Maybe you have noticed, maybe not, but whatever the reason, I am loving any and all breakfast foods. I think it may be due to this bitter cold weather and the thought of getting out of bed to a warm (and in today’s case, sweet) breakfast. I don’t know, but there is just something about breakfast in winter, it’s cozy and perfect. And well, lets be totally honest, there is normally carbs, some form of sweetness and most definitely some kind of fruit involved. Hello my coconut honey blood orange and whipped mascarpone crepes and banana chocolate chip chia pancakes AND roasted cashew-almond bowls with match granola….all posted within the last couple of weeks. The last two where back to back. See… breakfast kick. And I do not intend to fall off this kick anytime soon. The good news is we gotta eat breakfast every single day, or at least I do. Please tell me you do too, you know, it’s the most important meal of the day. <–FACT
So, I am going to keep things rather short today because my mom, dad, youngest brother and little sister (the one and only) are headed off to Sweden today for some Big Air snowboard competition or something. I don’t really know what it is because I don’t tend to pay attention to all the snowboard details, but I am excited for my little bro Red! He he has been a little world traveler this season, I have barely seen the kid since Christmas. After Sweden he goes to China, which is kind of a pain in the butt to do apparently, but he is going. Anyway, I need to find out some info from the Rents before they leave, say high to my other brother Kai, that I have not seen in almost a month (and make him his favorite meal because for some reason Kai really know how to sweet talk me). So lets talk about this cinnamon crunch bagel loaf.
I got the amazing idea to make bagels into a loaf from Izy over at Top with Cinnamon. It’s kind of a genius idea. I mean, bagels are not that hard to make or anything, but rolling, shaping and boiling all of them is just kind of tedious. With this recipe, there is zero shaping and the boiling part is EASY. Can you say, yes please?!? Obviously, I had the thought to turn one of my all time favorite bagels (the Cinnamon Crunch bagel from Panera Bread) into a bagel loaf. It’s so good and easy that it is almost dangerous to have up my sleeve. And I made them a little healthier than my original recipe for cinnamon crunch bagel, so ya, I have a feeling that this will be a once weekly kind of thing from now until I find a new obsession.
And I may be jumping a bit ahead of myself here, but I just have to say that I think this loaf would be so perfect on the Easter brunch table. I HOPE to spend Easter in Florida, in eighty (heck I would love one hundred degrees) weather and hanging with the fam. Either way, I will still probably be baking this loaf. Even on vacation, and in the heat, I still somehow find my way into the kitchen. People gotta eat…and they look to me, and I’m ok with that.
Oh, and I find this bread particularly delicious slathered with a little fresh mascarpone. You can totally use cream cheese, but mascarpone just feels all big girl and fancy. Bonus points if you add a little zest of lemon. I totally should have done that. Well, I guess that’s what tomorrow is for.
UMMM…That crunchy, sweet, cinnamony topping? IT. IS. THE. BEST.<–Truth
