French Kissed

French Toast is my very favorite breakfast food. Well, maybe it's even with pancakes. But I consider French Toast to be much more of a treat than pancakes. Maybe it's because my mom used to serve it to me with clear syrup, and I thought that was the coolest thing when I was seven years old. Or maybe it's because I had a love/hate relationship with it when I was younger. I used to love the soggy bread but hate the egg bits on the sides. The older I've gotten (I'm quite old), the more I love the egg, though.



I was in charge of all the meals on Christmas this year, so I picked Baked French Toast for breakfast. First of all, I should mention that I cut the bread in the recipe but didn't think to cut the egg concoction, so our end result was much more eggy and soggy than a normal batch would have produced. It was pretty great, though; sort of like a scrambled egg/bread pudding combination. With syrup on top.



Baked French Toast
Makes about 10 servings
1 loaf French bread, cut diagonally in 1 inch slices
8 eggs
2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups half-and-half cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup butter
1 1/3 cups brown sugar
3 tablespoons light corn syrup

Butter a 13x9 inch baking dish. Arrange the slices of bread in the bottom. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, milk, cream, vanilla and cinnamon. Pour over bread slices, cover, and refrigerate overnight.

The next morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar and corn syrup; heat until bubbling. Pour over bread and egg mixture. Bake in preheated oven, uncovered, for 40 minutes.

ULTIMATE

Just to be clear, this wasn't dubbed the Ultimate recipe by me, but by these people. I have to admit, they are pretty amazing. This was another recipe that I made twice in one week; I had to try it out before I made it for a friend for commission. The yeast, etc. was pretty time-consuming, as it usually is, but it was definitely worth it. For the first batch, I didn't even have to proof the sliced rolls because they were already so big from the first proofing.



These were gooey on the inside, and soft and bread-y on the outside; the dough reached a lovely golden-brown color. The frosting was a little overpoweringly sweet, so I used it sparingly and I let it soak in overnight. And I made some dairy-free frosting for the two rolls I gave to Andrew by combining a little bit of soy milk and vanilla with powdered sugar.



Ultimate Cinnamon Rolls with Vanilla Frosting
Makes 9 big rolls

1 ½ packages (about 3 ¼ teaspoons) dry yeast
¼ cup warm water
½ cup shortening
1/3 cup sugar
1 ½ teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 egg
4 to 5 cups sifted flour
Melted butter
Brown sugar
Cinnamon
Raisins (optional)

2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 to 4 tablespoons milk or cream

Add the warm water to the yeast and soak 10 minutes.

Scald milk; pour over the shortening. Add sugar and salt and cool to tepid. Add the dissolved yeast and beaten egg. Add 4 cups flour adding one at a time beating after each addition.

Dough should be soft yet firm enough to handle. Knead on floured board until elastic and smooth. Avoid too much flour. Turn dough into well oiled bowl. Let rise for 1-1/2 hours.

Press dough down and divide into workable size. Roll dough out into a rectangle. Cover with melted butter. Layer with a generous thick layer of brown sugar. Sprinkle on cinnamon as desired. If you like raisins, layer on a layer of raisins. Roll up jellyroll fashion. For all of this stuff, I just sort of eyed the amounts; don't be afraid to add a lot of cinnamon.

Using scissors or a piece of string (I just used a knife), cut off slices about 1 to 1-1/2 inches thick. Place slices in an 9-inch square greased cake pan. Press rolls down to even out and fill pan. Let rise until rolls fill the pan generously, about another hour.

Bake in a 350 degree F oven for about 25 to 30 minutes. If rolls get too brown, cover with a piece of tine foil until the end of baking. Do not over bake rolls.

Remove immediately from pan by inverting onto a plate and then tip over onto another plate to right the rolls.

To make the frosting, place sugar, butter and vanilla in a medium-sized bowl. Then stir in enough milk or cream to reach a thick, hardly-able to stir consistency.

Spread over warm rolls as soon as they are placed on a plate to let the frosting melt and run into the rolls.

The 12-Step Program for Cinnamon Rolls

There are a few things that I did wrong with the Simple Sweet Dough recipe when I halved it. Let's list them:
A. I used three times the amount of butter needed (1 1/2 cups, as opposed to 1/2 cup).
B. I don't have a standing mixer and I don't have a paddle attachment.
C. I failed to finish Step 1 properly; I didn't let the yeast become bubbly.

I think A is the most serious offense, though.



