Blueberry Coffee Cake

I made this for the first time Christmas morning, and it was fantastic. It's got a flavorful, chewy toffee crust that bakes on the bottom, and is on the top when you flip it over. Texture is great, not too sweet, lots of blueberries. It's perfect!

Blueberry Coffee Cake

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup finely chopped pecans

1 1/2 cups flour

2/3 cup sugar

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

5 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 large egg

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place a rack in the lower third of the oven.  Grease a loaf pan.
2. Mix the brown sugar and pecans together.  Sprinkle evenly on the bottom of the loaf pan.
3. Whisk the dry ingredients - flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon - together.  Using a pastry blender (or pulsing with a food processor), cut the butter in until the mixture is like coarse crumbs.  If using a food processor, be very careful to pulse so you don't melt the butter.
4. Whisk the egg, milk and vanilla together.  Add to the dry ingredients and mix gently, until flour is just moistened.  Ingredients will be clumpy.  Mix in the blueberries until just mixed.  Spoon into the loaf pan and spread evenly.  Bake for 55-60 minutes, until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (except for berry juices).
5. Let stand in the pan for 5-10 minutes, to give the toffee topping time to harden.  Run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen.  Invert onto a serving plate.  (I find it easier to place the plate on top of the pan and flip them both.)  Let cool a few minutes before slicing.  Serve warm.

Variation:  Lemon Almond Blueberry Coffee Cake:  Use sliced almonds instead of pecans for toffee.  Skip cinnamon, and use zest from 1 small lemon instead.  Use 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1/4 teaspoon almond extract.