A New Year Contest

Kay over at Mason-Dixon Knitting has posted a contest.
She's calling it: The Grandma Mabel Memorial Recipe Box Show & Tell Contest

This is my late MIL's recipe box, a plain metal box from the office supply store, but inside there is treasure. The family's favorite recipe is for Never Fail Coffee Cake. It came in her Illinois Power & Light bill in the middle-30s or 40s, I think, and was an instant hit. It's sure to draw even the most dedicated dieter to the table.

NEVER-FAIL COFFEE CAKE

4 cups flour
2lb. oleo/margarine (I use ButterUp)
Cut oleo into flour as for pie crust

Mix in 1 pkg. dry yeast, 1 tsp. salt, 1/4 cup sugar.

Separate yolks and whites of 3 eggs. Set whites aside, keep at room temperature.

Beat the yolks, add 1 cup milk and mix into the dry ingredients. Cover with plate or cloth and refrigerate overnight.

FILLING: whip egg whites and gradually add 2 cup sugar until stiff.

When ready to bake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Divide dough into as many as four parts. Roll each part fairly thin. Butter dough lightly to 1" from all edges. Divide filling into the same number of parts as dough. Spread filling over dough, then sprinkle with brown sugar and shake cinnamon over the whole mess. Roll up, jelly roll style, seal edges with water and pinch. Place on baking sheet. Let rise awhile (about an hour). Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees--watch it--take out when light brown. Frost if desired.

You can do all sorts of things with it. Mix jam with the egg whites, add nuts or raisins. I also sometimes used canned apples but always went back to the plain brown sugar filling. When rolling up the dough see that the edges are sealed; otherwise the sugar runs out when melted.
If you make 3 or 4 small ones, freeze the others AND remember your figure.

I'm quite sure this is the entire recipe. I might wake up in the middle of the night and remember something else. Cutting the oleo into the flour gives it the flakiness. I've seen this same recipe where the oleo is melted in the milk and the sugar is dissolved as well and it isn't the same texture at all. Frosting is just powdered sugar, a bit of milk and vanilla if you want.

Good luck & Happy Eating!
(The italicized parts are Don's Mom's notes to him when she sent the recipe.)