MINI CINNAMON MANDAZI

Happy Sunday! I always look foward to Sunday mornings because I get inspired to make delicious breakfast without having to worry about time. Lately I'm having mandazi cravings, after that yummy orange mandazi, I still want more. Every body loved that orange flavour in mandazi plus the vibrant color. Today I wanted to add spices to get that warm sweet spiciness. Have you ever tried those recipes that are usually at the back of food packets? I always see them and just brush off, but today I decided hmmmm, what's the worse that could happen? Nothing went wrong, in fact these mandazi were delicious that my sisters were eating them before I finished cooking them. So this recipe has been inspired by the back of my mandazi flour packet with every detail followed. Have you ever tried a recipe from a food packet?

CINNAMON SWIRL BREAD

In all my baking, I have made 2 bread recipes, that is, the watermelon lookalike bread and double braided bread. I always had this recipe in my mind and knew I just had to make it. Filled with buttery cinnamon swirls, light and airy, this bread is just perfect! I'm loving baking my own bread since you get a fresh batch filled with your favorite stuffings. Cinnamon is my favorite sweet spice with its delicious aromatic taste, I knew I would fall in love with it. Is it just me that loves the smell of yeast fermenting when preparing bread dough, no? This bread is pretty simple and has very few ingredients, the steps might seem so many but totally worth it. With some patience and your favorite music playing as you prepare it,  this bread is bound to be addictive because its damn delicious!

APPLE CINNAMON BUTTER FRENCH TOAST

Nothing I love more than the smell of freshly cooked french toast. It is literally almost intoxicating and tempting that you can ever resist. Today's french toast recipe is not your everyday average kinda french toast. It is rich, decadent, fragrant, spicy, sweet, yet crunchy. Forgive my over excitement, it must be the sugar rush I had when I devoured this breakfast all time favorite meal. Dessert or breakfast? It is really hard to tell when this french toast has all the elements or a rich expensive  dessert. For a recipe that is easy, insanely utterly delicious, and takes only 15 minutes, I do not see why this should not be a daily any time of day bite. That is if you do not mind a sugar overload early in the morning. Which I cannot complain about, I do love my sugar morning high.

CINNAMON PEANUT GLAZED DOUGHNUTS

I'm currently loving trying out difference flavours of doughnuts. So far this is my second doughnut recipe. I made red glazed coconut doughnuts which turned out to be a hit and so I thought about what other combinations can work. Once you have the basic recipe for making doughnuts, you pretty much have a canvas on which to work with. I wanted crunchy doughnuts so I went with crushed peanuts on top. Delicious is an understatement! You can choose to fry or bake your doughnuts either way they turn out delicious every time. I think my next recipe will be baked doughnuts. Yum!

CINNAMON PLUM JAM

It still Plum season in Nairobi and I thought that I would take advantage of them before they go out of season until next year! Well, apart from eating them all the time there are so many things that you can do with these delicious morsels of fruits. I have a few plum recipes that I have tried so look out for the in the coming days. I decided that my first plum recipe would be making a Jam. Jams are sweet condiments that make your bread not at all boring by giving them a spectacular taste. I realized that making your own Jam is not really all that hard. You need only 3 ingredients and you are done. This cinnamon Plum Jam is perfect as it spreads so perfectly on bread and tastes of cinnamon.Talk about flavor and spicy aroma in a single bite! Once done making this cinnamon plum jam, you need to store in airtight containers and use within a week. Since it is homemade it does not have any preservatives but trust me, this jam will not stay for too long. It's too delicious to just be lying around.  Savor this cinnamon jam spread on toast, spooned over thick yogurt, or use it as a chutney to spread over roasted sliced turkey. You can even make jam with stone fruits like peaches, apricots or nectarines. Other fruits you can use are strawberry and oranges. So lets' get jamming, pun intended!

LEMON CINNAMON MANDAZI

I think I am becoming obsessed with cooking MANDAZI! This is my second recipe and this time I opted to cook with baking powder instead of Yeast and flavored the Mandazi with Lemon and Cinnamon. Mandazi is a popular East African snack that is cooked by deep frying dough that has been kneaded and flavors added into it. There are so many variations to Mandazi recipes, but once you get the basics of cooking this delicious snack, you will be able to have it in any way you want.You are allowed to add different spices, liquids and even vegetables. Mandazi are so popular that even Martha Stewart made them, check out her Recipe which I will definitely try out! They can be served with Tea for breakfast, as an appetizer, as a lunch snack and even dinner dessert. I'm having fun making these Mandazi that you will definitely be seeing more variations of it. Lemon gives these Mandazi a lovely fragrance while Cinnamon add a spicy taste to this snack. You can serve this snack as a savory dish with a dip, or beans. My Lemon Cinnamon Mandazi turned out Light and fluffy, tasty to the core and not overly sweet. Follow me on Instagram, Youtube, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter

WHOLEWHEAT CINNAMON FRENCH TOAST

It's Friday! What plans do you have for the weekend? Going out? Staying in?Travelling? Me you ask? I'll know by the end of today. Anyhu' enough ramblings for a second and let's focus on matters at hand. French Toast baibe! I have always loved Eggs, Bread, put them together and you'll have a little dance in your mouth. Making French Toast is so simple I have no idea why I do not make and eat it everyday of the week. Let me school you a bit about what a French Toast is. A French Toast is also known as Bombay Toast, Eggy Bread, German Toast, Torrija, Gypsy Toast or Poor Knights. It is made of Bread (White or Wholewheat) soaked in milk, then in beaten eggs and then it is fried. Preparing the French toast varies in many different places. There are those who dip their bread in milk only then the eggs added afterwards. French Toast is not only dipped in milk you can actually dip your French Toast in other liquids like Orange Juice, Rosewater and even Wine. You can dip the French Toast in these liquids before you cook or after you cook.In Hong Kong French Toast is made by deep frying sliced bread that has been beaten in Eggs and it is served with butter and then topped up with Golden Syrup or honey. The Spanish on the other hand have a different way of cooking their French Toast. Their version is called Torrija that is prepared during Lent and Holy Week. They soak stale bread in Wine, Milk, Honey and Spices. It is dipped in beaten Egg and fried with Olive Oil. This is done so that the process breaks down the fibres which results in Pastry that has a crispy outside and a smooth inside. They then sprinkle Cinnamon as the final stage. So so many ways you can make French Toast. Mine I decided to use Wholewheat Bread, I wanted to see whether it would still be great like using White Bread and it never disappointed. Make yourself a French Toast this weekend, I just might too.