I learned to make cinnamon toast at my father’s knee. Incorrectly made cinnamon toast, like incorrectly made oatmeal, was simply not fit to eat! So for all those whose parents were uneducated in the ways of proper cinnamon toast, I offer the following tutorial.
Daddy’s Cinnamon Toast Rules
1. Wheat-esque bread required. Natures Own, Roman Meal…something not-white, yet still light and springy.
2. Sugar and cinnamon MUST be combined PRIOR to sprinkling. (Preferably shaken to death in a tiny orange 1978 tupperware container.) The proper ratio of sugar to cinnamon is near 2:1, but is best determined by experience.
3. It is best made in a janky toaster oven, but can be made in an oven-oven. Regardless, bread MUST be toasted for several minutes before applying butter. Compacted-by-butter-application toast is totally unacceptable.
4. SALTED butter or margarine (Smart Balance Light for me..no dairy, gluten, or trans-fats) is applied before cinna-sugar. This is the tricky part. Only experience can teach you the perfect balance of butter to cinna-sugar. Puddles of butter on finished toast is unacceptable, as are dry patches where the sugar shakes off.
5. RE-toast, LISTENING for the perfect time to remove. Proper cinnamon toast is AUDIBLE. The sugar and butter bubble together in harmony, creating a delicious crust that adheres to the bread. Properly constructed cinnamon toast can be held upside down without showering sugar crystals everywhere OR dripping butter on the table.
6. Slice in half and eat from the inside out. Never start at the corner!
I keep a container of sugar and cinnamon mixture on hand at all times, just in case the mood for cinnamon toast strikes me!
Like now.
I read posts like this, smile, and think “thank goodness, there is hope for the future!”
Traditions.
I am cracking up about the 1978 Tupperware container! I know just the one you speak of! And you are SO right about eating from the inside out…it’s a must. Although, I will say, I don’t mind a bit of a puddle of butter all soaked up with the delicious cinna-sugar mixture…ahem.
Fun post!
I know just the Tupperware! I took carrots and raisins to school every day for at least three years using those containers. Then I got the Tupperware lunchbox with all the different square containers inside. I used to sled down the hill to get to school. Then the handles broke, then I got in trouble, and then there was no more Tupperware for me.
edit! I would sled down the hill ON the Tupperware box to get to school.
Ooooh, delicious childhood! During sleepovers my friends and I would stay up all night, wired on cinnamon toast and orange juice!
Remember when Tupperware was cool??
Oh, yummy! I guess I’ll have to go shopping now:)
I must have cheese on my cinnamon toast. It was a practice that my daycare started when I was a tot, 30 years later, still a must.
Sounds like something we could eat in Wonderland!! (cue English accent..or whatever accent Johnny Depp has..French? Southern? He is from Kentucky, you know?) And what kind of beverage would be best to accompany your cinnamon toast, my dear?
I agree with one exception: nibble the crust off first, then all you have is insides.
Thanks for reminding me of this! When any of us kids woke up after a nightmare, my dad would take us to the kitchen and give us “bear toast” (cinnamon toast just like yours. I don’t know where the name came from.) and warm milk. The perfect cure.
So many happy memories from childhood… it was my can’t-sleep food too. My mom always says that the perfect sugar/cinnamon ratio is 1 tablespoon to 1 teaspoon.
It had never occurred to me to re-toast after putting the butter and cinnamon/sugar on, but it sounds PERFECT. Can’t wait to try it!
This brings back so many memories! My dad made his toast just like this (minus the pre-toasting, we liked the way it squished). He makes it for my little girl now. Almost every morning for breakfast when I was in high school, he’d make me oatmeal and cinnamon toast. Such an act of love. Thanks for the memories, and for posting the correct way to make cinnamon toast. I haven’t mastered it yet, how to not burn the corners before the cinnamon/sugar crust is done. I guess it’s just practice.
Thanks for bringing back some wonderful memories. I am 55 years old, but remember as a child going to my grandparents house and my grannie made the best cinnamon toast. Made it in the oven, of course. It smelled and tasted so good. For some reason, mom’s never was as good as grannie’s. She used her own home made bread though, sliced just a bit thicker than store bought bread. It was heaven! She served it with sweetened coffee with heavy cream liberally added. I thought it was the best thing ever. Thanks for reminding me.
Re-toasting the toast? Never heard of it but now I am gonna have to try it. The perfect excuse to go purchase that bright red toaster/toaster oven I’vebeen thinking about!
I remember when my son found out I knew how to “make” cinnamon sugar! It was an adorable, unforgettable moment! 🙂
Hmm…bit different method here. I soften the butter, put it on the untoasted bread, then put on the sugar and then sprinkle cinnamon over the top separately. I know, it breaks all your rules….but it’s MY perfect cinnamon toast, and OH so good!
oh my gosh! i havent eaten cinnamon toast in years and made a piece just 2 days ago. i was totally with you as far as butter and cinnamon-sugar application, but never considered a 2nd toast. i am going to try it. i am also going to cut and eat from the inside out. i always start at the corner. i wonder if it has impacted my cinnamon toast satisfaction this whole time?
“It is best made in a janky toaster oven” – ha!
“Puddles of butter on finished toast is unacceptable”
What? No. That crap is delicious and perfectly acceptable.