Recipe Background
Amish Cinnamon Bread: a laid-off comfort dish with soothing swirls and rich flavors.
The first loaf of this Amish cinnamon bread came to life during my laid-off comfort dish days. It was a chilly November, and I had just left a job that, truth be told, never really felt right. I remember heading to the kitchen, determined to create something from almost nothing, armed with staples like flour, sugar, and cinnamon—the trifecta of transcendent baking therapy. As I softened a good amount of butter and preheated the oven, warm memories of simpler times began to fill the room. The act of creaming butter and sugar, a methodical dance of ingredients, soothed my mind as freshly cracked eggs added richness to the scene.
Once the batter came together with the tangy buttermilk and steady hands, I layered the loaf pans with alternating ribbons of batter and cinnamon-sugar. The room began to fill with the tantalizing aroma of sugar caramelizing with cinnamon as the golden loaves baked. Swirling the batter with a knife, I felt like I was creating something entirely new—perhaps not unlike my upcoming career chapter. After allowing the bread to cool just enough, slicing into it revealed swirls reminiscent of the whirlwinds of recent life changes.
One handy tip I’ve since shared is to ensure the loaves cool in the pans; it makes slicing a breeze while keeping the swirls intact. Every slice was a reminder of resilience and reinvention, and much like life, the sweetness of each moment was best savored with patience.
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened
- 2 2/3 cups sugar divided
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 4 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Cream together the butter, 2 cups of the sugar, and the eggs.
- Add the buttermilk, the flour, and the baking soda.
- Divide 1/2 of the batter into two greased loaf pans, so that there is 1/4 of the batter in each pan.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the remaining sugar and the cinnamon.
- Sprinkle 3/4 of the cinnamon-sugar mixture on top of the batter in each pan.
- Add the remaining batter evenly to the pans and sprinkle the tops with the remaining cinnamon-sugar topping.
- Swirl the batter gently with a knife.
- Bake until the loaves are cooked through, about 45-50 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the centers of each should come out clean.
- Cool the loaves in the pans for 20 minutes before removing them from the pan.
- Serve!
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