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Saturday mornings in my mother’s kitchen started with a sheet pan of cinnamon toast, and they ended with three boys arguing over who got the corner pieces. She never made it in the toaster. The toaster, she said, was for people who were in a hurry, and cinnamon toast made in a hurry was a waste of good butter. The sugar never melted, half of it fell onto the plate, and the middle of every slice stayed pale and dry.
Her way took twelve minutes and needed nothing but the oven. She put soft butter, sugar, cinnamon, a little vanilla and a pinch of salt in a bowl and mashed them together with a fork into a soft brown paste. Then she spread that paste on plain white bread, thick, right out to every edge so there was no bare crust anywhere. Ten minutes in a moderate oven melted it down into the bread. One or two minutes under the broiler at the end made the top bubble and then set into a thin, glassy sugar shell, the same crackle as the top of a custard dessert in a restaurant. She stood at the oven door for that last minute and so should you, because the line between crackled and burned is about thirty seconds.
Why this oven cinnamon toast works
- Butter and sugar mashed into one paste. Spread separately, the sugar sits on top of the butter and falls off. Mashed together, it melts into a single layer that caramelizes evenly.
- Spread to every edge. The corners and edges are the best part, and bare crust burns under the broiler. Cover all of it.
- The oven first, the broiler last. The oven melts the paste into the bread and toasts the underside. The broiler only caramelizes the top.
- A pinch of salt and some vanilla. They keep it from tasting flat and sugary and make it taste like a bakery cinnamon roll.
Ingredients
Makes 8 slices, enough for four people at breakfast. The measurements are in US cups with grams in brackets.
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (113g), very soft
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar (100g)
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- A pinch of fine salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 8 slices plain white sandwich bread
Ordinary soft white sandwich bread is the right bread here, the kind that comes in a long loaf. Thick bakery bread works too but needs a couple of extra minutes in the oven. The butter must be soft enough to mash with a fork; cold butter will tear the bread.
How to make oven cinnamon toast
- Heat the oven to 350 degrees (175°C) with a rack in the middle. Line a large rimmed sheet pan with foil, which saves you from scrubbing burnt sugar later.
- Put the soft butter, sugar, cinnamon, salt and vanilla in a bowl and mash them together with a fork until you have a smooth, soft brown paste with no streaks of plain butter.
- Lay the 8 slices of bread flat on the sheet pan in a single layer.
- Spread the paste over the bread, thick and even, right out to every edge and corner. Use all of it. There should be no bare bread showing anywhere.
- Bake on the middle rack for 10 minutes, until the paste has melted into the bread and the edges are just turning golden.
- Switch the oven to broil and move the pan to the upper rack. Broil for 1 to 2 minutes, watching the whole time, until the top bubbles all over and turns a deep caramel color. Take it out the moment it does.
- Let it sit on the pan for one minute so the sugar sets into a crackling shell, then cut each slice corner to corner and serve hot.
Tips that make the difference
- Do not walk away during the broiler minute. Sugar goes from golden to black very fast, and every broiler is different.
- If your broiler is fierce, leave the pan on the middle rack instead of moving it up.
- Let the toast sit for a minute before cutting. Hot caramel is soft; it turns crisp as it cools a little.
- Line the pan with foil. Melted cinnamon sugar welds itself to a bare pan.
Variations
- Brown sugar toast. Use light brown sugar in place of white for a softer, more caramel crust.
- Orange cinnamon toast. Mash the finely grated zest of one orange into the paste.
- Raisin bread. Spread the paste on cinnamon raisin bread for a weekend version.
- Nutmeg. Add a quarter teaspoon of ground nutmeg to the paste, the way some old diners did.
Storage and make-ahead
Cinnamon toast is best straight from the oven. Leftover slices can be reheated on a sheet pan at 350 degrees for 3 to 4 minutes, which brings the crackle back.
The paste keeps in a covered dish in the refrigerator for 2 weeks. Let it soften on the counter for 10 minutes before spreading.
Do not freeze finished toast. Freeze the paste instead, in a small covered container, for up to 3 months.
Frequently asked questions
Can I make cinnamon toast in the toaster oven?
Yes, in batches. Bake at 350 degrees for about 8 minutes, then use the toaster oven’s broil setting for a minute, watching closely because the element sits very close to the bread.
Can I use salted butter?
Yes. Leave out the pinch of salt and the result is the same.
Why did my sugar not crackle?
It needed another 30 seconds under the broiler, or the paste was spread too thin. The top should bubble all over before you take it out.
Can I use margarine?
Butter gives the flavor and the best crust, but a stick margarine works. Avoid soft tub spreads, which have too much water and leave the toast soggy.
Mash it, spread it to the edges, and stand at the oven for that last minute. Then cut it corner to corner and let everybody fight over the corners, the way they always have.
Oven Cinnamon Toast (The Butter and Sugar Paste Method)
Old-fashioned oven cinnamon toast for a whole family: soft butter mashed with sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and a pinch of salt into a paste, spread to every edge, baked at 350 degrees, then finished under the broiler until the top crackles.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (113g), very soft
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- A pinch of fine salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 8 slices plain white sandwich bread
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350 degrees (175°C) with a rack in the middle. Line a large rimmed sheet pan with foil, which saves you from scrubbing burnt sugar later.
- Put the soft butter, sugar, cinnamon, salt and vanilla in a bowl and mash them together with a fork until you have a smooth, soft brown paste with no streaks of plain butter.
- Lay the 8 slices of bread flat on the sheet pan in a single layer.
- Spread the paste over the bread, thick and even, right out to every edge and corner. Use all of it. There should be no bare bread showing anywhere.
- Bake on the middle rack for 10 minutes, until the paste has melted into the bread and the edges are just turning golden.
- Switch the oven to broil and move the pan to the upper rack. Broil for 1 to 2 minutes, watching the whole time, until the top bubbles all over and turns a deep caramel color. Take it out the moment it does.
- Let it sit on the pan for one minute so the sugar sets into a crackling shell, then cut each slice corner to corner and serve hot.
