husband isn’t a coffee guy, either. The only time we break out our old, cracked, coffee pot is when his mom visits. (Seriously, the coffee pot has a huge crack in it, but we can’t justify buying a new one when we use it three times a year — tops.)

Despite the lack of coffee drinking in my house, I love coffee cake. It’s an excuse to have cake for breakfast! Who wouldn’t get behind that?

COFFEE CAKE

For the topping, you need:

• 1/3 cup Bisquick
• 1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon (I like to add a bit more since I love cinnamon!)
• 2 tablespoons of margarine or butter

Mix the first three ingredients together. Then cut in the margarine with a fork or pastry blender until the mixture is crumbly.

For the batter you need:

• 2 cups of Bisquick
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 2/3 cup of milk
• 1 egg

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix all the batter ingredients together and spread in your prepared pan. Now sprinkle that with the Streusel topping. If you’d like, you can take a butter knife and zig-zag it through the topping for a marbled effect.

Pop it in the oven and bake it for 18 to 22 minutes. It should look golden brown on top when it’s done. Let it cool for just a few minutes so it will come out of the pan nicely. It is best eaten warm.