At some point over the holidays, (Christmas – it was a while ago) I read a lot of recipes for foods that contained fresh cranberries.  So I bought a bag of cranberries while they were still prominently on display at the grocery store. Then for the next two weeks, on and off, I flipped through my many stacks of magazines looking for the elusive recipes, and I never found them.  So I turned to my trusty friend google, and found this recipe for cranberry coffee cake.  But yeah, it has to cook for 75 minutes and cool for half an hour.  I could never quite figure out when it would be made and eaten.  Would I prep it the night before, and then get up really early to bake it so we could eat it for breakfast?  Would there ever be a lazy Sunday where I could lounge and bake and have a late brunch?  These are the thoughts that assailed and reproached me for over two months every time I opened the crisper to get a vegetable.  I pretty much had to stop eating fresh vegetables for a while or else suffer the guilt of the uncooked cranberry coffee cake. Are you starting to wonder how long cranberries last in the refrigerator?  Well, I can tell you this: at least 10 weeks.  The recipe calls for 2 cups of cranberries, and the bag holds 3 cups, so I just picked out the two cups of non-shriveled one and composted the rest, good or not.

Jack slept in until the late hour of 7:30 this morning, so I got up with him and decided today was the day!  And I made him help me, which means he had coffee cake batter as his second breakfast (oatmeal was first) and he’ll be having coffee cake for lunch.  Take that childhood obesity epidemic!

Despite Jack’s help, the cooking process was fraught with problems.  Well, just one major problem.  I couldn’t find the paddle attachment for my kitchen aid mixer and I had to use the handheld mixer like some animal.  It was a total nightmare.  And by that I mean, I got sort of bored standing there holding the mixer all that time.  I blame all the pies I have been baking that do not require the use of my kitchen aid.  The last time I needed the paddle attachment must have been when I made my dad’s traditional spice cake with chocolate icing, so who knows where it could be now?  (Seriously Mom – did you put the paddle attachment somewhere weird when you were cleaning the kitchen?)

Since the cake had to cook for so long, and lazy, lounging Sundays aren’t really my thing I guess, I managed to do the grocery shopping while the cake was in the oven.  I gave Dave instructions, but I also set the timer on my phone, and made it home with plenty of time to spare.

The verdict: The cake is pretty good.  It might have been slightly over cooked.  A little too buttery for my taste.  The cranberries are nicely tart.  But I know have a guilt free crisper, and that’s all that really matters.