In the last few months, cooking for my boys has been such a pleasure. Gone are the fussy preschoolers who turn there noses up at anything new I make.
Instead, everything they try (from donuts, to granola bars to cinnamon swirl bread) I get a “Hey Mom, we could make this at home…and make it healthier!”
And my personal favorite “Maybe we could add some quinoa to this and take pictures!” (And I always thought they didn’t notice what I did!) My boys are absolutely nuts about cinnamon bread, but I wasn’t so nuts at the ingredients list which included such nutritional wonders as high fructose corn syrup.
So I was really excited when thumbing through one of my favorite new cookbooks, Hearty Vegan Meals for Monster Appetites
But then my psycho healthy mom side took over, and I decided to start cleaning the recipe up a bit. Now, one thing I have learned is that making a recipe healthier is something best done in phases. That way if something doesn’t work you know what the issue is. And given that my little guys like to eat cinnamon bread daily, making this over and over again isn’t going to be an issue.
So, the recipe below is healthier step one…and there will be more to come. Here, I’ve used bread flour, white whole wheat flour and quinoa flour instead of just white flour. Strangely, both of my boys agreed that this tasted better to them than when I used all white flour.
Next up, I’m going to try applesauce in place of some of the sugar and possibly oil. And, given the fact that this loaf is gone now…you can expect an update fairly soon. 
Ingredients
- 1 cup almond milk, lukewarm (or milk of choice)
- ¼ cup water, lukewarm
- 1/3 cup evaporated cane juice sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted plus more to coat pan
- 1 cup bread flour
- 1 cup white whole wheat flour
- 1 cup quinoa flour
- ¼ cup vital wheat gluten flour
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- For the Filling:
- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted (I used Earth Balance)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine milk, water, and a tablespoon of sugar in a bowl.
- Stir in yeast and set aside for 10 minutes, until bubble form.
- Add coconut oil to wet mixture.
- Mix dry ingredients (flours, wheat gluten, sugar, cinnamon and salt) in a large bowl.
- Add in wet ingredients and knead for 6 to 9 minutes, adding flour if your dough it too sticky.
- Spray a bowl with cooking spray and place ball of dough in the bowl, turning to coat.
- Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 1 ½ hours.
- Meanwhile, make the filling by combining brown sugar, cinnamon and butter in a small bowl.
- Roll dough into a 8 x 24 inch rectangle.
- Spread filling evenly.
- Start at short end and roll up dough.
- Place seam side down in an 8 inch loaf pan.
- Allow to rise for 30 minutes.
- Bake for 25 – 35 minutes, until the crust is golden brown. (Remember – unless you have an oven thermometer, you need to check because your oven may be off temperature wise….mine is!)
- Allow to cool on a wire rack.
- Watch your children devour while reminding yourself that it doesn’t make sense to do P90x and down a loaf of Cinnamon Swirl Bread.
- Try not to be jealous of your own children.
Notes
Protein 6.4g Carbs 35.2g Fiber 3.1g
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