Other than the rolls being very, very, very tender and buttery (due to A), they were good. All they really needed was a little more salt in the dough and a little more cinnamon in the filling, and perhaps in the frosting, and who knows? Those things could have been fixed by using less butter. Unfortunately, I will have to make these again to find out how they really taste.



The entirety of this recipe comes from a blog called Pittsburgh Needs Eated



Simple Sweet Dough
Makes enough for 2 pans of cinnamon rolls

4 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup warm water (110 to 115 degrees)
1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1/2 cup milk
3 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Rinse a small bowl in hot water to warm it. Add 1 tablespoon of the sugar and the warm water to the bowl. Sprinkle the yeast over the water; don't stir. Cover the bowl with a saucer and let the mixture stand for 5 minutes. Stir it briefly with a fork, cover again, and let it stand for 2 to 4 minutes more, or until bubbly.

In a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix on low speed the 3 cups of flour, remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar, and the salt. Add the slightly firm cubed butter and continue to mix until meal-sized crumbs form, 2 to 4 minutes, depending on the temperature of the butter. Stop the mixer.

In a small, separate bowl, mix the milk, egg yolks, and vanilla with a fork. Add the milk mixture to the flour, along with the dissolved yeast, and mix on low speed for about 15 seconds. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Mix on low speed for another 30 seconds, or until smooth dough is formed. Don't worry if the dough is sticky; this is a soft dough.

Lightly butter a medium bowl for storing the dough. Empty the dough into the prepared bowl, smoothing the top with lightly-floured hands. Spread a thin layer of softened butter over the top and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for a least one night and up to 3 days. If making cinnamon buns, be sure to remove the dough from the refrigerator 1 to 1 1/2 hours before using.

Cinnamon Rolls
Makes 9 rolls

1/2 recipe Simple Sweet Dough
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 tablespoons, firmly packed, dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten with 1 teaspoon water, for egg wash
1 small recipe vanilla glaze, optional

Generously butter an 8-inch square pan. Line the bottom with parchment and set aside.

In a small bowl, using a wooden spoon, mi x the butter, sugars, syup, cinnamon, and salt until smooth.

Place the dough on a lightly-floured surface. Gently knead six or eight times to coat with flour. Pat or shape the dough into a rectangle; roll the dough into a 9-by-12-inch rectangle with the 9-inch side parallel to the edge of the counter.

Spoon dollops of the cinnamon filling evenly across the dough. If the butter wasn't too soft, you should be able to spread the filling across the dough with your hands; make sure the leave a 1 1/2-inch border on the far edge. Lightly brush the border with the gg wash.

Starting at the side of the rectangle closest to you, roll the dough tightly. Pinch the seam well to seal the flap. roll the log back and forth a few times to seal the layers. With your hands, gently stretch the log until it measure about 12 inches in length.

Cut the log into 9 even pieces and place them cut-side-up in the baking pan, spacing them evenly. Press the tops of the buns gently to even the surface. Cover the pan with a tea towel and set it in a warm place to allow the buns to rise until puffy and almost doubled, 45 to 60 minutes.

Before baking, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Gently brush the tops of the bunns with egg wash. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown. If the buns are browning too quickly, lay a sheet of aluminum foil over the top to allow the center of the buns to bake through. Remove the buns from the oven and allow them to sit for 15 minutes. While the buns are cooling, make the glaze.

Invert the buns onto a cooling rack or plate and remove the parchment paper. Invert the buns once more onto a rack or plate and drizzle with glaze while they are still warm.


Vanilla Glaze

2/3 cup strained powdered sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons very hot water
1 1/2 teaspoons light corn syrup
1/8 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon lemon juice
dash of salt

Place the powdered sugar in a small bowl. Add 2 teaspoons of the hot water with the rest of the ingredients. Stir until smooth and add the rest of the hot water or more as needed to make a thin glaze.

Be sure to make this just before using, as it gets crusty very quickly. Milk or cream can be substituted to make a creamier glaze.

First Day of Spring

I honestly have no idea where I got this recipe, but I'm pretty sure it was vegan when I found it. Slowly I've added all sorts of animal by-products and other assorted ingredients and now I guess it's technically mine.



This is a very hearty fall/winter quickbread that I'm posting about at exactly the wrong time. People will eat it year round, however because it's mild and sweet and a good accompaniment to coffee. I like to coarsely chop the pecans, while the original asked for finely-chopped, but that's just because I like big crunchy things in my breads to add some interest and texture. I think my favorite part of this bread is that it has a crusty outside, which doesn't often happen when it comes to quickbread.



