Yesterday was the Superbowl and I wanted to bring something to the party. Something a little different from the typical football party food. So I settled on this Maple Cinnamon Bread. Unfortunately, while the bread was in the oven, I realized that I didn’t have any cream cheese to make the icing the way I wanted, so I last minute Googled…and came up with a totally acceptable replacement of hard icing! Now, the cream cheese frosting REALLY compliments the bread, so given the option, that’s the one you need to choose. Do you know what Cinnabon is? If you do, then choose this frosting! When in a jam though, you can use the back up icing and it comes out pretty well too. I’ll put both in here either way (in case I need them for future reference too!)
(Oh, and can I throw in an extra special Thank You here too? I forgot to take a picture of the bread before the Superbowl party and I left the leftovers at the party for whomever wanted them to take home. An awesome Aunt of mine took a picture of her leftover Maple Cinnamon Bread for me to use as this picture!! Thank you Awesome Aunt!)
Ok so I’ll admit off the bat this recipe is a bit more involved than my typical recipe. You need a ‘wet bowl’, a ‘dry bowl’, another cinnamon/butter bowl, and you also need to brown your butter, AND still make your icing!
Maple Cinnamon Bread (with two icings to choose from!)
2 1/4 cup flour
1 cup pure maple syrup (not pancake syrup, actual maple syrup)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk (forget to get buttermilk? simply pour add 1 TBSP vinegar to milk and let it set for 10 minutes!)
1/4 cup butter – you’ll be browning this butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup cold butter – cubed
2 tsp cinnamon
1. First off, grab that first 1/4 cup of butter and brown it off. This is super easy, just make sure you pay attention to it or you’ll quickly go from browned butter to burnt butter. Slice the 1/4 cup into patties so it browns evenly and toss the butter into a warmed pan. Melt the butter – it will start to foam lightly, and then it will stop foaming. This is when we need to pay attention to it. You’ll see a light brown color start to form on the bottom and work it’s way through the butter. As soon as it starts to smell nutty, remove the butter from the heat and allow it to cool. It’s now ‘browned’.
2. preheat your oven to 350
3. In a large mixing bowl, mix your dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon, and salt.
4. In another bow, mix together your wet ingredients: maple syrup, buttermilk, and eggs. Slowly whisk in your browned butter. Add your wet ingredients to the dry ingredient bowl.
5. Add the vanilla extract to the combined bowl.
6. Now, in another bowl, take your 1/4 cup cold cubed butter and your 2tsp cinnamon and smoosh it together with your fork until it combines and starts to form little balls. Fold it into the mix of the large combined bowl.
7. Grease a bread pan and pour the batter in. Bake for about 45 minutes.
8. Let it cool while you ponder your icing choices 
This is the Cream Cheese Icing I recommend:
1/4 cup cream cheese – room temperature
1/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 tbsp half & half
1. First and only step – whisk the above ingredients together until you get a nice silky icing type consistency. Pour the icing into a sandwich bag or a large freezer bag and then smoosh it all down into one corner. Snip off the tip of the bag to make a piping bag and ice away! Decorate the bread or just put large swishes over, whatever you like!
Now, this is the icing I quickly eHow’d yesterday without the cream cheese – it came out well!
3 egg whites
4 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1. Add the vanilla to the egg whites and whisk until frothy.
2. Add the sugar and mix with an electric mixer on medium for approx 8 minutes until shiny and stiff.
That’s it! Ice your bread any way you like, and eat it up! Enjoy, it’s delicious!
Off the Cutting Board 