ATONEMENT

Well, I hope everyone made it through April Fool's Day. Why do people think this is such a fun day? Why does this day cause a sane, peace lovin', usually the first to come to the rescue of anyone havin' a problem, person who is old enough to have grown up enough to have gotten all this nonsense out of their system, wreck havoc on their household?

I just don't know the answer to that, I wish I did. I mean I wouldn't even think about puttin' a rubber band around the sprayer on the kitchen sink so when the innocent spouse turns on the faucet first thing in the mornin', well, let me just say they got sprayed good. Or when the coffee pot button is pushed (the thoughtful spouse prepared the coffee the night before) and the yummy smell of fresh brewed coffee entices one to reach for their favorite coffee cup, but for some reason they can't pick up the cup because the offendin' spouse has rubber cemented it to the shelf!

Maybe this was a sign? Maybe someone has put sugar (a lot) in the bottom of the coffee filter in the pot and just put a little coffee on top of said sugar. The innocent spouse doesn't even notice the color of the coffee is off. I mean, that coffee was certainly needed because the poor tricked spouse had to get up at 2 a.m. and again at 4 a.m. to see why the car alarm was goin' off.

You think it would end here, right?

It's sad to say, this was kinda just the start. The poor innocent spouse was soooo glad when April Fool's Day bit the dust.

I must say my husband is such an easy goin' person AND a good sport!

So to make it up to him today I am gonna make his favorite coffee cake.

I call this coffee cake Blackberry Buckle and is it yummy. All the ingredients combined make this one of the best coffee cakes you're ever gonna taste. It's full of good for you goodies like blackberries, oats, nuts, milled flax seed, more nuts and.......well, let me just give you the recipe.

TOPPIN'

1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup nuts, chopped

MIDDLE STREUSEL FILLIN'

1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup nuts, chopped

CAKE INGREDIENTS

1 cup sugar
3/8 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups flour
1 cup oats
3 teaspoons bakin' powder
1 teaspoon bakin' soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milled flax seed
2 cups frozen or fresh blackberries

Now I use blackberries 'cause I have frozen ones on hand but this recipe can be made with blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and peaches. Just about any fruit you want to use will work.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

We'll mix the toppin' first.

In a small bowl, mix the sugar, flour and cinnamon together.

Toss in the nuts. I use pecans but walnuts work just as well.

Mix in the softened butter. Set this bowl aside.

In another small bowl mix the brown sugar and flour.

Add in the cinnamon.

Any cinnamon will work but Vietnamese cinnamon is considered the best in the world and if you've never tried it well, tarnation thunder, it tastes like it's already got sugar in it! It is sweet and the best tastin' cinnamon you'll ever taste.

Add you melted butter to the mixture.

Stir in the nuts, and sit this bowl aside.

Now for the cake,

In a large bowl, mix the sugar and oil together well. Please disregard the wrong picture here. The correct photo disappeared and it's out floating around blog land somewhere.

Whisk in the eggs and buttermilk. Set bowl aside.

In another bowl, blend flour, oats, bakin' powder and soda, salt and flax seed together well.

Blend flour ingredients gently into egg and buttermilk mixture just until well blended together.

At this point it kinda looks like a bowl of oatmeal.

Very gently mix in your blackberries or fruit of choice. If you use frozen fruit, do not thaw, just mix the frozen fruit right in there.

Spread 1/2 of the blackberry batter into a 13x9" casserole bakin' dish.

Sprinkle the middle streusel fillin' over the top of the blackberry batter.

Drop by spoonfuls the rest of the blackberry batter over the streusel.

Sprinkle the toppin' mixture all over the top.

Pop this bad puppy into your preheated oven and bake 45-50 minutes.

Your kitchen is gonna smell like heaven while this is bakin'. And the flavor, I reckon it's about the best coffee cake I've ever eatin'. And I know it seems like there is a lot of sugar in there but it really isn't too sweet so don't think that.

Brew a pot of coffee (minus the cup of sugar), add a dollop of whip cream and any girlfriend will be happy to come over and spend the mornin' visitin' with ya.

And your husband will forgive you just about anythin'. At least until next April Fool's Day.

Youn's come back dreckly, ya hear?

Rebel