Don't be afraid to give this to a picky eater or someone who especially dislikes oatmeal; after the bread is baked, the quick oats are barely discernible.



Maple Oat Pecan Bread
Makes 2 loaves

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cinnamon
4 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup maple syrup
6 tablespoons (3/8 cup) packed brown sugar
3 cups buttermilk*
2 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottoms only of two nine-inch bread pans.

In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Whisk together until blended. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs with the oil until smooth. Whisk in the maple syrup, brown sugar, and buttermilk. Stir in the oats and pecans.

Add wet ingredients to dry and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined. Pour into pans, smooth top, and bake until golden-brown and a tester inserted into the center of a loaf comes out clean, about 60 minutes.

*To make buttermilk, take 3 cups of milk and add 2 tablespoons of vinegar or lemon juice to it. Let sour for at least 10 minutes and use in place of buttermilk.

Baby, Ginger, Sporty, Scary, and Posh

I found a recipe for a Starbucks-inspired Chocolate Cinnamon Bread a long time ago and saved it to my computer. Unfortunately, I didn't keep track of the original website, so I can't properly give credit; however, I did find a number of sites with the exact same recipe as the one I received, and I think this one is the most likely candidate for being the source.



I tend to add at least a little bit of cinnamon to just about everything I bake, so the idea of chocolate and cinnamon combined into a dense, moist quickbread with a crispy sugar-spice topping is pretty exciting to me.



As I said before, I've had this recipe for almost a year and have hesitated to use it; possibly because it takes so much butter and butter is getting more expensive each week. The point is, my finals today were postponed until Thursday and I baked all day long, eventually getting around to this recipe.



I am so happy we had frigid weather; otherwise, it might've taken me another year to taste the thick, warm, chocolate deliciousness that is involved with eating this bread. The bread is soft and moist while the crust is sweet and crunchy; the loaves don't rise as much as my other quick breads, but the actual texture is dense and compact, and you definitely get as much bang for your buck as you would with, say, banana bread. I cannot honestly recommend any quick bread more than this one. Bake this!


Chocolate Cinnamon Bread
Makes 2 nine-inch loaves

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
5 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 cup granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves or allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9-inch loaf pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.

Make the chocolate batter: in the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar with the paddle attachment on medium speed, until light and creamy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each egg is completely incorporated before adding the next and scraping down the sides of the bowl several times.

Meanwhile in a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. In another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, water and vanilla. With mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk mixture to butter, beginning and ending with the flour and beating just until blended. Divide the batter between the two pans; shake the pans to even the tops and set aside.

Make the cocoa-spice sugar crust: In another bowl, whisk together the sugar, cinnamon, cocoa, ginger, and cloves. Sprinkle the surfaces of both batters with the cocoa sugar mixture, dividing evenly. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 to 50 minutes. Let cool complete, run a thin knife around the sides to release the breads, and remove the loaves from the pans. This is the hardest part: half of your crispy sugar topping will fall off. I don't yet know how to remedy this.

Spectacular Contraption

On top of being allergic to milk, which excludes a lot of extraneous ingredients from cookies, my boyfriend tends to like only certain types of cookies. A few days ago, I was really getting the urge to bake, so I asked him what he would want that would be new and different. He suggested a combination of peanut butter cookies and snickerdoodles.



Now, if you read faithfully (ha), you'll remember the last time I made peanut butter cookies, I didn't really like them, but the recipient said they were good and I decided I just didn't like peanut butter cookies. After making a different recipe from a book that has yet to steer me wrong, I realized that I do actually like peanut butter cookies, just not Martha's.



The most important aspect of this recipe is timing; you want to pull the cookies out a little bit before they actually look ready, but not too early because then they'll be extra crumbly and fall apart.


Peanutdoodles
Makes 2 dozen if you don't eat half of the dough

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar (preferably superfine)
1/2 cup light brown sugar (preferably unrefined)
1 egg
1 cup peanut butter, crunchy or chewy
Pinch of salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons sugar

Sift the flour and baking soda together. In a separate bowl, beat the butter and sugars until soft and creamy. Combine the egg, flour mixture, peanut butter, and salt. Add the butter and sugar mixture until smooth.

