Friday, January 14, 2011

Afternoon Snack and a Quick Hostess Gift Tutorial

     In my house, we use a lot of butter.  Its a part of all that southern cooking, and it just makes everything taste good.  Yes, you have to work harder after you eat to get it all to balance out, but exercise is good for you anyways, right?
     One of my favorite things to do with butter is to make Cinnamon Toast.  So I'm going to share how I make it.  I think this is the best possible way to make Cinnamon Toast, I even converted the husbandman, which is not an easy thing to do.


     Put your toast on a cookie sheet.  Butter your toast, and then add cinnamon and sugar to taste.  Really about all the prep work these needs.  Turn the broiler on, and place the cookie sheet on the middle rack. While you are waiting for your toast to toast and your sugar to caramelize (yummy), and since you still have you cinnamon and sugar out, now is the time to work on a super easy and adorable concoction that makes a lovely hostess gift.


     Add about two tablespoons of cinnamon to a small mixing bowl.



Then add about six tablespoons of plain old white sugar.


Stir together, (I'm working on a smaller scale, as I'm just topping off a previous jar).  You can play with how much sugar and cinnamon to add. I just wanted enough cinnamon to make a sharp color difference between the mixture and the plain sugar.


     Find a mason jar, and check on your Cinnamon toast. Then layer the cinnamon mixture and more plain sugar in the mason jar.  I use about two tablespoons in each layer. Tap the jar lightly to get each layer to lay more or less flat.



     Pull your cinnamon toast out of the oven.  It is amazing.  The toast is crispy on the outside, and soft on the inside.  The butter has caramelized the sugar and cinnamon into a flaky and crumbling topping of deliciousness.


     Continue adding layer to your mason jar as you much on your well earned treat.  If the cinnamon sugar jar is going to be a gift, I would recommend filling it to the very, very top, so that the layers are less likely to mix together so that it is still pretty when you give it.  If it's going back into the cupboard, make as much as you like, it tastes just as good mixed together as it does in layers. For extra sprucing, cut out a circle of pretty fabric and sandwich it between the two parts of the lid (the flat lid and the screw-on ring.)

5 comments:

stephanie said...

This is definitely going to be my breakfast before chapel on Tuesday!

Mary Moury said...

So easy, and soooo yummy!

Lulu said...

I make my own cinn/sugar too, but had never thought to give it as a gift. Very pretty in a mason jar, good idea!

Mary Moury said...

Thanks! I gave it to my mother and mother-in-law as Christmas gifts. Martha Stewart's scented sugar sparked the idea. I couldn't find cinnamon sticks, and thought this might work as well. And it think its maybe even better!

Liz Backlund said...

Cinnamon toast is great! I like to use brown sugar instead of white.