Powdered Sugar Toast: Ode to My Childhood

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This is my child hood memories on a plate when it comes to special food.  Ok, this, and a special birthday cake that my mom has made me every year since I was like five, but that is another post.

Powdered. Sugar. Toast.  Yep, that is what I said.  It may be hard to conceived of putting powdered sugar on toast and feeding it to your kids (or eating it yourself), but believe me, it is one of the most wonderful, addictive, simple, special breakfasts you could make.  I have such fond memories of my mom making this for my siblings and I on our birthdays, or school days off, or holidays.  Waking up to the smell of cinnamon and sugar wafting through the house and up to my bedroom--fantastic way to wake up.  It was our "special day" breakfast. I remember that if she was making it when we were already up, I would stand at the oven staring at it just waiting impatiently for it to be done (it only bakes for like five minutes, but it seemed like forever!).  Who would have thought that sandwich bread, sugar, and cinnamon could be transformed into something so memorable and just screaming love.  Maybe it screams love because you really do have to love your kids to give them a piece of bread with a bunch of sugar on it for breakfast because you know your kids will be bouncing off the walls after and it is all your fault...I don't know, just saying. This is one of those foods where you give it to your kids and just watch them.  They will develop their own quarky way to eat it, and it will be something you will cherish, and they will cherish.  I know I do.

When I talked to my mom and told her I was going to do a post on this, she told me that I should credit her mom, my grandma, for the recipe, since she made it for my mom and her siblings when they grew up.  It is a family tradition, one that today, I am starting with my kids, and it is bringing me such joy!  So I would like to give thanks and credit to both my mom and my grandma for loving us enough to give us this blissfully delicious treat on those special days.

As I sit here and type this up, my 1 year old has already devoured his piece that I so painstakingly cut into tiny pieces, and my three year old (who is a pretty picky eater) has been carefully picking up the powdered sugar with his fingers and licking it off for the last 15 minutes.  He did however decide that the whole thing was tasty and has eaten the toast part as well.  He just finished his first piece, and came up begging for another.  As I am writing this I look over to see him licking the sugar right off his second piece of toast.  I think we have a winner.  Whatever I can do to get him to eat whole wheat toast, right? I will pay for this in an hour when he is running around like a mad man worse than usual. 

I know you may still be trying to wrap your head around dumping sugar on toast and calling it breakfast, so for clarity, and fun, I have included step by step pictures in this post.  There are no measurements, just to taste, and how ever many pieces you want to make.  I guarantee you, it will be more than you think.  I always had to be cut off, this stuff is like breakfast crack I tell you!  Without any more delays, here is the recipe for my beloved powdered sugar toast.

POWDERED SUGAR TOAST

Ingredients:

• Whole wheat sandwich bread (or white), seriously, just the plain old sliced sandwich bread, nothing fancy
• powdered sugar
• cinnamon
• butter spread (I used smart balance butter)

Directions:

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Toast the bread in the toaster and lay toasted sliced on a foil lined sheet. 

 Butter the toasted slices.  If you butter it while it is hot (top slices) you will get more loose powdered sugar after baking then if you butter it when the toast cools (bottom slices), so pick whichever you prefer.  I like lots of loose powdered sugar after baking.  I used to dump the extra powdered sugar from all my slices onto one slice, save that for last, and have one happy powdered sugar pile on my last slice (I'm telling you, this is my childhood, children do funny things!)

After buttering, take about a dinner spoon size spoonful of powdered sugar and sprinkle it over the toast until it is all covered.  Do not smooth down or spread out.
 

  Sprinkle the toast with cinnamon, however much you like to taste.  I love cinnamon, so I give it a pretty good dose.

Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for about five minutes.  The edges of the toast will get a bit more crispy, the powdered sugar will start to melt with the butter, and the rest of the powdered sugar will get a bit crystalized. 

The piece below is a slice that the butter was NOT melted when I put the powdered sugar on.  See how more of the powdered sugar has melted into sugary happiness?

This slice below was when the powdered sugar was put on when butter DID melt into the bread before adding the powdered sugar.  This yields a more messy toast slice, with lots of loose powdered sugar to lick, dump, just make a mess with in general.  This is my style choice for this toast, but it is all personal preference and they both taste the same.

And here is the finished product.  A slice of heaven, and it was so deceptively simple....

I hope you will take a morning (or afternoon or evening) and make this for your kids, make some memories, and have some fun.  Thanks for joining my journey through my childhood memories.