Wrap the dough in foil or parchment and refrigerate for at least two hours. Meanwhile, make the cinnamon-sugar topping; combine ground cinnamon and sugar together in a small bowl with a fork. If you run out, make more in the same ratio. Remove from the refrigerator and preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Shape the dough into 1 1/4-inch balls and roll completely in cinnamon sugar mixture before placing at least two inches apart on baking sheets. Flatten slightly with a fork and use fork to make classic criss-cross patter. Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden.

Back to School

Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day, especially if you're in college. What's the point of getting up and going to class if you're just going to be exhausted and hungry by the middle of it?

To kick off the beginning of the Fall semester, I made gb some doughnut muffins, which covered both his love of doughnuts and my muffins. Also, they are easy for him to pop in his mouth as he runs out the door to drive to school.



After baking these, I melted the soy butter in a small glass bowl and dipped the tops of the muffins in the butter. I then dipped the buttery tops into a bowl of cinnamon sugar. This proved to be only slightly foolproof - I ended up with a lot of cinnamon sugar ground into the paper cups that I had lined the pan with. Oh well, more sugar means more energy, right?



I insisted that gb help me make these, just because it was nighttime and I like it when he bakes with me because he's pretty good at following directions. He mixed the dry ingredients while I combined the wet and he ate the first one after it was topped.



These turned out to have an dense texture, which was good for a while, but they dried out after a few days and, as this recipe makes such a large batch, this led to quite a bit of waste. However, if you are having a large breakfast/brunch get-together or if you halve this recipe, I think it will turn out perfect. And while they may not be a part of your complete breakfast, they're still pretty damn good.



Doughnut Muffins
Makes about 2 1/2 dozen muffins

½ cup butter, softened
¾ cups sugar, plus 1/8 cup of sugar
2 large eggs
3 cups flour
½ tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
¾ cup milk (I used soy)
¼ cup heavy cream

¼ cup butter, more if needed (I used soy)
½ cup sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard muffin pan with muffin cups.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and the sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until just mixed in. In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Combine the vanilla, milk and heavy cream.

With a spoon, mix a quarter of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Then mix in a third of the milk mixture. Continue mixing in the remaining dry and wet ingredients alternately, ending with the dry. Mix until well combined and smooth, but don't overmix.

Scoop enough batter into each tin so that the top of the batter is even with the rim of the cup, about 1/2 cup. Bake the muffins until firm to the touch, about 25 to 30 minutes.

To finish, melt the butter for the dipping mixture in a small bowl. Combine the sugar and cinnamon in another bowl. When the muffins are just cool enough to handle, remove them from the tin, dip them into or brush them all over with the melted butter, and then roll them in the cinnamon sugar.

Cinna-swirly

One day, Andrew happened to be looking over my shoulder as I scrolled through Gigi Cakes' blog when he saw something that he liked.



Apparently, Betty Crocker (the brand, not the lady) held some sort of recipe contest, and one Lynette S. won $5,000 with a cookie version of a cinnamon roll. Basically, instead of yeast and flour and such, you use the sugar cookie dough that you make from the Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie mix.



Anyway, Gigi Cakes had changed the directions to the recipe a little; instead of rolling each "Cinna-spin" separately, you roll a big sheet and cut it into slices. Then, she put hers into muffin liners and baked them. It was a twist on a twist on a twist, so to speak. (A twist in triplicate?) I changed the recipe by not rolling as evenly, leading to a much more unattractive end product, and using copious amounts of nonstick cooking spray as opposed to paper liners. Also, I substituted soy milk in place of regular milk in the icing recipe since they were for my lovebunny with the dairy allergy.



He enjoyed these a lot - the pictures in this post are actually from the second time he requested me to make them in two weeks. They really do taste like the cookie equivalent of a cinnamon roll. The cinnamon is in perfect proportion with the sweetness of the cookie and the icing. Plus, if I had taken more time and rolled out the sheet of dough more evenly, they would be supercute to boot.



Andrew reviewed these as the perfect combination of crunchy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. He also liked them a lot because of their size; he refers to it as bite-size, but it usually takes me at least two or three bites. Either way, he likes them a lot.



Cinna-spin Cookies
Makes about 20 cookies

1 (1 lb 1.5 oz) pouch Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons (soy)milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

In a large bowl, mix cookie mix and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Stir in butter and egg until soft dough forms.

Roll dough out onto wax paper and pat or roll into a 12-by-7-inch rectangle; the dough will be a little less than 1/4-inch thick. Cover dough with another sheet of wax paper and chill for at least thirty minutes.

