Old-Fashioned Blueberry Coffee Cake

Last week Caleb came home from work with a bunch of fresh blueberries from a co-worker. I've had my eye on this recipe for months now, so I decided I would use the berries to make this coffee cake. I put it together last Friday night after work, so that Saturday morning we had a delicious breakfast waiting for us. I love coffee cakes that have a good crumb topping, and the moist cake and the fresh berries really took this coffee cake over the top. Have a great weekend!

Old-Fashioned Blueberry Coffee Cake
crumb topping:
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp packed light brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup pecans, chopped
3 Tbsp chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/4" cubes

cake:
1 1/2 cups + 1 Tbsp flour, divided
1 Tbsp cornmeal
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup + 3 Tbsp sugar, divided
6 Tbsp (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
2 cups fresh blueberries

Crumb Topping: Whisk flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir in nuts. Add butter; with a pastry blender work butter into dry ingredients until large, moist crumbs begin to form. Set topping aside.

Cake: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat 9x9 metal pan with nonstick spray. Line bottom with parchment paper; set aside. Whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.

Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat 3/4 cup sugar and butter in a medium bowl until light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Beat in vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, beating to blend between additions and occasionally scraping down sides of bowl, until mixture is pale and fluffy, 3-4 minutes longer.

With mixer on low speed, add dry ingredients to bowl in 3 additions, alternating with buttermilk in two additions, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Pour half of batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Whisk remaining 3 Tbsp sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl; sprinkle evenly over batter in pan. Spoon remaining batter over; smooth top.

Toss blueberries with 1 Tbsp four in a small bowl; scatter evenly over batter. Sprinkle crumb topping over blueberries.

Bake cake until top is golden brown and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 55-65 minutes. Let cool completely in pan. Store airtight at room temperature. Serves 8-12.

source: recipe adapted from Bon Appétit, September 2012