Irish Authors and Cinnamon Bread

Happy belated Easter! We celebrated with a cold egg hunt in the backyard and a relaxing Sunday at my sister-in-law’s house in Chicago. It definitely does not feel like spring, because this morning, April 18th, we woke up to snow! Beautiful, and not that cold for a snowy day, but still. I’m so ready for spring. I want everything to be green and in bloom. I want to plant vegetables and cook and eat outside. Instead I’m wrapped in an electric blanket reading books and thinking about baked goods.

I’ve read some really great books by Irish authors lately and I’ve been contemplating the possible reasons that so many of the world’s best authors, past and present, are Irish. Is it the weather? The religious and political turmoil? I just read Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan, a short piece of fiction about the Magdalene Laundries - institutions run by the Catholic order which operated in Ireland from the 18th to the late 20th centuries, and where hundreds of young unwed mothers and their children experienced abusive conditions, cruelty and even death. It took just an hour to read but was so moving. And truly thought provoking. It made me think about the role of religion and morality in society and the tough decisions humans are faced with.

Immediately after finishing Small Things Like These, I listened to the book Acts of Desperation by Megan Nolan. It received a lot of praise and I was intrigued, but didn’t even know that it was by another Irish author until I started the audio version. I have to tell you, this one made me wish that all audiobooks could be read by people with Irish accents. The narrator of the book had such a clear and lyrical voice. And her accent just carried me away. I could not stop listening. The book, though sad and disturbing at times, was beautiful and compelling.

I have no idea what it is about Irish authors. But thank goodness for them. Especially because it is still snowing in late April. I may have to get another few books to carry me through this cold spring. And some more cold weather recipes as well. Here’s a good one that I cannot believe it took me so long to make; cinnamon bread.

This is the chocolate version. The first few loaves went to fast for us to photograph.

My kids recently developed a fondness for cinnamon bread. I made the mistake of buying it on sale at Piggly Wiggly earlier this year and they were hooked. These little half-loaves of cinnamon bread cost about $5 each! I get that there’s butter in there but doesn’t it seem way too expensive for grocery store bread? It feels that way, especially when my kids can polish a whole one off in one sitting. Of course my first thought was that I could make it myself without too much effort. And that it would be much cheaper (and better). I have my frugal, immigrant father to thank for that reaction I suppose. Thanks (for the bread) Dad!

My most trusted source when it comes to baking, is King Arthur Flour. They relentlessly test their recipes and manage to make them mostly impossible to mess up, even for amateur bakers like me. As suspected, they have a foolproof recipe for cinnamon bread. It’s super simple and really, really good. I started out by making a single loaf and made a double batch the next day. A couple of days later, I made another double batch but instead of making both cinnamon, I made one chocolate and one cinnamon.

These loaves disappeared so quickly. I laughed to myself that it would have cost $50 if I let my family consume that much store-bought cinnamon bread! And in addition to the savings, my house smelled amazing. There is no air freshener in the world that beats the smell of fresh bread. This bread also makes really good french toast. I made some the other day - in the oven, on a baking sheet - and it was so easy. Highly recommend.

Roll out the dough; Brush with egg wash: Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar; Roll up and put in the pan: Let rise until puffy and filling up the pan; Bake.

For cinnamon bread, I followed the recipe here, doubling it for two loaves.

For the chocolate version*:

Instead of using cinnamon sugar, I added mini-chocolate chips to one side of the bread as I rolled it out, and added cocoa powder and sugar in about a 1:1 ratio in place of the cinnamon sugar. I threw some extra mini-chocolate chips on top of the filling before rolling it up.

*The chocolate version was a hit, but don’t make this if your kids are chocoholics like mine are or they will never want the cinnamon version again.

