Breaking into Fall baking

The saddest thing about my baking endeavor today is...I don't get to taste the final product. However, I can tell you the batter tastes AH-mazing! The hubby and I were invited to our new next door neighbors' house for a housewarming party. Given that we barely know them aside from over the fence chats about landscaping and our dogs, we didn't know if they need any house "stuff" or if they did, what they could possibly use (not to mention that with me not working, we're quite frugal). Not wanting to be a horrible guest by showing up empty handed (and making for awkward over the fence chats in the future) I thought "Hey house-wife-extraordinaire...bake something!"

Now that we're in fall, or as close to fall as we get in Florida, I wanted something that smelled like fall to fill my house with that wonderful fall smell of spices. But I also did not want to go shopping, and I have run out of pumpkin (which is a huge tragedy in my house...). So I decided to make cinnamon bread. No, I had never made this particular recipe before, so I simply hoped it would turn out well!

It was a pretty simple recipe...

Combine the dry ingredients...

Mix the dry ingredients together with a whisk until its all consistent. This is a super important thing I do in all my baking just so make sure the ingredients that cause the baked good to rise is fully incorporated through the entire batter. I also mix my dry ingredients together with a whisk, in any recipe, before adding the wet.

I added all the wet ingredients in my liquid measure first, so no wet ingredients got to the dry first...I like to have a nice even combination of all the ingredients to ensure a uniform batter. The order I added was the vinegar, milk, oil, eggs vanilla.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and get mixing! The recipe I used said to beat on medium speed for 3 minutes...I just used a hand mixture until it seemed well mixed. Little bubble started to form, and that seems sufficient to me (just a minute or two).

Then you're going to pour the batter into the pain. I used a butter flavored cooking spray on a glass Pyrex loaf pan. Then, a little trick I learned from making Amish Friendship Bread a million times (yum yum yum!), I coated the pan with cinnamon sugar as well. It helps the bread not stick to the pan (yes, I know the cooking spray does this as well) but it also gives it a little extra crunch when the sugar caramelizes while baking. You can leave this out if you want, but I love doing this with sweet breads.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. The original recipe I used called for adding a crumbly topping on it. It was 1 TB of butter, 1 TB cinnamon, and 1/4 cup of sugar, combined until crumbly and sprinkled on top. I did this for the first loaf I made, and honestly it was kind of a pain. The butter was softened, as the recipe said, and it became more pasty then crumbly. It didn't sprinkle nicely on top. So when I made the second load (which I HAD to after the first one was baking and making my house smell awesome) I simply sprinkled about 1/8 cup of sugar on top to get that extra crunch you sometimes get on top of cobblers. Try it either way you prefer.

Then into the 350 degree preheated oven it goes! 50 minutes exactly worked perfectly both times. And, if you're like me and have a happy little "helper" in the kitchen, allow her to lick the sugar from your fingers you'll undoubtedly get if you sprinkle it on before baking!

And voila! Cinnamon sweet bread :) You can thank me later for how awesome your house will smell!

Cinnamon Sweet Bread

Ingredients

2 cups flour

1 cup white sugar + 1/8 cup

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk - 1 tablespoon*

1 tablespoon vinegar*

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

*Milk and vinegar in recipe can be subbed out for 1 cup of buttermilk

1. Add all the dry ingredients (minus 1/8 cup sugar) to a large mixing bowl and whisk together.

2. Add all wet ingredients to a liquid measure.

3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and combine with a hand mixture on medium until small bubbles start to form.

4. Grease a loaf pan and coat with cinnamon sugar (1/4 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon).

5. Pour batter into prepared pan.

6. Sprinkle 1/8 cup sugar over the top of the batter.

7. Bake for 50 minutes in a 350 degree preheated oven.

8. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove from pan to wire rack; cool completely before storing.