Happy Mother’s Day!
Since we had just seen my mom last weekend at the farm for a little pre-Mother’s Day get-together, we stayed a little closer to home the last couple of days. Well, kind of. Okay, not really.
Friday night was cool but lovely – no wind! – so we spent some time on our deck just enjoying the beginning of the weekend.
My Yankee Doodle Lilac bushes are just about ready to bloom!
Mother’s Day gift #1 – new garden gloves! Not pictured was my new garden clippers, too – I was in heaven!
I loved my gift from Joe – it was totally him. He’s been obsessed with frogs since he was just a toddler so this is a perfect addition to my garden. As Joe said after I opened it, “Every garden is better with a frog.”
True enough.
Saturday afternoon we dropped Joe off at my sister’s because Teacher Man and I went to a concert in Minneapolis. This meant we could spend a little time with Miss Morgan, whom we hadn’t seen since Easter. We missed this little bugaboo!
Yes, my heart has officially melted now.
We went to the Gear Daddies 25th anniversary concert at First Avenue. (Yes, an actual date night! I can’t remember the last time we spent an entire evening in Minneapolis like that, doing a little bar hopping and enjoying live music.)
The band members are originally from Austin, Minnesota, where Teacher Man grew up so it was a bit of a Austin High School reunion for him. The band sounded amazing – and even did a cover of Prince’s “Little Red Corvette,” which was pretty cool to see on the stage that Prince made famous in the movie Purple Rain.
Today was a lazy day at home, which was probably a direct result of staying up way too late after the concert was over. (You think?!) I treated myself to a Mother’s Day chocolate chip Frappe from McDonald’s (sooo delicious!) and requested grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch, which Teacher Man and Joe ably handled. After a 2-1/2 hour nap (I know, wow!), I decided I was craving my mom’s blueberry coffee cake.
Can you blame me?
So I got my baking on.
My mom taught me many things – including my love for baking. Some of my earliest memories are of standing on a chair in the kitchen while I helped her mix up a batch of cookies. She has many fabulous coffee cake recipes, but I always come back to this blueberry coffee cake. It’s easily my favorite and it never fails me.
Much like my mom – she’s never failed me either. 🙂 (Love you, Mom!) Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there – I hope you’ve had a wonderful day!
– Lara –
Blueberry Coffee Cake
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup butter (1/2 a stick – I use Land O’Lakes butter for baking just like my mom does)
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups fresh blueberries
Topping
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/3 cup flour
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 cup butter (1/2 a stick)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees, and grease a 10-inch springform pan.
Put sugar, butter and egg into a mixer bowl and beat until well mixed. Stir in milk and almond extract.
Sift together flour, baking powder and salt and stir gently into first mixture. Fold in blueberries and spoon batter into the springform pan.
Make the topping by measuring sugar, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon into a mixing bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or fork until mixture is crumbly. Spoon over top of batter.
Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Cool slightly before removing from the pan. This is wonderful served warm!
Full disclosure: Today I was lazy and didn’t sift the flour, baking powder and salt together and the coffee cake still came out fluffy and delicious. (Sorry Mom!)
My Other More Exciting Self 