Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake

I took this to a baby shower this morning, and one girl that tasted it came up to me and said, "This coffee cake is freaking delicious."  Now, you know when someone adds the word "freaking" into a sentence, it's serious. 

This cake turns out tender, delicious, and flavorful.  There are walnuts on the top, but you can easily omit them if you're allergic or just don't like nuts for some crazy reason.  This is fairly simple to make, but it takes an hour to bake.  Although it takes a while to bake, it's worth the wait.  The smell alone will lure any hibernating bear (or husband) out of his cave. 

 Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake
source: Blue Ribbon Recipes by Barbara Greenman

cake batter:
2 1/2 c flour
1 c sugar
1 t salt
3/4 c unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 t baking powder
3/4 c milk
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
1 c fresh or frozen blueberries

cheese filling:
1 c ricotta
1 egg
2 T sugar
1 T grated lemon zest

topping:
1 c reserved crumb mixture (from start of cake batter)
1/2 c finely chopped walnuts
1/3 c brown sugar
1 t cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350.  Grease a flour a 9 x 13 pan.

Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.  Add the butter and use a fork to smash the butter into the flour.  You will eventually end up with a crumb mixture.  Set aside one cup of this.

To the remaining crumbs mixture in the large bowl, add the baking powder, milk, eggs, and vanilla.  Beat on medium speed for two minutes. 

Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Sprinkle the blueberries on top and give the kids a dirty look for touching the lens of your camera to make the picture blurry.  

Combine the cheese filling ingredients in a bowl.  Stir to combine.  Drop the mixture by spoonfuls onto the blueberries.

Take another picture with no smudges.  Much better.  :)

 Sprinkle the reserved one cup of crumb mixture onto the cake and bake it for 45-60 minutes.  When a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean, the cake is done. 

 Drumroll please... This stuff is great.  You'll get smiles all around, and what better way to start the morning than with cake?! 

If you're not a blueberry fan, you coule try to use strawberries, raspberries, or a combination of all three.  Now, stop and smell the cinnamon.