Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Last night on the way home, we had the same discussion we have every night - "What do we want for dinner?"  Somehow we decided on Homemade Pizza and Cinnamon Raisin Bread...After working all day and then running jogging elliptical-ing two miles, I wasn't super enthusiastic about spending all that time and effort!  Eric said he would help, so I agreed.  I'm not sure how helpful taking a nap was, but I was already craving the Cinnamon Raisin Bread, so I started looking up recipes and I found a Quick Bread recipe.  It's not the same, but it is yummy and was a lot easier than making the 'real' thing.  I managed to make both the pizza and the bread - but it made a bit of a mess I have to clean up tonight!!  I woke Eric up to tell him dinner was ready, and he asked if we were still making the bread - I laughed and told him it was already in the oven.  Now he owes me :)

Cinnamon Raisin Quick Bread
Ingredients:
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar, divided
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup raisins
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the flour, 1 1/2 cups of sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.  Beat together the eggs, buttermilk and oil.  Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix.  Fold in the raisins (I actually added 1 cup of raisins and wished I had more - so add as much as you prefer!).  Stir the remaining sugar and cinnamon together in a seperate bowl/container.

Grease your pans.  Start with a layer of the batter, cover with a layer of cinnamon sugar and repeat.  Use a knife the swirls the mixture together.  Bake until a knife comes out clean, about 55 min.  I used two pans, but it took a long time for the center to bake - probably closer to 75 min.  I would actually make 3 smaller loaves next time.

As you can see, mine doesn't have a lot of 'swirls' in it - I always tend to over-swirl lol.  It is delicious so I don't think I would change that next time, but maybe :)

Enjoy!
Beth