Grammy's Coffee Cake

I can remember on Saturday mornings, Grammy Burne's house was the place to be!  If we timed it just right, we would walk in the back door when she was just pulling three absolutely scrumptious coffee cakes out of the oven.  And the house, boy did it smell incredible!  Gram usually cut one and let us eat a piece on Saturday, she would save one for Sunday and gave away the third to a neighbor, friend or relative.  Sometimes, we got to eat all three!   Gram - thank you for this wonderful memory!

Dough

• 1 c milk
• 1 t salt
• 1 yeast cake or package of dry yeast
• 2 eggs beaten
• 1 T mace
• 3 T sugar
• 3 T butter
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 3 1/2 c flour
• 1 t orange peel

• 1/2 cup room temperature butter

Place the milk, salt, sugar and the 3 tablespoons of butter in a small pan.  Mix and cook over low heat.  Stir occasionally until butter melts and remove from heat.  Cool until lukewarm. This process is known as scalding. 

Separately, mix the yeast and water until the year is dissolved. It is important to make sure the water is 120 degrees or less or the yeast will die.  Once dissolved, place the yeast mixture with the scalded milk mixture in a large bowl.  Add flour, eggs, mace and orange peel and mix.  (If you have a professional mixer, use the dough hook.)  Take the dough out of the bowl and onto a lightly floured board.  Knead for about five minutes.   Grease a bowl with butter, place the dough in bowl and turn it once so the buttered side is up.  Cover with a towel and put the bowl in a warm, draft-free place to rise until double in size.

Once risen, uncover the dough and place on a lightly floured board.  Knead the 1/2 cup of room temperature butter into the dough by folding it over and rolling it out a couple of times.   Add more flour to the board, if necessary, to avoid it sticking. 

Cinnamon Filling

• 1/2 c butter melted
• 1 egg
• 1 c sugar
• 3 T flour
• 2 t cinnamon

Divide the dough into three pieces and the filling into three as well.  Roll out each piece into a rectangle on a flour board and spread each with the filling.  Roll each rectangle up from the long side, twist and bring the ends together to make a circle shape.  Put the coffee cakes on greased baking sheets, cover with a towel and let rise again in a warm, draft-free place for an hour.  (These can also be made into individual pastries by cutting the rolled up rectangle pieces into three).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and bake coffee cakes for 10 to 15 minutes.

Icing

• 1/2 c melted butter
• 2 t milk
• 1 t vanilla extract
• confectionary sugar to preferred consistency

Mix butter, milk, vanilla and sugar.  Drizzle coffee cakes with icing while still warm.