Lynn's Christmas Coffee Cake

My friend, Lynn (the one who gave me that adorable snowman ornament), shared with me her special Christmas Coffee Cake that she makes for her family every Christmas. She told me it was delicious and that her family always looked forward to her making it. So I thought I'd try it. Since I don't work with yeast very much, Lynn gave me very simple directions that were easy to follow so I wouldn't kill the yeast. So, I'm going to give you those same directions (word for word) that she gave me, because the coffee cake turned out delicious! I took the first bite and thought, "Umm, this is good." Then took the 2nd bite and before I knew it, I had already eaten 3 pieces--IT WAS THAT GOOD! As a matter of fact, I can't wait to make it again. I even asked my son-in-law, Jason, who teaches early morning seminary to the youth at church, if he'd like me to make one for his class. Let's see--he has 14 kids--I can cut the cake into 24 pieces and if I give him 15 pieces so he can have one too, then there will be 9 pieces for me! Yep, that will work! Enjoy!

Lynn's Christmas Coffee Cake

1. Heat 1 cup of milk and pour it over 1/2 cup shortening in a large mixing bowl. The shortening will melt some but it doesn't have to melt completely.

2. In another bowl, mix together 4 1/2 cups white all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 cup sugar.

3. Add flour mixture to milk and shortening. DO NOT STIR YET!

4. Beat 2 eggs and pour them into the bowl with the flour/milk mixture. DO NOT STIR YET!

5. In a small bowl, mix together one package of dry yeast, 1/2 cup lukewarm water (100 - 110 degrees F--I use a candy thermometer--and I did too) and 1 teaspoon sugar. Stir to dissolve sugar and yeast.

6. Add yeast mixture to the bowl.

7. Mix all ingredients together. I uses my Kitchen Aid mixer (wish I had one!) with the bread hook, but before i had that, I just used a wooden spoon. I used the wooden spoon and it worked great! But I'd still like a mixer--hint, hint--in case anyone in the family is reading this :-)

8. Spread dough into a greased 9 x 13 pan. Spread softened butter on it. And that's what I did, I spread butter in pan. But I found out that I needed to spread the butter on top of the dough and I could use the cooking spray for the pan..

9. Cover with a clean dry dishtowel and let rise in a warm place. This will take a while--an hour or more. It took more than an hour and it didn't seem to want to rise for me. Sometimes I put a bowl or a pan of very hot water on the lowest rack in the oven and put the 9 x 13 pan on a rack above that. With the door closed, the hot water makes the oven warm enough for the dough to rise in a relatively shorter time. I actually put my oven on warm for about 5 minutes, turned it off and waited about 5 minutes and put the pan in the oven and it did rise some.

10. When the dough has risen (I let it rise until it is almost to the top of the 9 x 13 pan--mine didn't rise that much), sprinkle the top with a mixture of 1/2 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. I never measure this! I just sprinkle with sugar and then sprinkle the cinnamon on top of that. I did measure because I wanted to make sure I put enough on top.

11. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 15 - 20 minutes. I test with a toothpick in the middle. When it comes out clean, I take it out. Sometimes it only takes 15 minutes, sometimes longer. Maybe it depends on the humidity or whatever. Mine was done in 15 minutes.

You can tell by my comments that I wasn't sure if it would turn out right--especially because it didn't rise like I thought it should and I didn't spread the butter on the dough. But I must have done something right because it was so good. Thanks, Lynn, for sharing this recipe with me. It may just become a tradition in our home not just at Christmas but anytime the whole family gets together!