EARTH DAY 2012 – Mobilize the Earth!

This month brings the 42nd Anniversary of Earth Day on April 22nd, 2012. Earth Day 2012’s mission for today’s youth is relatively simple – encourage as many students and young adults as possible to participate in activities that highlight the tremendous importance of both civic and environmental responsibility. You can help reduce your carbon footprint and work with your families, neighbors and community to encourage adoption of renewable energy, sustainable growth, and political awareness, all in an effort to demonstrate our environmental commitment.

There are many things that you can do in tandem with the Earth Day 2012 initiatives to keep our community of Redwood Shores green and beautiful. You can develop your own Earth Day event by organizing a family / friends hike or bike ride around the Shores, or contact our RWC Parks and Recreation Department and offer to plan a local park clean-up, or contact our elementary schools and offer to build and plant a vegetable garden for them – enlist the aid of the school children to select the vegetables and flowers that they would like to plant, and help them maintain the garden throughout the year. You can use your event as a platform to approach our Redwood City governmental officials to improve the greening of our community. Do your part for Earth Day 2012.

Here’s a very easy breakfast coffee cake recipe that can be made before your bike ride, or hike, or spring clean-up activities. It’s also a great addition to an Easter Brunch menu. This was an old favorite of my Mom’s and I had misplaced the recipe several years ago. It took several frantic calls to my Connecticut sisters imploring them to send me the recipe. They all fondly remembered the coffee cake, but had a little trouble digging through all of the Crandall Family recipe archives to unearth it! So thanks to their combined efforts, I am happy to share it with you now, and even happier to have the recipe back in my own collection.

MOM’S SOUR CREAM COFFEE CAKE

(350 Degree Oven)

• 1 Cup Baker’s Sugar
• 1 Stick Butter
• 2 Eggs
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 Cup Sour Cream (do not use Non-Fat or Low)
• 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
• 2 Cups Sifted Flour
• 1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1/4 Teaspoon Salt

Filling:

• ½ Cup Chopped Walnuts
• 1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
• ¼ Cup Baker’s Sugar.  Set aside.

Mix-together walnuts, cinnamon, and baker’s sugar. Set aside.

Cream sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat well. Add vanilla and sour cream-and mix thoroughly. Sift together dry ingredients, and add slowly to other mixture, incorporating well.

Grease and flour 9″ tube / angel food cake pan.

Put 1/2 batter in pan and sprinkle with most of the filling mixture, reserving some for top of coffee cake. Put rest of batter on top of filling, smooth evenly with a rubber spatula and then remainder of filling on top, slightly pressing nut mixture into batter.

Bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees or until cake tester inserted into coffee cake comes out clean. Set on wire rack to cool. You should be able to remove cake from tube pan carefully with spatula and perhaps an extra set of hands from a family member to keep the circle intact. Serve with fresh coffee or a large glass of nice cold milk.

— Lynn Kathleen Adams
— RSCA Board Member since 1994