Cinnamon-Sugar Glee

When I was a child, I liked to sleep in. My wife likes to sleep in. My children like to sleep in. If left on our own, we would sleep past nine nearly every morning. However, being a responsible person I’ve bowed to the alarm, getting up with the sun for years in order to put in a full day’s work. I’ve adjusted, and even though I’ve come to enjoy the quiet solitude of the early morning hours, on weekends I still enjoy an extra hour or two of sleep—which is a pipe dream when visiting my in-laws.

Typically, when visiting Grandpa’s, my wife’s sister’s family is there too. Her kids don’t sleep late at all. They are up at the crack of dawn no matter if it’s a school day or weekend. The last time we were there her youngest woke up at 5:00 a.m. The rustling upstairs tends to stir my young’uns, rousing them into energetic wakefulness. Before I know it, I’m in the kitchen at 7:30 trying to calm the wild beasts with some food. And what they all love most is cinnamon-sugar toast.

Cinnamon is one of the most remarkable spices. It dates back as far as 2800 BC. According to The Spice House, “Romans used cinnamon to make their strong, bitter wine palatable, Greeks to season meat and vegetable dishes, Arabs in tea, and nearly everyone in baked goods. English nobility hoarded the delicate Ceylon cinnamon to flavor breads and puddings.” In the first century AD, cinnamon was worth more than silver. You can use it in all sorts of baked goods: apple-cinnamon donuts, cinnamon buns, or Paula Deen’s Baked French Toast Casserole. It’s great in savory dishes like Michael Chiarello’s Roasted Butternut Squash Soup, or beef samosas. And it’s essential in Christmas wassail or hot buttered rum. About.com reports that it can even “improve blood glucose and cholesterol levels in people with Type 2 diabetes,” according to some studies. I don’t know much about that, but I do know that mixed with some sugar, it’s like magical pixie dust to our children. They can’t get enough of it, and I think it actually makes them fly, at least for a moment when coming off the couch. Every morning, I throw a bunch of slices of bread into the toaster oven and turn the nob to medium dark. I grab a small bowl and add a tablespoon of ground cinnamon. Then I mix in about a half cup of sugar. After I butter the hot toast, I liberally sprinkle the sugary cinnamon concoction all over the bread until it forms a deep dark brown granulated goodness on top. It sure does the trick to quiet the kids for about five minutes, or until the sugar starts to take affect. I may not get to sleep in when visiting the grandparents, but I sure do get to enjoy the glee the kids experience when gobbling up their cinnamon-sugar toast.

Geoff