Cinnamon...Again???

Yes, folks...you read that right. I have made another cinnamon concoction. Well,  actually, before I made my cinnamon sweetness...I made these...

Then...I made this...

 I sure can get a lot of baking done when I'm iced in my house for 3, going on 4, days! The top picture is a recipe for country dinner rolls that I found at the last minute for an impromptu family potluck. Did I mention I live on the same street as my brothers and sister-in-laws? It's pretty nice being able to walk to people's houses and have a nice meal and get out of the house, even in dreary weather. The second pic, I'm calling Rumbleberry Cobbler. It's a mixture of rhubarb (my fav!), blueberries, blackberries, and granny smith apples. Oh, and don't forget the cinnamon, oat topping. It's loosely based on this.

But, after all that baking, I still wasn't tired. I posted my cinnamon rolls a few days ago...and that got me thinking about my favorite spice. You guessed it...cinnamon. I saw this recipe on the pioneer woman's site, so I just had to try and figure it out for myself. So...here it is.

Cinnamon Bread

First, collect all your scrumptious ingredients: yeast, eggs, milk, butter, flour, sugar, salt....mmm, already sounds good...wait, don't forget the cinnamon! Oh, and pull them out of the fridge a few hours beforehand to get them at room temperature. ( Like my last recipe, this one is adapted for a bread machine. If you don't have one, you could just check out the Pioneer Woman's site. She's not a cheater, like me.)

Melt 3/4 cups of butter with one cup of milk. I had skim milk...and it worked just dandy.

Now, for cheaters like me...just pile everything in there. My machine calls for wet ingredients first. People, I'm tellin ya...if you don't have a bread machine..go here and find a cheap one. I'm fairly new to all this bread-baking mischief, so it's helpful. So yeah, that's the warm milk/butter mixture.

Now, add those two room-temperature eggs.

Next, it's 3 1/2 cups of bread flour.

Add 1/3 cup of sugar. (No, you're seeing that right...I almost added in WAY too much sugar! I checked the recipe again right before I added it, only to find it was 1/3 of a cup... not 1 1/3 cups. Yikes!)

Next, 1 tsp. of salt. I added a little more because my butter was unsalted. Yep, that's salt...in a syrup dispenser. You could have one too, if you married someone like thefatlete.

Lastly, 2 1/4 tsp. of Bread Machine yeast. I always get a little nervous when a recipe calls for active yeast. I have Bread Machine yeast...which from my research tells me that I need to used a little less. Not really sure if that's true or not, but I did anyway.

Okay, so then I just put it in my machine, set it to the dough cycle...and went to catch up on Facebook.

After about 1 1/2 hours, scoop it out onto the counter (floured) and roll it out into a nice rectangle. Don't make it too wide though. Also, I sprinkled on a little more flour as I rolled it. 

Mix another 1/3 cup of sugar with 2 Tbs. of cinnamon. Heaven!

Smear the other 2 Tbs. of butter over the dough. You can even melt it first, if you're feeling sassy. Then, sprinkle the mixture evenly on the dough.

Roll it up nice and tight. Or, at least tight. Mine...not so nice lookin.

Looks more like a grub worm.

Plop that little grub worm down in your well-buttered bread pan. Make sure to place him seam side down!

Okay, wait...now I'm picturing more of a caterpillar...about to become a beautiful, yummy cinnamony butterfly! Now wrap him up (in his plastic wrap cocoon) and keep him warm for about 2 hours...so he can rise! A little trick: I kept my oven at 170 then turn it off and let the bread rise in there.

Well, he rose...but not very pretty sir! Oh well. Put an egg wash on that sucker. 1 egg + smidgen of milk. Then, put him in the oven at 350 for about 30-40 min. I think it's supposed to get pretty brown.

Yea! Brown and delish!

Now, set your lovely creation out to cool. Mmm...tell your mouth to stop watering. You can wait just a few more minutes!

Now is the time...now is the best time...now is the best time of your life...Does anyone else remember that ride from Epcot? It was a ride about the future with animatronic people singing about the inventions of the future. No?? Oh well, this is still going to be the best time of your life. Okay, maybe just the best time you've had while eating cinnamon swirl bread. Ahh...the fruits of your labor. It's not perfect...but food doesn't have to look perfect. It just has to taste perfect, right? And man...this sure does taste pretty close to perfection for me!

I hope you'll try it. Or, at least come back and try something else real soon!
-Meg