Boy Bait

With blueberries, of course.

Huh?  That's not how you bait boys?


Well then maybe you need to have a piece of blueberry boy bait. 

Nearly 2 cups of blueberries suspended in perhaps the most pillowy, buttery coffee cake topped with a sugary mess of sliced almonds, sugar and cinnamon.  Sigh.  It had me at pillowy.  And then buttery.  And sugary mess.

Whew.  Excuse me.

Ahem.  But maybe I'm biased.  I luv a good blueberry muffin.  So much so that I attempted the Cook's Illustrated  Best Blueberry Muffin 3 times before I declared it my failure of 2010.  I luved the blueberry jam (homemade blueberry jam) swirled into the dough and the crispy crumb topping.  But, the muffin itself was mehhh...forgettable.  Definitely not baitable.  I think a good muffin should make you feel warm and cozy and need nothing more but a big cup of coffee to complete your morning.  This so-called-best-blueberry-muffin couldn't have been further from such muffin nirvana.  The taste just fell flat.  Not sweet.  Not berry.  Not cinnamon.  I can't even explain my disappoint...all 3 times.  Almost turned in my apron. 

Many blueberries suffered.  As did my ego.  Or what was left of it at that point.

But one day, while randomly recipe searching...oh, alright, none of my recipe searching is random...I came upon this one for blueberry boy bait.  As if the name was not intriguing enough, one of my friend's made this boy bait for her coworkers.  Mostly boy coworkers.  And it was happily eaten. 

Hmmm...

And so the cake was baked. 

Oh and yes, I should clarify that this blueberry boy bait is a fun and flirty way of saying blueberry coffee cake.  And if there's anything I like more than a good muffin, it's a good coffee cake...something about that crumb topping. 

And the name?  Well, as the story goes, a 15 year old girl won 2nd place (2nd???) in a 1954 Pillsbury Bakeoff, and was named for the attention it got from the boys. 

And the recipe?  You can find it here.  I followed it pretty close except that I added a full cup of blueberries and 1/2 tsp. finely grated lemon zest and buttermilk, instead of regular milk, to the cake.  And 1/2 cup sliced almonds to the topping.  Oh, and the 2 sticks of butter?  You noticed that, too.  I know, I know...2 sticks!  And yes, you can taste it.