4 Bumps and a Birthday Cake

The Irish have some weird traditions, I have to tell you. Have you ever heard of “Birthday Bumps”?  Birthday bumps are a tradition in Ireland where the birthday person is taken by the arms and legs and bounced up and down in the air with their head touching the floor the same number of times as their years of life. While I think my kids (including the birthday girl)  would have really enjoyed it if we bumped Noelle on her birthday, she’s gotten too big for me to do this without fear of dropping her on her head. Instead, I baked her a cake and let her lick the spoon.

These two were so excited about the cake and the birthday.

At her age (or any age), all you really need to make a birthday special is CAKE. Even though I didn’t know how to change a diaper until I had my first child, somehow I knew how important cakes were going to be to my kids. Before I had my oldest, Emmett, I bought all of the equipment necessary to make a layer cake. After he was born, I studied cake decorating youtube videos so that I would be ready for his 1st birthday.  Ever since, I’ve been making each of my kids a homemade cake for their birthdays.  Sometimes they tell me what flavor or theme they want months in advance, and just as with Halloween costumes, they change their minds at the last minute, requiring me to start from square one.   

This year, Noelle surprised me by sticking to the Chocolate on Chocolate “Lollipop” themed cake which she requested back in October. Paul thought I was going to make the cake look like a Lollipop. I told him that he’s clearly been watching too much of the Great British Bakeoff and who does he think I am anyway?  I made something much, much easier and all of the kids loved it. 

I decided to use a recipe from the amazing book Zoe Bakes Cakes, which I was able to download from the library. Amazingly, I followed the recipes exactly for both the frosting and the cake and I’m not sorry! I topped it with her fave, lollipops and a caramel apple, and a lollipop candle. She was in heaven. And it reminded me how little it takes to make their special day feel truly special. 

It looks wonky here but once it gets covered with frosting it will all even out.

I just spread it on thick and don’t worry about what it looks like. I’ll fix it later.

After smoothing things out a bit.

Don’t you just want to eat this with a spoon?

I made chocolate shavings that I put on the top. I tried to put them on the sides but just gave up. The frosting was too set by then and I was afraid I was going to ruin the cake by messing with it anymore. I bought the lollipops from Ashley’s and the candied apple from Sweettrio in Grafton. Love both shops! So many sweet treats!

 If you want to make this cake, the recipe is here. I scaled the cake recipe down by half to make a 4-layer 6-inch cake and I made ⅔ of the frosting recipe, which was EXACTLY enough. Emmett helped me with the math. Everyone helped me eat the tops of the cake layers after I leveled them. I cannot believe my baby is 4 years old! 

 Happy December everyone! I know it’s a busy time and I hope you are enjoying it.  I’ve been doing all of my Christmas shopping locally which has been really fun. We’ve shopped everywhere in Cedarburg, but also Grafton, Port Washington and other places close by and it’s been a great way to see more of the area. There are so many unique places to shop right here in our community. And for those of you who have shopped with us in Long Grove, Crystal Lake or here in Cedarburg, THANK YOU. It means so much to us that you have supported our family business. Whether you’ve been coming in for decades, or just once, we appreciate you. Happy Holidays! 

The Cedarburg Store is Open!

The Store! Isn’t it cute?

The store is open! Actually, it has been open.  For a month. It’s hard to believe. I’m late to the game here but it’s been a busy few weeks. We’re finally feeling settled in our new home, our new town and getting used to the changes that come with owning a small business.  Paul is working 7 days a week which is a lot, but he loves it! I’m trying to keep the kids occupied all weekend long, which is a lot too - thank goodness I love them. A lot has changed in our lives but as kids do, mine are demonstrating flexibility and resilience and have not skipped a beat. They started playground camp a few days after we moved and have made so many friends.  They are already regulars at the local pool, have favorite restaurants and love the outdoor concerts that are held every Friday night here in Cedarburg. This community has been so warm and welcoming to our family. We’re finding that Cedarburg has all of the charms of a small midwestern town AND there is so much going on here all of the time. It’s pretty amazing. I feel so lucky to be here and to be able to raise our family in a place like this.  

