Here’s a simple and delicious breakfast coffee cake you can delight Mom or anyone else with. It’s great for Valentines Day, Easter, Mother’s Day or any other special occasion.

 It’s a yeast dough that rises twice: once the night before and once during the night.  You can also make the rings in the morning in about 2 hours start to finish.

You make it using canned cherries (not cherry pie filling). You can find canned cherries at supermarkets in the aisle with the canned fruits, not with the baking supplies where that horrible canned pie filling is found.

The dough

• ½ cup milk
• 1/3 cup shortening
• ¼ cup sugar
• ½ cup lukewarm water
• 1 package yeast (not instant)
• ½ tsp sugar
• 1 egg
• 3-4 cups flour

The filling

• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 can red pitted cherries, drained

The icing

• ½ lb confectioner’s sugar
• 4 Tb butter
• Milk about 3-4 Tb

1. Place the milk, sugar and shortening in a glass pitcher or bowl and microwave for one minute. The shortening does not need to melt completely.
2. Place the yeast, water and ½ tsp sugar in another pitcher and stir. Let it sit a few minutes until it’s foamy.
3. Put the warm milk mixture into the bowl of a food processer and add 1 cup of the flour.
4. Pulse briefly to mix.
5. Add the egg and mix.
6. Add the yeast and mix.
7. Add 2 more cups of flour, and enough more to make a smooth dough.
8. Let the dough rise for 60-90 minutes
9. Melt the butter and combine with the brown sugar and flour.
10. When the dough has risen, remove it from the food processor and divide it in half.
11. Roll out each half on a floured board to a 6″ by 18″ rectangle.

1. Sprinkle half the cherries, half the brown sugar mixture and half the nuts on each rectangle.
2. Roll the dough into a long tube and place the tube on a greased cookie sheet. Connect the ends and pinch them together to make a ring. Since this makes a round dough ring, you can use a pizza pan for the cookie sheet.
3. Repeat for the second half of the dough.
4. Make a series of cuts about 3/4 inch apart going from the outside about 3/4 of the way into the tube.
5. Take each slice and rotate it about 90 degrees, lifting and twisting it with your knife, so the cherry mixture is horizontal.
6. Cover the pan containing each ring with aluminum foil (sprayed with a little cooking spray) and cover both wrapped rings with a damp towel.
7. Allow them to rise in a cool place such as a basement or garage overnight. If you allow them to rise in the refrigerator, make sure they are tightly wrapped. In that case you may have to let them rise a bit more outside the refrigerator in the morning.
8. Before you go to bed, wash out the food processor so you can use it to make the icing in the morning.
9. In the morning, preheat the oven to 375 F.
10. Uncover the rings and bake them for about 15 minutes, until brown.

Ice with butter cream icing and serve warm.

Buttercream icing

Place the confectioners sugar and the butter in a clean food processor bowl and pulse until uniform. Add the milk, a little at a time until the icing is a smooth, spreadable mixture.