Irish Authors and Cinnamon Bread

Happy belated Easter! We celebrated with a cold egg hunt in the backyard and a relaxing Sunday at my sister-in-law’s house in Chicago. It definitely does not feel like spring, because this morning, April 18th, we woke up to snow! Beautiful, and not that cold for a snowy day, but still. I’m so ready for spring. I want everything to be green and in bloom. I want to plant vegetables and cook and eat outside. Instead I’m wrapped in an electric blanket reading books and thinking about baked goods.

I’ve read some really great books by Irish authors lately and I’ve been contemplating the possible reasons that so many of the world’s best authors, past and present, are Irish. Is it the weather? The religious and political turmoil? I just read Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan, a short piece of fiction about the Magdalene Laundries - institutions run by the Catholic order which operated in Ireland from the 18th to the late 20th centuries, and where hundreds of young unwed mothers and their children experienced abusive conditions, cruelty and even death. It took just an hour to read but was so moving. And truly thought provoking. It made me think about the role of religion and morality in society and the tough decisions humans are faced with.

Immediately after finishing Small Things Like These, I listened to the book Acts of Desperation by Megan Nolan. It received a lot of praise and I was intrigued, but didn’t even know that it was by another Irish author until I started the audio version. I have to tell you, this one made me wish that all audiobooks could be read by people with Irish accents. The narrator of the book had such a clear and lyrical voice. And her accent just carried me away. I could not stop listening. The book, though sad and disturbing at times, was beautiful and compelling.

I have no idea what it is about Irish authors. But thank goodness for them. Especially because it is still snowing in late April. I may have to get another few books to carry me through this cold spring. And some more cold weather recipes as well. Here’s a good one that I cannot believe it took me so long to make; cinnamon bread.

This is the chocolate version. The first few loaves went to fast for us to photograph.

My kids recently developed a fondness for cinnamon bread. I made the mistake of buying it on sale at Piggly Wiggly earlier this year and they were hooked. These little half-loaves of cinnamon bread cost about $5 each! I get that there’s butter in there but doesn’t it seem way too expensive for grocery store bread? It feels that way, especially when my kids can polish a whole one off in one sitting. Of course my first thought was that I could make it myself without too much effort. And that it would be much cheaper (and better). I have my frugal, immigrant father to thank for that reaction I suppose. Thanks (for the bread) Dad!

My most trusted source when it comes to baking, is King Arthur Flour. They relentlessly test their recipes and manage to make them mostly impossible to mess up, even for amateur bakers like me. As suspected, they have a foolproof recipe for cinnamon bread. It’s super simple and really, really good. I started out by making a single loaf and made a double batch the next day. A couple of days later, I made another double batch but instead of making both cinnamon, I made one chocolate and one cinnamon.

These loaves disappeared so quickly. I laughed to myself that it would have cost $50 if I let my family consume that much store-bought cinnamon bread! And in addition to the savings, my house smelled amazing. There is no air freshener in the world that beats the smell of fresh bread. This bread also makes really good french toast. I made some the other day - in the oven, on a baking sheet - and it was so easy. Highly recommend.

Roll out the dough; Brush with egg wash: Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar; Roll up and put in the pan: Let rise until puffy and filling up the pan; Bake.

For cinnamon bread, I followed the recipe here, doubling it for two loaves.

For the chocolate version*:

Instead of using cinnamon sugar, I added mini-chocolate chips to one side of the bread as I rolled it out, and added cocoa powder and sugar in about a 1:1 ratio in place of the cinnamon sugar. I threw some extra mini-chocolate chips on top of the filling before rolling it up.

*The chocolate version was a hit, but don’t make this if your kids are chocoholics like mine are or they will never want the cinnamon version again.