I met Barb and Maynard recently while they were visiting family in the area. When we met, Barb immediately gave me a loaf of freshly baked Amish cinnamon bread and shared her recipe with me. What a special treat that was.

One day during their visit, her brother Don suggested we show them an area of Baldwin County where there is a naked lady in the lake, an area where there are dinosaurs, alligators, dolphins, even a sundial and, believe it or not, you can see Stonehenge.

Now stop just a minute and digest what has been said.

We live in south Baldwin County with fabulous beaches, shells galore, gorgeous sunsets and sunrises; there certainly could be NO prehistoric animals! But you guessed it, there really is such a place on this pleasure island.

We had a fabulous afternoon visiting this area and taking pictures. The fountain area at Barber Marina could have been the highlight of our afternoon. I’m glad to be on Barber’s “to be adopted” list.

Amish Cinnamon Bread

Ingredients:

1 cup starter

3 eggs

1 cup oil

2/3 cup milk

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

2 cups flour

1 1 ½-ounce box instant vanilla pudding

1 cup nuts, chopped

½ cup raisins

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons cinnamon

Amish cinnamon bread starter

Ingredients:

1 envelope active dry yeast

2 cups warm water

1 cup flour

1 cup sugar

1 cup milk

Preparation for Amish cinnamon bread

Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease generously two loaf pans. I line the bottom of my pans with waxed paper or parchment paper. I grease the parchment paper too. Combine the last two ingredients, 1 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons cinnamon, together and set aside. Sprinkle ¼ cup cinnamon sugar mixture into bottom of both pans. This will give you a nice cinnamon layer on the bottom of your bread.

Take 1 cup of starter and add all other ingredients, except the cinnamon and sugar you have mixed and set aside, together. If your batter is lumpy, that’s OK; it will cook just fine. Pour ½ of the batter in each pan and top with remaining cinnamon sugar mixture. Adding this sugar cinnamon mixture on top of the batter before you bake it will give you a crunchy cinnamon layer on your bread.

Bake for one hour and cool for approximately 10 minutes in pan. Remove from pan, remove parchment paper and cool completely before slicing. Delicious hot or cold; and naturally you should serve with spreadable butter!

Preparation for starter

Mix the yeast in ½ cup hot water until it is dissolved. Add 1 ½ cups hot water, 1 cup milk, 1 cup flour and 1 cup sugar. Whisk together until well blended. Divide this starter mixture into 4 equal portions, should be one cup each. Put into Ziploc freezer bags. These can be frozen to use later, used immediately or given to friends with the recipe so they can make their own Amish Cinnamon Bread. Whether you freeze or give your starter to a friend, include these instructions:

Day 1: The day you make your starter or you receive it from a friend, admire it but do nothing.

Day 2 through day 5: Stir the mixture daily.

Day 6: Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup milk and 1 cup sugar to mixture. Stir well.

Day 7 through day 9: Just stir daily.

Day 10: Pour mixture into large bowl. Add 1 cup each of flour, sugar and milk. Measure out 1 cup into Ziploc bags and either freeze or give with a copy of your recipe.

The fun starts all over again with Day 1!

Enjoy eating, giving and sharing!

From the scriptures

Spiritual food is essential for all of us, as well as physical food. We enjoy two or three meals every day. We should nourish our mind and feed our spirit daily just as we feed our body. Reading our Bible daily is one way to feed our spirit.

Our scripture for this week is: Romans 8:26: “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”

When you pray, it is better to have a heart without any words, than to have words without a heart.