Christmas Candy Cane Coffee Cake

I have memories as a child of my mother making special yeast bread that my dad would enjoy taking to special friends on Christmas eve. Hartie Cook thrived on the sociability and good cheer it brought. Mum usually stayed home with us. Later, as a young married home economics graduate, I took the process one step farther by turning coffee cakes into candy canes that were decorated with frosting, nuts and cherries. We liked to give them as gifts. One year before Christmas, we stopped on the back road in East Corinth where an old Russian woodcutter lived. He could barely speak any English, but the smile on his face said everything. I have never felt better giving away baked goods than I did that year. In the ensuing years, the coffee cake became a tradition as part of our Christmas breakfast.
- Jeanne "Grammy" Soule

INGREDIENTS

Dry ingredients:

3 cups flour, slightly rounded
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cardamom powder

Liquid ingredients:

½ cup shortening (can substitute 1/3 cup oil)
2 eggs
1 cup milk and 1 cup warm water (added together in a measuring cup)
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Plus:

3 rounded cups flour
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Icing Mixture:

Confectioner's sugar
Dab of Almond or Lemon Extract - Mum prefers lemon (½ tsp)
Bit of Vanilla (1 teaspoon)
Dite of melted butter (1 tablespoon)
Hot water – pour in a bit at a time until proper consistency

INSTRUCTIONS

Sift together Dry ingredients and put in a bowl; stir with a wire whip. Mix in Liquid ingredients. Add 1 cup flour, slightly rounded and mix until smooth, then add 2 more cups flour, slightly rounded and stir well. If still sticky add more flour a little bit at a time until correct consistency. Turn bread onto floured surface. Clean bowl and put 2 tablespoons oil in to coat.

Knead dough on well-floured surface (may use another cup of flour for this). It will be kneaded enough when you press down on it and it bounces back. Pat flour off dough and put in bowl with oil. Rotate dough in bowl until all sides are coated. Cover and let rise until double in bulk.Divide dough into 3 or 4 sections. Roll out sections, one at a time, into rectangles with the top section rolled out more precisely than the bottom (the bottom of the rectangle is easier to manipulate than the top).

Brush melted butter over top of rolled-out dough and liberally sprinkle brown sugar mixture over that and spread evenly. (Brown sugar mixture = 1 cup brown sugar + 1 tablespoon cinnamon. Repeat if more is needed.)

Roll up dough and pull towards you and you work your way up to the top. Make sure that the ends are covered as the roll nears the top. Place dough on pan with seam side down and pinch ends shut. Form into candy cane shape and with scissors, snip through first layer, approximately ¾" deep, into dough starting at curved end.

Place two canes per baking sheet and let rise until double in bulk. Wipe off any brown sugar that may have leaked out. (If too much brown sugar is spread into the coffee cake, it will leak out and burn when baked.) Heat oven to 350°-375° and bake for 15-20 minutes, until browned. Let cool.

Decorating the Coffee Cake:
Add Icing Mixture ingredients together above in a glass bowl so that it can be microwaved if icing stiffens. Must use the Family Heirloom Ding Dong spoon when making. : ) Slather on icing, then sprinkle chopped walnuts and then place red and green cherries on coffee cake.