Sleepless Nights & Smoke Alarms

     The other night I found myself restless and unable to sleep.  At 4:30 in the morning, I finally gave in to my wake fullness and abandoned all hope of getting back to the land of slumber.  Since early morning infomercials are not my cup of tea and my eyes were too weary to read a book, I decided to flip through my recipes.  Before I knew it, I was in the kitchen with spatula in hand, mixing bowls at the ready. I was up and baking before the birds!

     Seeing as blueberries are in season and I had a fresh bounty of them in the fridge I decided that was the way to go.  As I prepared to create a wonderful breakfast surprise for my family I didn't take into account the fact that my baking would soon wake them - not with the pleasant, aromatic smells coming from the kitchen, but from the shrill sound of the smoke alarm! In my bleary eyed, early morning, pre-coffee state I neglected to notice the large dollop of cheese that last night's pizza left on the element in our oven.  When I turned the oven on to pre-heat that un-noticed piece of cheese burned itself to a crisp and set off our smoke alarm. Talk about a rude awakening!  Fortunately, my family are all heavy sleepers and only my poor husband came down to see what the fuss was about. I placated him with the promise of a hot cup of java and a warm from the oven slice of coffee cake so he was able to go back up to bed with visions of blueberries dancing in his head. With disaster averted, I was able to whip up an impressive coffee cake and replace the burnt cheese smell with a much more pleasant aroma of fresh baked goods.

     I have many recipes that call for this wonderful summer fruit, but none are as easy or as impressive as this one. Another early morning benefit of this recipe is the fact that it does not require a noisy mixer; so if you are unlike me, and manage not to set off the smoke alarm you'll have some peace and quiet to enjoy your coffee while this bakes.

Up With The Birds Lemon Blueberry Coffee Cake

You will need:

• 1 egg
• 2 1/4 cups of Bisquick
• 2/3 cup of milk
• 1/3 cup of sugar
• grated peel of 1 lemon
• 1 cup blueberries

~Heat oven to 400 degrees (be sure to look for errant cheese!).
~Grease a round 9" pan or bunt pan.
~Whisk egg in medium bowl.
~Stir in Bisquick, sugar, milk and lemon peel.
~Fold blueberries into batter.
~Spread into pan.
~Bake for 20~25 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick inserted into centre comes out clean.
~Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove  and place on a wire baking rack.

While the cake is cooling mix 2/3 cup of icing sugar with 3 to 4 teaspoons of lemon juice. Stir until a smooth paste forms.  Pour glaze over cake and enjoy!

Morning Glory