Happy Thanksgiving! On this very busy morning, I thought it might be nice to put something warm in your belly to prep you for the upcoming feast. Besides, on the days you don’t have to go to work, when you are going to be in the kitchen anyway, how hard is it really to whip up a coffeecake while you sip your coffee? We turn our heat down at night, so it’s really nice to have the oven on and hot coffee while the house is waking up. 
I have no idea what makes this coffeecake Syrian as opposed to any other nationality. I keep meaning to ask my colleague, but never have the recipe with me at work. I expect it’s got something to do with the cinnamon. Or perhaps is just called Syrian because someone thought it sounded fancy. 
I love this coffeecake. It’s cinnamony and nutty with a sort of firm crust underneath the cake. The pecans add such a beautiful crunch to it. It’s simple and basic, but completely wonderful.
I wish I had some sort of great story that went along with this cake. I think I just made it on an ordinary day when I had time. It did make that day a little more special. 
Syrian Coffee Cake
Blend 2 cups of brown sugar, 2 cups of flour, and 1/2 cup or margarine together until it resembles coarse crumbs.
Put half of the crumbs into a 9″ square pan.
Stir 1 egg, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1 cup sour cream and 1 tsp baking soda into the remaining crumbs and pour into pan. Sprinkle on 1/2 cup of nuts. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.
Was this in Grandma’s or Great Grandma’s recipes? Icle is Icle Townsend. Her husband was the Ag teacher in Clarion and she was the mother of a classmate of Jim and me. She was from California and was not Syrian. Grandma did have a friend who was Syrian, however
No idea whose recipe it is. Whose handwriting?
My mother was making this prior to 1970 in NE Iowa, but we put ours in a 9×13 pan. Otherwise it’s identical. It must have originated in a magazine or Farm Journal or something. I do wonder why you say it’s “cinnamony” when it calls for nutmeg, but no cinnamon. That’s what makes it special…it’s not typical coffeecake where cinnamon is expected. I’m about to include my mother’s recipe in a cookbook we’re making for a gallery where I’m a member artist. I, too, was trying to figure out why this is “Syrian.” It remains a mystery.
Yeah, I don’t know what I was thinking. It doesn’t call for any cinnamon. Maybe I used some cinnamon?
I’m curious as to where in NE Iowa. My greats lived around Waterloo.
Checking back in, Anne! My mom is from Elkader and my dad is from rural Chickasaw County, but when Mom got this recipe, we were living in Tripoli, in Bremer County. Waterloo isn’t far from any of them. Mom’s recipe is cut out of a newsletter-type paper/font (meaning, typewriter!!!) and pasted onto a recipe card. She first made it in about 1968? I took a pan of this today to the gallery where we were selling our cookbook (Eclectics Gallery in Kansas City) and everyone who tasted it said, “I love that it’s got a…crust!” You don’t find a crust in most coffee cakes. I always use freshly grated nutmeg (something my mother wouldn’t have ever considered) and of course BUTTER…not margarine….and, oddly enough, when my mom was first making it, she used CANNED sour cream. I don’t think you can even buy canned sour cream anymore. I always liked it better with REAL sour cream. But that was back in the day when there were maybe 6 kinds of yogurt in the grocery store and we actually got yogurt for Christmas!!! That was a simpler time. 😉
I try to be true to the recipes when I make them, but always have a hard time when the recipe calls for margarine or canned something that I prefer fresh or frozen. I have bought so many things I never would’ve thought to buy because of this project.