I loved Saturday mornings as a kid. I remember getting up at the crack of dawn to watch cartoons while the smell of something sweet and delicious wafted through the air. On special days, mom would make something wonderfully gooey and sweet for breakfast. I could never seem to drag myself out of bed for school but for cartoons and one of mom's special treats it was always easy. (Maybe that is why it is still a challenge to get up for work in the morning!) Of all the tasty Saturday morning treats mom made, here's one of my favorites that I would like to share with you.

Cherry Coffee Cake

• 1 cup shortening

• 1 3/4 cups sugar

• 4 eggs

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 3 cups flour

• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

• pinch of salt

• 1 can cherry or other pie filling

Cream the shortening and the sugar together in a large bowl. Add the eggs into the creamed shortening and sugar mixture and beat well. Add in the vanilla and the dry ingredients and mix well. Pour 2/3 of the batter into a greased 10 x 15 inch pan. Spread the can of pie filling over the top of the batter. Add in the rest of the batter by dropping by teaspoons onto the top, leaving dots on top of the pie filling. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes. Let it cool for a little while and then drizzle a powdered sugar frosting (just milk or cream and powdered sugar works fine) over the top while it is still warm. If it is frosted while it is still too warm, the powdered sugar frosting tends to just melt into the grooves so you will want to let it cool enough before frosting it.

Even young children can help out with this one. They can have fun with helping put the batter on top of the pie filling (as long as you can keep them from flinging the spoon full of batter around!). Helping to drizzle the frosting on top can also be fun for young ones (although they often end up eating as much as they put on top of the coffee cake so make sure to make enough frosting!).

This recipe makes a pretty big batch so unless you have a big family, you may want to invite some friends over to watch Saturday morning cartoons with you!