Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Soda Bread

I can’t believe we are just two days away from the official first day of fall! Even though it seems like summer only just began, I can’t help but feel giddy about the change in seasons, so even though it is not technically fall yet, I have completely gone into fall mode.  I have put away all of my summer shorts and t-shirts and welcomed dark wash jeans and chunky sweaters back into my daily wardrobe; Cole and I busted out all of our Fall decor and began decorating the house with rich earthy oranges, reds and yellows to welcome the season; and of course, lest I forget to tell you that I have been baking up all kinds of fall inspired goodies that embody all of the warm spices and seasonal flavours that I love so much about fall.

I just love fall inspired baking and I think most of us can agree that when we think about fall baking, some of the first things that come to mind are baked goodies that  pair together fragrant spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger with seasonal fruits and vegetables like apples, pears and pumpkin. There is just something about the fall season that screams for these flavours, and I am soooo happy to oblige.

Any baked goodies that are laced with cinnamon are probably my favourite things to not only bake but more importantly to gobble up. Yup – anything that is chock full of this incredible spice is pretty much guaranteed to be delicious in my books, so I have wasted no time getting into the fall baking spirit by using cinnamon with reckless abandon this year. I have already had to make a couple emergency trips to the grocery store to replenish my stock of cinnamon at home – no joke – that’s how much I have been baking with it. Feel free to call me the crazy cinnamon lady… I don’t mind.

Now I have a bit of a confession that is probably going to upset some of you- I’m not usually a huge fan of adding raisins to baking. Now before you think I am just discriminating against raisins, let me clarify something – Similar to my intense love for cinnamon, I am also a bit raisin obsessed. Truth be told I probably eat at least two {large}  hand fulls of raisins a day – they are actually one of my favourite things to snack on.

So even though I love my raisins as a snack, I typically don’t add them to many of my baked goodies. What’s up with my disliking raisins in baking you ask? Here is my rationale;  Firstly, I think that the world can be divided up into two kinds of people – Those who absolutely love raisins… and those who absolutely hate raisins. Secondly, I have also found that although many people enjoy raisins on their own, like me they also think that when you add raisins to delicious goodies like oatmeal cookies or cinnamon buns or carrot cake … they kind of just ruin the party. Thus this is why I tend to leave raisins out of the baking equation in my kitchen.

However, I do have one exception when it comes to baking with raisins – and that exception is cinnamon raisin bread. I make an exception here only because “raisin” is right in the title –  so when somebody bites into a slice of cinnamon raisin bread, they won’t be surprised by the fact that there are raisins inside. People who love raisins in baking will choose cinnamon raisin bread – whereas somebody who doesn’t like raisins might choose a ooey gooey cinnamon bun, and then be disappointed by the appearance of raisins when they take a bite because really all they wanted was the cinnamon bun, hold the raisins.

Am I sounding a little nuts? Probably. Let’s move on to this Cinnamon Raisin Soda Bread shall we?

On days, when I am seriously craving a nice thick slice of cinnamon raisin bread, but I don’t have the time {or the patience} to mess around with yeast, I opt for the much easier version of bread – aka Irish Soda Bread. What can I say, sometimes a hungry girl just can’t wait 1-2 hours for her dough to rise – am I right?

For those of you who are new to baking, and are looking for a super simple, no-fail recipe – look no further than this Cinnamon Raisin Soda Bread. Not only does this dough take literally minutes to prepare, it is essentially fool proof. And when I say this recipe is simple – I mean it is simple. All you need is one large mixing bowl, a spatula {no mixer required}, the ingredients below, and I guarantee you can easily have this bread in the oven baking in under 10 minutes – no problem.

Don’t let the simplicity of this recipe fool you into thinking it is any less delicious because it is to die for. In fact, this is probably one of my favourite quick breads of all time. It has an amazing crunchy exterior surrounding a deliciously soft and flavourful interior – aka the epitome of deliciousness.

So what are you waiting for – if you have 10 minutes, you have time to make this bread. Recipe is below lovelies and I hope you enjoy <3

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Soda Bread
Makes: 1 large loaf or two medium loafs

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
3/4 cup raisins, packed
1/3 cup cold butter, cubed
1 3/4 cups buttermilk

1 tbsp flour
cinnamon sugar for dusting

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together flours, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg until combined. Add the cold, cubed butter and work it into the dry ingredients with your fingers until pea sized clumps remain. Stir in raisins until evenly distributed throughout and make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.

Pour butter milk into the well of the dry ingredients and use a spatula to fold the wet ingredients into the dry until a sticky ball or dough forms. Place dough ball onto prepared baking sheet. Dust the top of the dough with the 1 tbsp of flour, and lightly sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Using a sharp knife, slice an X across the top of your dough.

Bake for 40-55 minutes in preheated oven or until the top is golden brown and the bread makes a hollow sound when you tap it.

Remove from oven and allow to cool before slicing.

Serve with butter or jam, or honey, or peanut butter, or cream cheese,  or apple butter…. the possibilities are truly endless with this one – it tastes amazing with just about anything! My personal favourite way to eat this bread is toasted with a nice healthy slather of butter and a just a light sprinkle of brown sugar because that…. that is just heaven on a plate right there.

This is such a good staple recipe for soda bread, so you can change up the flavours and add in`s super easily to suite your families taste. I have also used this recipe to make a date-pecan soda bread by simply reducing the cinnamon, swapping the raisins out for dates and adding in some toasted pecans. It really is that simple to change this one up, but I definitely recommend give the cinnamon raisin version a try first, because it is sooo yummy.

So to sum up this post … this bread is the easiest and most delicious thing to make, and you need to make it happen asap.

Happy Baking!

KP xoxo