It's Christmas Eve. Later today, my parents, my siblings, Reese the Niece, aunts, uncles, and cousins will gather at my Gran's house to celebrate. I can't be there in person, although my heart sure is. I'm sure that there will be plenty of leaves for a certain little boy to play in. There will be dishes of candy in every room. There will be a motion-sensor snowman planted by the front door who will sing a little jingle every time anyone goes in or out. (Mom or Aunt Mary Kay will eventually roll their eyes heavenward and shut him down.) There will be a crazy Santa hat that some uncle will don to pass out gifts. There might be a plumbing problem, in which case all of the men will gather in the backyard and pretend that they know how to fix it. There will be a silver coin in each of the 28 stockings. There will be music of the uncommon sort--Christmas tunes played on the old player piano, or a family band with cousin Jonathan on the guitar and Gran on the saw. (What? Doesn't your grandmother play the saw?!?) There will be football on the TV, and maybe later, a viewing of the timeless Christmas Vacation movie. There will be tamales, Big Red, and eggnog, because these are the things that make a Conner Christmas.
Gran, here's the recipe I promised you. You and I and my Baby understand that eggnog makes everything better. Thanks for giving me a lifetime of good holiday memories. I am loving all of you so much today!
Egg Nog Coffee Cake
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup eggnog
1 container (8 ounces) sour cream
1 teaspoon rum extract
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Struesel Topping
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon butter or margarine, softened
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Grease bottom only of rectangular pan, 13x9x2 inches, with shortening. In small bowl, mix all Streusel Topping ingredients with fork until crumbly; set aside. In large bowl, beat 1 cup granulated sugar and 1/2 cup butter with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon. Beat in 1 cup eggnog, the sour cream, rum extract and eggs until blended. Stir in 2 1/2 cups flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Spread in pan. Sprinkle Streusel Topping over batter. Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours. Heat oven to 350°F. Uncover pan; bake 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes.
Egg Nog Glaze
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1-2 Tbsp. Egg Nog
In a small bowl, mix all Eggnog Glaze ingredients until smooth and thin enough to drizzle. Drizzle over coffee cake.
Note: You can wait until right before baking to make the struesel topping and sprinkle it on the batter and then bake if you want a more crunchy-type topping.
2 comments:
YOU make everything better too. We love you SO MUCH and will miss you today. Hug the boys for me! - Emily
Your blog has been inspiring to me as I walk the cancer journey with my husband and 2 young daughters. Thanks for laying your heart out there.
Monica
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