Cinnamon Toast

So much of our enjoyment of foods comes from the memories they evoke, don't you think?

Cinnamon toast.

Just saying the words and I see myself 8 years old sitting at our dining room table with assorted siblings, elbowing each other while we greedily reached for the sugar and cinnamon to sprinkle on our warm buttered toast. (My sister probably doesn't remember this, but she would skip the cinnamon and just sprinkle on sugar.)

Cinnamon toast was a treat. It took skill; if you weren't careful holding that spoon you would end up with hilly clumps instead of an even spread.

When I mentioned to my friend Heidi that I wanted to write about cinnamon toast she declared, "But it's so easy!" Then I asked her how she made hers. She mixes a little cinnamon with quite a bit more sugar in a bowl or a jar and then sprinkles over buttered toast.

Dear reader, you may think I am a complete ignoramus for admitting this, but never, ever had anyone in our family thought of mixing the two together before sprinkling. We buttered our toast, sprinkled on sugar and then the cinnamon. So naturally, we ended up with a lot of clumps of cinnamon. My father had to oversee the process to make sure we didn't pour on too much sugar (which we did any time we could get away with it.)

I made cinnamon toast for my goddaughter and her sisters a while ago, mixing the cinnamon sugar first. Cinnamon is expensive, sugar is cheap. A little cinnamon goes a long way. So mix a little cinnamon into the sugar and you don't waste the cinnamon.

The ratio I find that works for me is 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon to 1 tablespoon of sugar, or about 1:12. I checked this out with a friend who told me that his mother's ratio for cinnamon toast was 1:10. So adjust to your liking.

For all you 8-year olds, in age or spirit, have some toast!