After dough is chilled, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon cinnamon over the entirety of the dough, making sure to cover all of it. Starting with the long side of the rectangle, roll the dough away from yourself. Be sure to work quickly - the dough will fall apart easily when warm.



Spray about twenty regular-sized muffin cups with non-stick spray or line with paper cups. Slice the cookie dough into twenty or so equal pieces and bake for 13 to 15 minutes. Cool the cookies in the pan for about 5 minutes and then remove to cool completely on a wire rack.

Mix glaze ingredients in a small bowl until smooth. Drizzle over cookies and enjoy!

Snicker Delight

My boyfriend (Andrew/gb) is allergic to milk, so I often have the challenge of trying out new recipes that are dairy-free. Luckily, he can have milk as long as it is baked into something, so that broadens my baking horizons a little bit. I have recently just been substituting soy milk in icings as well and will probably be more soy-dependent in the future.



Anyway, he really enjoys sugar cookies and snickerdoodles, especially his mom's recipe. As I didn't have much experience with cookies that aren't chock-full of nuts and chocolate and such, I've been searching endlessly for a recipe for superb snickerdoodles.



I'm assuming I found the recipe a while ago, because it was just randomly saved onto my computer; if I remember correctly, I found it on a forum somewhere after I had googled "Snickerdoodles" in hopes of finally finding that one recipe. I didn't remember ever having made them, so I decided the other day that I should bake him some cookies.



These were rewarding; they weren't as magnificent as his mother's, but they were pretty darn good. Andrew was pumped about them and promptly devoured three or so when I gave them to him. I added some vanilla to the recipe because it seemed a little to utilitarian to be considered as whimsical as Snickerdoodles should be. I thought about adding a little bit of cream of tartar because I have never actually seen a Snickerdoodle recipe without, but in the end I decided to give it a whirl and they turned out just fine.



Snickerdoodles
Makes about 3 dozen cookies

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture.

Stir together cinnamon and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar in a small bowl (I recommend using a fork to combine these more thoroughly). Shape dough into 1 3/4-inch balls; roll in cinnamon -sugar mixture. Space 3 inches apart on greased baking sheets; press each ball down gently with three fingers.

Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are golden, 12 to 15 minutes.

The Truth About Coffee Cake

Today I'm going to talk about coffee cake. My boyfriend (gb) pointed out that I hadn't really posted anything about original recipes and suggested that I do so; this was really the only recipe I could think of that was mostly me, so I think it might have been something of a scam for him to get a coffee cake.



gb doesn't like cake much, but this is the exception - he could probably eat an entire one in two or three days. Luckily for him, I really enjoy making it because it's super-easy and I usually have all of the ingredients on hand. Plus, it only takes me about seven or eight minutes to throw it together and it always comes out perfect.



One specific thing to keep in mind with this recipe is your pan. I have always made these on those flimsy aluminum disposable 13x9's and they are always perfectly moist and crunchy after 38 minutes. The only time I have ever had problems with this recipe occurred when I used a plain metal baking pan - the cook time was off. Also, do not increase the amount of cinnamon too much, or it bakes into the cake and the crunch of the cinnamon-sugar is lost.



AwesomePossum Coffee Cake
Makes one 13x9-inch cake, about 24 servings

1 (18.25-oz.) box yellow cake mix
1 large box instant vanilla pudding mix (sorry, I don't know the exact ounce-age on this one)
4 large eggs
1 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 to 1 cup nuts, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a bundt or 13x9-inch pan (I've never actually made it with a bundt pan; I usually don't have much luck with them).

First, make the filling/topping: stir together the sugar, cinnamon, and nuts in a small bowl until completely combined (I usually use a fork instead of a spoon - it helps the cinnamon-sugar combine easier). In a large mixing bowl, sift together cake and pudding mix. Whisk in eggs, water, oil, vanilla, and cinnamon until mixture is completely smooth. Pour a little more than half of the batter into pan.

Sprinkle more than half of the cinnamon-sugar mix over the batter, making sure to cover most of it evenly. Then, top with the remaining batter; try to cover the entire first layer. Sprinkle more of the cinnamon-sugar over the top layer, saving a small amount. Take two butter knives and move them in opposite directions through the pan, marbelizing the cake until the cinnamon-sugar is spread evenly throughout. Then top with the remaining cinnamon sugar.

Bake for 38 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If you're lucky, a thin but crunchy crust will rise up on top of the cake.


Stay tuned later on for my birthday cake and a really easy coconut cream pie I'm making for my grandpa this week.