Ozaukee County Fair.

Summer Sounds.

Finally, after months of our lives being in flux and the contents of my kitchen being mostly in boxes, I’ve started cooking “for real” again. Paul and I decided that moving is not good for your health. Between having nothing in our kitchen cabinets for months after refinishing them to get the house ready to sell, being kicked out of our house for showings and all the trips back and forth between Cedarburg and Chicago, we’ve never eaten out more, or eaten as much junk. It feels so good to have my little hydroponic deck garden going full force and a fully stocked kitchen. I’ve also set it all up to promote efficiency.  When we started packing, I noticed that I had about a million glasses jammed in my cupboards when we only ever used the same two. The kids were always scaling my counters to get to their bowls and plates, which drove me bananas. We also had the weird “desk in kitchen” area that always ends up full of random junk - ours had drawers full of tools and hardware intermingled with tiny plastic toys, pens and pencils and old small electronics, cords, etc.. Ugh. Once we bought the new house, I vowed to be mindful about how I set up the kitchen, what I allowed in and where I put things. Now I’ve got boxes upon boxes of glassware in the basement that I will probably unload on the kids when they grow up and get their first apartments. I’m just glad they aren’t crowding my cupboards.  

Notice all my kids plates, bowls, cups and silverware on the second to the bottom shelf? And FINALLY a home for my appliances (other than my counter). If you told me 20-years ago that THIS would be improving my quality of life immensely, I would have been shocked and horrified. #momlife

Despite my rekindled interest in cooking, summer is not the season for it in my mind. In summer we like to grill, eat all of the tomatoes and peaches we can get our hands on, and eat outside as much as possible. But I have made a few things in the new kitchen.  For the fourth of July, I endeavored to make these amazing looking blueberry hand pies, but quickly figured out it was way too hot to make individual pies. What was I thinking? I ended up making a berry filling and an apple filling and turning the pies into galettes. Funny how sometimes failing is lucky.  If I hadn’t attempted the hand pies, I probably would have used a different pie crust recipe and never would have discovered how delicious the sour cream crust was. Maybe I’ll try to make hand pies again in the winter.

Half and half galette and one lonely hand pie.

I also made garlic scape pesto with local scapes, arugula, salted almonds and lemon. It’s good on everything. I like to thin it with a little pasta water and use it as pasta sauce or add a little more lemon juice and olive oil and use it as a sauce for grilled meats, fish or veggies.  It keeps well and makes the most simple meal into something a little bit special. Here’s how you make it. 

My dad told me not to buy this. He’s an avid gardener and thinks this is just a total waste of money. I don’t exactly think he’s wrong, but I disregarded his advice and got it anyway. I LOVE it. It probably does cost just as much as say, always buying your produce at Whole Foods (so, too much), but I having all of my herbs and so much produce growing on my deck is such a luxury. It’s hydroponic so I don’t have to water or anything. Amazing!!!

Ingredients

• 1 bunch garlic scapes (~10 garlic scapes)

• 1 cup arugula

• ⅓ cup roasted salted almonds

• Juice and zest of 2 small lemons or 1 large

• ½  cup olive oil

• ⅓ cup parmesan cheese

• Salt to taste

• Red pepper flakes (optional)

Don’t worry if you process and process and the pesto still looks a little fibrous. You’ll notice when you chop them how tough garlic scapes can be, even after blanching. But I promise these little fibers are soft, you don’t notice when you are eating.

Directions

• Cut scapes into 3-inch pieces. 

• Blanch garlic scapes in salted boiling water for 1-2 minutes and immediately plunge into ice water. Drain scapes.

• Add scapes, almonds, Parmesan and lemon zest to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until roughly chopped. 

• Turn food processor on and slowly pour oil, followed by lemon juice and salt while continuing to process. 

• Taste and add salt as needed.

This photo makes me sad. I wish I had more!