One the way home from school yesterday with my 6 year old we were discussing his day. He began telling me about his friends and all the exciting things that happened in his kindergarten class that day. Including how he feel asleep during math and drew a great big line down his paper when his hand slipped. It’s interesting to listen to him relate his feelings of school and friends in our one on one conversations. These times in the car result in some of the best conversations I have with my kids. When I have them all to myself in the car I feel like they are willing to share things they wouldn’t speak up and share at our crowded dinner table. I love how if I will listen to them just for a minute, during this one on one time, they start to talk about almost everything they could possibly be thinking.
When I asked my talkative six year old what we should have for lunch, he paused for a minute as if in deep thought and then replied, “ We should have a cinnamon lunch!” As he grinned at me from ear to ear. I started to think of all the things we could make with cinnamon. By the time we pulled into our driveway we had decided that we would make cinnamon bread.
As I pulled out the ingredients, mixed the bread and baked it he was actively by my side. This a simple everyday moment but one that has changed the way I think about cinnamon. As I pulled the bread out of the oven I thought “mmmm, cinnamon lunch!”
Cinnamon Raisin Bread Recipe
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup warm water
2 packages active dry yeast
3 eggs
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup margarine, softened
1 cup raisins
8 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons milk
3/4 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1. Warm the milk in a small saucepan or microwave until it bubbles, then remove from heat and let cool.
2. Dissolve yeast in warm water, and set aside until yeast is frothy. Mix in eggs, sugar, butter or margarine, salt, and raisins. Stir in cooled milk. Add the flour gradually to make a stiff dough.
3. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface for a few minutes. Place in a large, greased, mixing bowl, and turn to grease the surface of the dough. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled.
4. Roll out on a lightly floured surface into a large rectangle 1/2 inch thick. Moisten dough with 2 tablespoons milk. Mix together 3/4 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons cinnamon, and sprinkle mixture on top of the moistened dough. Roll up tightly; the roll should be about 3 inches in diameter. Cut into thirds, and tuck under ends.
5. Place loaves into well greased 9 x 5 inch pans. Lightly grease tops of loaves. Let rise again for 1 hour.
6.Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes, or until loaves are lightly browned and sound hollow when knocked. Remove loaves from pans, and brush with melted butter or margarine. Let cool before slicing.