you're making mealtime meaningful.
What are your thoughts on old-fashioned, cinnamon sugar-coated doughnuts? We’re lovers of all doughnuts, but that classic is sometimes just too hard to beat. It’s simple perfection and we can’t get enough! While we love the traditional treat, we knew we wanted to bake something inspired by it, but with a twist. Instead of making a batch of doughnuts – which, fried or baked is still a fair amount of effort – we went with a loaf bread version of our favorite doughnut. And that’s not the only exciting part; there’s a cinnamon swirl running through the middle of the loaf and we take things one step further once it’s out of the oven to ensure absolute delectability….
What that extra step, you ask? Well it might seem a little decadent and ridiculous, but it seriously makes all the difference. The bread itself is so yummy on its own, but we think a little dip in some melted butter and then a roll-around in a cinnamon sugar mixture really bumps up the flavor and look of this recipe, plus, it’s what makes it doughnut bread! Your loaf would be great even if you decided to skip this last step, but trust us, you don’t want to do that.
Another step you don’t want to skip comes in the middle of the recipe. While we use the main batter as the base of the recipe, we take a small amount of it to form a second, cinnamon-spiced batter that then gets dolloped into the main mixture and marbled into your beautiful loaf. While it would save a bit of time to just keep everything as one batter, this step ensures a marbled dessert that’s impresses everyone. Marbled bread: check. Cinnamon sugar coating: check. Amazing dessert or brunch recipe to always have on hand in a pinch: check-check!
Cinnamon Doughnut Bread
Yield(s): Serves 8
1 hour 10 minutes
you're making mealtime meaningful.
Ingredients
- Bread:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon molasses
- Topping:
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 350º and lightly grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan with butter or non-stick spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt, and set aside until ready to use.
- In a large bowl or mixer, beat together oil, 1/4 cup butter and white sugar for 3-4 minutes, or until fluffy and lightened in color.
- Beat in eggs one at a time, then mix in vanilla extract.
- Starting and ending with the dry ingredients, alternate between adding the flour mixture and buttermilk to the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined.
- Remove 3/4 cup batter to a separate bowl, then mix in brown sugar, cinnamon and molasses until incorporated.
- Pour 1/2 regular (non-cinnamon) batter into your greased loaf pan, then take spoonfuls of cinnamon batter and drop them over the regular batter, continuing until half of cinnamon batter is used.
- Take a knife or toothpick and gently swirl batters together to make a marbleized look.
- Top with remaining 1/2 standard batter, then spoon remaining cinnamon batter on top. Repeat marbling process, being careful not to overmix.
- Place baking dish in oven and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out mostly clean.
- Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.
- Melt 1/2 cup butter and place in a large, shallow dish.
- In a separate, shallow dish, whisk together sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon.
- Take loaf and dip all sides in melted butter (melting more butter, if necessary), then press all sides of loaf into cinnamon sugar mixture, pressing gently to make sure it adheres.
- Let cool, then slice, serve, and enjoy!
Recipe adapted from Lauren's Latest