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Cinnamon Toast
Mix cinnamon and sugar in the proportion of 1 tablespoon cinnamon to 3 tablespoons sugar. Toast bread slices lightly on one side, brush other side with softened butter, sprinkle thickly with cinnamon-sugar mixture, and put in reflector oven or regular oven until sugar bubbles.
A campfire recipe that translates directly to a home broiler. The only real variable is heat distance: the sugar must bubble before the bread dries out.
- The cinnamon-sugar ratioOne tablespoon cinnamon to three of sugar is heavily spiced by modern standards; most present-day mixes are leaner on cinnamon. The butter and the brief heat mellow it here; scale down the cinnamon if you want a milder toast.
- Reflector ovenA folding sheet-metal box set beside an open fire, its angled surfaces bouncing radiant heat onto food on an open shelf. It cooks by radiant heat and works fast, closer to a broiler than to a closed oven. Indoors, the broiler with the rack 5-6 inches from the element is the nearest equivalent.
- Oven temperatureThe recipe names no temperature, only "until sugar bubbles." A hot oven or the broiler is the intent; judge by the surface of the sugar rather than by a set temperature or time.
- Why toast one side firstPre-toasting the underside means only the buttered surface still needs heat, and gives the slice a firmer base under the butter and sugar.
- Watch it, don't time itSugar goes from bubbling to scorched in well under a minute under direct heat. Stay with it and pull the toast the moment the surface is glossy and blistered all over.
- BreadThe recipe does not specify the bread. Thicker slices stand up to this better than thin modern sandwich bread, which can dry through before the topping caramelizes.
- YieldThe stated mixture makes about 1/4 cup, enough to cover roughly six to eight slices generously.
- CoolingMolten sugar holds heat much longer than the bread does. Give the slices a minute before eating, especially if children are in the camp.