It's a Christmas miracle!

Oh boy.

Yesterday was a doozy. Though we started out at a leisurely tempo with coffee and holiday jazz, Raymond and I crashed around midnight at our neighbor's party, quite full of mischief, casserole, and ham. Between those bookends, we all shared A Very Muppet Christmas, spiked coffee and beers at and (open!) bar down the street, and two very cold walks down an empty Barbur Boulevard.

The evening was, as our hostess put it, a Christmas miracle.

If you celebrate Christmas, I hope your yesterday was a mad whirl of lovely like mine, a celebration of family and good friends. And if Christmas isn't your thing, I hope you had at least a moment to pause and enjoy the flickering light displays and the crystal-clear view of Mount Hood.

This morning, I'm recovering with a little Django Rinehart and leftover Christmas coffee cake. Unlike some of its sugary, fly-by-night cousins (I'm looking at YOU, fruitcake!) this cake grows on you slowly, like a friendship that ripens sweetly over the years. It's made from comforting foods: whole-wheat flour, just enough brown sugar, buttermilk, vanilla. I like this cake plain or with coffee, sometimes topped with yogurt. Maybe it'll help you wind down from your festivities and enjoy a quiet winter afternoon.



Whole wheat buttermilk coffee cake
serves 8

• 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups packed medium brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 2/3 cup unsalted butter, cold and sliced thin
  
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground cardamom
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp. vanilla
  
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/3 cups buttermilk
  
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Grease the bottom and sides of a medium baking pan and set aside. In a bowl, mix together the dry ingredients -- flour, powder, soda spices, sugar and salt. Cut in butter with a fork or pastry cutter until the bowl is full of coarse crumbs.

Reserve a cup of this mixture in a separate bowl for the topping. Add the pecans and an extra 1/2 tsp. or cardamom (if you like) and stir.

In another bowl, mix together the eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Pour this liquid into the flour mixture all at once, and stir until the batter is just combined. Gently spoon half of this batter into the prepared pan, top with half of the reserved topping, then repeat until all of the batter and topping is used.

Bake the cake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 35 to 40 minutes, or until you can insert a knife in the center of the cake and it comes out clean. Serve warm, with coffee. This cake keeps at room temperature for a few days; after that, you can refrigerate it for up to a week.

If you liked this recipe, you may also enjoy:

Chocolate coconut flax granola
Double lemon, double poppy seed cake

English seed bread