Plum-Spice Sour Cream Coffee Cake

2c Bisquick Baking Mix

1t baking soda

1T cinnamon

1t nutmeg

1c quick cooking oats

2 jumbo eggs

1 stick butter - melted

1-1/3c light brown sugar

10oz. sour cream

10oz. plum preserves

1/2c Bisquick

1/2c coarse natural sugar

4T butter

1t cinnamon

1t nutmeg

I'm not intuitive in regard to baking.  I am with cooking, which to me is more of an art.  Baking is a science, and it sort of scares me.  Today I had three ingredients in mind.  Oatmeal, Bisquick and plum preserves.  I thought that sounded like a great start for a coffee cake.  So I searched with Google on those ingredients and didn't come up with much.  I finally used ideas from several basic recipes in creating my own here.

In a medium bowl, combine the first five ingredients.  Crack in the eggs.  In a small pan, melt the butter and add the brown sugar, stirring well.  Add this to the bowl, along with the sour cream and stir well with a wooden spoon.

Spoon about 1/4 of the batter into a small bowl and combine with the plum preserves.  Spread 1/2 of the remaining batter into a well buttered 9x13" glass pan.  Spoon the plum mixture on top and spread.

Add remaining batter and spread it over the other two layers.  In another small bowl, combine the last five ingredients for the crumble topping.  Cut with a pastry cutter or two knives until the butter is small pea size.  Sprinkle this over the coffee cake.  Bake in preheated 350° oven for about 50 minutes.  Cool completely before cutting into squares. . .Lin