We have spent the most wonderful couple of days up in the mountains.  We have been hiking, relaxing by the fire, watching movies and eating lots and lots.  Growing up, my mother would always serve Sara Lee’s Butter Streusel Coffee Cake as a side for breakfast when we had a house party up here.  She would warm it up a little bit, and it was so so delicious.  We never got it at home until- only in the mountains, and it seemed like such a special treat.  When I lived in New York for a long time, they did not carry the Sara Lee Butter Streusel Coffee Cake in the grocery stores for some reason- a real tragedy.  While I do think the Sara Lee version is pretty fantastic and obviously very easy, here is a great recipe from www.thekitchn.com for a Butter Streusel Coffee Cake that is really great. (Photo courtesy of www.kitchn.com)

Butter Streusel Coffee Cake

Ingredients:

For the cake
1/3 cup warm water
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 package active dry yeast (2 teaspoons)
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) good-quality unsalted butter, softened (try Plugra or Kerrygold)
1 whole egg plus 2 yolks
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

For the streusel topping
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
Pinch of kosher salt
4 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cubed

Directions:

Sprinkle sugar and yeast over the warm water and let sit until foamy, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the beater blade, combine flour, 3 tablespoons sugar, and butter. Mix until the ingredients are completely combined (almost creamed). Add the eggs and vanilla, followed by the salt and dissolved yeast. Continue mixing until the ingredients are just-combined. (Dough should be wet and sticky, like a very thick cake batter.)

Transfer the dough to a well-greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. Transfer the bowl to the refrigerator and chill overnight.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for 45 minutes to one hour. In the meantime, prepare the streusel topping (recipe below).

Preheat the oven to 350°. Thoroughly coat a tube pan with nonstick cooking spray. Press the dough (it will be very sticky) evenly into the pan. Top the dough with the streusel mixture. Bake for 40 – 45 minutes, until the streusel is golden and the cake is cooked through. Allow to cool for five minutes, then carefully remove the cake from the tube pan (slip a knife around the edges of the cake and beneath it). Serve warm, with coffee.

To reheat, wrap cake or cake slices in aluminum foil and cook in a 300° oven until warmed through.

To make the streusel topping, pulse the flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and salt in a small food processor. Add the butter and continue to pulse until the mixture forms coarse crumbs. Keep in refrigerator until ready to use. (This can also be done with your hands or a pastry cutter; just as if you were making a pie crust.)