BoomerGirl Diary

My coffee addiction began when I visited Paris. I’ve tried, but have not been able to get over either of them. The coffee or Paris. But I’ll stick to writing about coffee for this post. The aroma gets me every time. And that perfect sip, where the sweetness and the strength of the coffee sing in complete harmony starting my day on a perfect note. I like my coffee strong, with a creamer, a flavor shot and Splenda. Most days I make my coffee at home, but sometimes I treat myself and go to Starbucks. Not only is their coffee great, but their desserts are incredible too. I’ve always wondered about their recipes.

Last week I was making my food blog rounds and saw a post about Chocolate Cinnamon Bread. The bread looked so incredibly good. As I read further, I saw that the recipe was from Starbucks and available on their Web site. Could this really be true? You bet! Click here for the original recipe created by Marcus Samuelsson, the very talented, philanthropic, outrageously handsome, award winning chef and co-owner of the restaurant Aquavit. He has a new cookbook out called Discovery Of A Continent: Foods, Flavors, And Inspirations From Africa. Samuelsson has partnered with Starbucks to sell his cookbook and some very nice kitchen accessories that I saw on a display table. I bought the cookbook and am looking forward to trying some recipes. If you buy the cookbook from Starbucks, they donate a dollar to UNICEF.

As part of the promotion, there are a number of recipes on the Starbucks Web site that were created by Samuelsson to be paired with certain coffees. I made the Chocolate Cinnamon Bread. It is out of this world. I ate a couple of pieces, but gave the remainder of that loaf to my parents and the other to my brother and his housemates. Way too many calories to keep just for myself. Now everyone is asking me for the recipe and to make the bread again. It’s already a classic. If you want to impress someone, make this bread. Seriously.

As I was first reading the recipe, I saw that it had just a scant amount of leaveners, but was rich with eggs and butter. This was going to make a really dense and moist bread, just like the ones that you get in the store. As usual, I adapted vanilla rice milk for regular milk and I used regular cocoa powder instead of Dutch-processed, because that’s what I have. For the topping, I realized that I forgot to buy cloves, so I used more ginger. Also, I didn’t use as much sugar as originally called for, because it looked pretty sweet already. The recipe makes two loaves, so there was more volume to the mixture than I’m used to and I had to stir very slowly, so everything didn’t spill out. Well, if you must know, some did spill out actually. It’s all part of the baking experience. I need a deeper mixing bowl or better yet, a KitchenAid Mixer. The red one. One of these days.

Adapted from recipe by Marcus Samuelsson for Starbucks.

Chocolate Cinnamon Bread

(Makes 2 loaves)

3 sticks unsalted butter (softened)

3 cups granulated sugar

5 eggs

2 cups flour

1 ¼ cups cocoa powder

1 T ground cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

1-cup vanilla rice milk

¼ cup water

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Topping

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

½ tsp. cocoa powder

¼ tsp. ground ginger

Set oven at 350 degrees. Grease and flour two loaf pans. Line the bottom of pans with parchment paper or wax paper. Wax paper is much cheaper. I use the store brand and cut it to fit the pan.

If you are lucky enough to have a KitchenAid Mixer, by all means use it. Otherwise, use a very deep large mixing bowl and a sturdy wooden spoon. Combine butter, sugar and eggs. Add cocoa powder and stir until combined. Add water and vanilla extract and stir. Add, cinnamon, salt, baking powder and soda. Stir until combined. Stir in flour and milk alternately until combined. Pour batter in prepared pans.

In small bowl, add ingredients for topping.Whisk together, and then pour onto the top of batter. Bake for about 50 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out pretty clean, but do not overbake. Better too moist then too dry. Let cool fully before removing from pan. Enjoy!