Yummy Cinnaburst Bread

I was on pinterest looking at all of the yummy food recipes and came across one of my favorite breads of all time- Cinnaburst bread from Great Harvest. This bread brings back so many great memories! Seriously, this bread recipe has to be the best copycat I have ever tasted. I wanted to share the recipe courtesy of raegunwear blog.

Great Harvest Cinnaburst Copycat Bread

1 cup warm water
1 cup warm milk 

1/3 cup sugar
2 1/4 teaspoon yeast (1 pack)

1/3 cup oil (I used veggie oil)
1/2 T salt
1 egg
4 1/2 to 5 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup cinnamon chips

• In mixer combine yeast, sugar, and warm water and milk; let bubble for about 5 minutes. 
• Add in oil and egg. 
• Slowly add 2 cups flour, mix and then add salt. 
• Add 1/2 cup flour at a time until it comes away from side of bowl. Add the cinnamon chips when it gets close to the right consistency. The dough will be very sticky but the softer the dough the lighter the bread. So use the least amount of flour you can handle. 
• Let rise in mixing bowl for about 30 minutes. 
• Form into loaf (or whatever shape you want).
• Let rise and additional 30 minutes. 
• Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes. 

 Makes 2 loaves

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You may have noticed the recipe calls for Cinnamon chips. I found a recipe also on pinterest of how to make your own cinnamon chips. This will save ya a lot of money because from what I have read they are sold at lots of whole food markets and are pricey. 

Source: Mind Over Batter

Ingredients: 

• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 200F. Place a sheet of parchment paper on a cookie sheet and spray liberally with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In a medium size bowl, combine the granulated sugar, ground cinnamon, shortening, light corn syrup and vanilla extract. Mix with fork until the mixture is uniform and crumbly. Spread on parchment lined baking sheet, flattening with your hands and shaping into a rough square about 1/4 inch or so thick. Bake until mixture is melted and somewhat bubbly, about 35 minutes.
3. Cool completely, and then cut into small pieces.
4. Makes approximately 2 cups

Here are some pictures of how the bread turned out...

So delish! 

DIY: Summer Topiary

I wanted to share one of my favorite projects I have been working on this month. My family room was in need of something fresh and summery. About a year ago, I found this lovely topiary at the thrift store for a buck. It was in need of some help badly. It was a pretty simple project and one I thoroughly enjoyed. Here are the instructions if you would like to make one too!

Supplies Needed: 

1) Old Topiary needing some help {Find at thrift store or use an old on}

2) Bright flowers {Preferably smaller sized ones. I used the flowers off of two geraniums {Joanns $3}

3) Hot glue gun 

4) Sewing Pins/Push Pins

Find an old topiary. You can use this same concept doing a new one {with the foam spheres you can get at Joann's} Here is my old beauty. I love the urn it is in. 

Step 2: Pull off all of the old flowers, leaves ,etc until it is bare. 

Step 3: Pull the new blossoms off of your silk flower stems. I unfortunately didn't get a picture of this step {sorry!}. 

Step 4: Use the pins to make small holes for the ends of the flowers to fit in on the topiary. 

Step 5: Use a dab of hot glue to place the flower where the hole has been placed. 

Step 6: Continue steps 4 & 5 until you have reached around the whole topiary. 

Step 7: Enjoy your new creation.  

 {PS: I am going to spray paint the urn white to make it stand out more.} 

If you end up making one, please forward a picture on! I would love to see your creations too! :)