[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Baking is something I love to do. Not cooking, baking. Baking is how all the sweets are made from chocolate chip muffins to the yummiest of cakes. My mother on the other hand liked to cook, meaning growing up, I had lots of delicious soups, roasts, and casseroles, but very little cookies, cakes, and bars. She would make dessert items every now and then, and each time she did my family would make it disappear in less than a day. That is why I started to bake.
I loved sweats and there never seemed to be any around, so I took it upon myself to make some. I started with brownies from a box, they were easy, simple, and produced instant chocolaty results. I also found that when I made the desserts I could add as many chocolate chips, or as much frosting as I liked. This was a huge bonus. I made all types of brownies, yet all were from a box, I had never thought to venture out very far until Thanksgiving of my seventh grade year.
This was the year I was in charge of all desserts and baked goods. My mother had decided to have Thanksgiving at our house, meaning she was stressed, which means everyone was stressed. She had to cook the turkey and the vegetables, make casseroles, and clean the house. She therefore handed the duty of baking the breads and pies to me. I had to make pumpkin bread, beer bread, the pumpkin pies, and what we call in our family “sticky bread”. It is similar to monkey bread as it is cooked in a bunt pan with cinnamon and butter, yet it is created in a different style. The other items I was not worried about making, but if I messed up the “sticky bread” and there was no “sticky bread” at Thanksgiving, it would not really be Thanksgiving. It had become a necessity at family get together and it was always at Thanksgiving. My grandmother had arrived early and had shown me what to do and all I had to do was follow the recipe. Seems easy enough.
However, not so much, as sometimes bread has a mind of its own and the bread I had used decided not to rise. There was no sticky bread at that Thanksgiving which was disappointing, but it ended up being okay as the other breads turned out okay. Sometimes even following the recipe perfectly does not produce perfect results. After that Thanksgiving though I found that it was fun to bake things other than just brownies all the time, and that is when I started to experiment. From that moment on whenever I found myself doing nothing on a boring Sunday afternoon I researched, or pulled out the desert books. I would try new things or sometimes make old favorites. Most often though, my biggest motivator for baking is still because I want something sweet to eat.
Sticky Bread Recipe:
Ingredients: 1 cup Sugar, 1 tablespoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon all-spice, 2 loaves of frozen white bread, and 1/2 cup of butter.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]Directions: First take the bread out of the freezer and let it thaw just enough to be able to cut through it. Cut the loaves in ½ inch thick, or less, slices. Take a bowl and fill it with the sugar, cinnamon, and all-spice, and stir them together. Completely melt the butter in another dish. Take one of the slices of dough, dunk it in the butter, then dunk it in the bowl of sugar making sure the sugar mixture coats the whole thing. Then stick the sugar covered piece of dough upright in a bunt pan. Repeat until the bunt pan is filled, the dough should be packed fairly tight together. Place the bunt pan with the dough near something that produces heat, such as a heating vent, or on top of a wood stove. This extra heat will help the bread rise faster. Once the bread has gone beyond the top of the bunt pan, heat the oven to 350 degrees. Then put tin foil over the whole thing and place it in the oven for about 35-40 mins. When there is 10 mins left on the clock take the tin foil off and left the bread brown. Once done, take it out of the oven, let it cool, then flip it over and take it out of the bunt pan.
Photo Credits: Attributed to Author[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_gallery interval=”5″ images=”9655,9654,9659″ img_size=”200×200″ onclick=””][/vc_column][/vc_row]
