Baking it up! Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake

I have been craving this for weeks. I wish I knew the recipe my Mimi used but I really don't have the time or access to go look through her cabinets and hope the recipe is there somewhere. So, I thought about just buying the boxed mix but part of my goal for 2009 is to make more stuff from scratch, and less from prepared boxes, bags and cans. I scoured the interwebz for a few days trying to find the perfect recipe to try. Google didn't fail me so I ran to the store to get the rest of the ingredients.

Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup shortening

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1 cup milk

Mix all the ingredients together. Then spread into a greased 9x13 pan.

For the Topping:

2 tbsp butter

1 tsp cinnamon

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

Nuts (optional)

Mix all ingredients until crumbly, sprinkle over cake mixture.

Bake cake at 325 degrees for 45 min to 1 hour.

I added some walnuts to the topping on mine. I would recommend walnuts or pecans. This cake definitely killed my craving. I ate almost the whole pan myself!