Whenever my grandmother came to visit when I was a boy, she would set to work in the kitchen making many wonderful dishes. Our favorite among them was Grandma’s coffee cake. When Grandma died, her recipe passed with her. She worked from memory rather than from a written recipe.

Like all of the grandchildren, my cousin Sheryl bemoaned the loss of the recipe. Sheryl began studying recipe books and making coffee cakes until she found one that we all agree is just like Grandma’s. The recipe is simple, requiring milk, butter, flour, yeast, dried fruit, and a relatively small amount of sugar. Grandma used glazed fruit, which I always throw in, but I also always add some dried Michigan cherries for a local touch. After baking the cakes for half an hour and letting them cool, Grandma drizzled the cake with a frosting made of confectioner’s sugar, milk and almond extract.

I am grateful to Sheryl for uncovering the mystery of Grandma’s coffee cake so I could share it with my children. Now each Christmas Eve day you will find me kneading dough and forming it into cakes for Christmas morning. It’s a little thing, but it is a comfort to pass it on to my children, who I am sure will be sharing these recipes with their children for years to come.

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