Coffee Cake w/bacon? YES!.....compliments of Melissa Vanni and www.prettyyummyfoods.com

First we’re going to make ourselves some brown sugar bacon. I got this idea for this bacon from one of my favorite cooking blogs called http://www.joythebaker.com/. She is pretty stinkin cool.
Pre heat your oven to 350. Line a cookie sheet with some wax paper, then spray your wax paper with Pam. Place 5 strips of bacon on your cookie sheet and sprinkle a bit of brown sugar over them.
You should absolutely be excited about this bacon because it is going to be pretty awesome.

Pop your bacon in the oven and let it bake for about 12-15 minutes. When your bacon is done transfer it to a plate to cool, but don’t drain it on paper towels. You’ll end up with paper towel and brown sugar bacon. Not good.
After your bacon has cooled chop it up & keep it handy.
Is it weird that I want to lick that wax paper? I didn’t think so.

For the streusel topping whisk together 1/4 cup flour, 2/3 cup white sugar, and 2 teaspoons of  ground cinnamon.

After you have mixed that up drop in 4 tablespoons of butter.

Now get your hands in there and mix the butter into your flour and sugar combo. You’ll want the texture to resemble coarse crumbs.

Did you keep that bacon handy? Good, mix it into your streusel.
Yes I want you to use your hands. You already washed them? Well you can wash them again.

I found this coffee cake recipe on http://allrecipes.com/. I am a big, BIG fan of this site.
A few months ago I made a fancy, egg white, chocolate chip, coffee cake and got a smack down from the coffee cake police (aka my husband & his friend). They like their coffee cake to be traditional, just like mom use to make, and this one was perfect!
In your food processer (or large bowl) combine 2 cups of flour, 3/4 cup of white sugar, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt. Give that a good pulse.

Now throw in 1/2 cup of butter,

and pulse that until it looks like coarse crumbs. If you don’t have a food processor you’ll need to do this by hand.
Now add 1 egg, 3/4 cup of milk (I combined the two) and 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.

Pulse, pulse, pulse until it is just moistened.

Now pour your batter into a buttered 9 by 13 inch pan.

Sprinkle your bacon streusel on top of your batter and pop this into a 350 degree oven for 25 – 30 minutes. Mine was perfect at 27 minutes.

Here is your lovely streusel right out of the oven…

and here it is on a pretty plate. Get ready to knock your mother-in-law’s socks off!
I hope your Easter is full of family, friends, and good food.
Enjoy!!

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup milk

This was GREAT! a big hit with the family. I did make a couple adjustments. I used brown sugar in the place of white sugar because I did not have enough white sugar ( what? I know, time to do a pantry check ) and added about 2 tablespoons of cinnamon to the batter. Also I cooked the bacon the same way with the exception of adding some maple syrup before cooking. Once it comes out of the oven I drain the bacon on a rack and drizzle with more maple syrup and let cool.
I can't wait to make these as a muffin next! Thanks again, Melissa @ prettyyummyfoods.com!