One Year Blog Anniversary & Crumb Cake

This month is the one year anniversary of my blog!!!  And to celebrate, I thought I would share with you a special family recipe for crumb cake. 

I love the connection between food, family and childhood.  When I was growing up, I have lots of memories of cooking with my Mom-Mom.  I can remember sitting on the floor of her kitchen eating sourdough preztels out of a Charles' pretzel tin (and ruining my 'spacers' from my orthodontist).  Mom-Mom was the one who taught me the balance of sweet and salty -- her favorite snack was dipping those pretzels in vanilla ice cream, and it was absolutely delicious.

So, for the blog's one year anniversary, I thought I would have a tribute to Mom-Mom's cooking with her famous crumb cake recipe.  It's a wonderful cake to enjoy with coffee and it's super easy to make (I made some minor adjustments, as Oleo is no longer in stock, hopefully, Mom-Mom will understand).  

Thanks to all you readers who have supported me and my blog over the past year!  I'm excited for another year of happy blogging! 

Ingredients
1/2 cup of butter, softened
1 cup of sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
1 3/4 cup of flour
2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of milk

Crumbs -
1 cup of flour
1/3 cup of butter, melted
1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1/3 cup of sugar
1/8 cup of turbinado sugar (sugar in the raw)

Preparation
1.  Lightly butter and flour a spring form pan.  Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.

3.  Cream butter and sugar with a mixer, then add eggs and vanilla.  Mix until blended.

4.  Alternatively add dry ingredients and milk to the creamed mixture. 

5.  Fold into the spring form pan and spread to edges.

6.  For the crumbs, combine sugars, cinnamon and flour in a bowl.  Melt the butter.

7.  Add the butter to the dry ingredients and blend with a fork to form large crumbs.

8.  Spread crumb mixture on top of the cake.  Place in the oven and cook for 35 minutes (until a toothpick inserted comes out clean).

9.  Allow to cool, pop off the spring form pan.

10.  Slice crumb cake, and enjoy with coffee (don't forget to get all the crumbs on your plate!)