Cinnamon Snowflake Bread

Cinnamon Snowflake Bread is the perfect breakfast for Christmas Day. While sugar plums are dancing in the heads of your family, make this amazing bread for a memorable start of Christmas Day.

While Susan and I were in Paris, we took a Bread-making class where we learned how to make a chocolate filled Snowflake Bread. The bread was topped with pearl sugar.

Susan and I thought that it would be fun to do a variation using a cinnamon and sugar filling instead of chocolate and topping it with a cinnamon roll icing instead of pearl sugar. The result was amazing!

Ingredients for the Dough

The ingredients for the Cinnamon Snowflake Bread included water, egg, salt, butter, sour cream, sugar, bread flour and yeast.

Making the Dough 

As I generally do, I used the bread machine to do most of the work. I started by adding all of the dough ingredients to the bread pan in the order listed and setting the bread machine to the dough cycle.

When the dough cycle had finished, I removed the dough to a floured surface, and divided it into four pieces.  Each of the pieces weighed roughly 8 ounces.

Making the Cinnamon Snowflake Bread Filling

The filling included three simple ingredients: Granulated sugar, ground cinnamon and unsalted butter.

To make the filling, I mixed together the sugar and cinnamon. Then, I added the melted butter and mixed everything together.

Making the Cinnamon Snowflake Bread

To make the Cinnamon Snowflake Bread, I started by rolling each of the pieces of dough into roughly a 12-inch circle. The dough had a tendency to spring back when I rolled it, so I would roll it a little bit, let it rest and then roll it more.

Then, I transferred one of the dough circles to an inverted baking sheet that was lined with a silicone mat (Photo 1). I spread the circle of dough with ⅓ of the cinnamon/sugar filling (Photo 2).

After that, I placed another one of the dough circles on top (Photo 3) and spread it with half of the remaining cinnamon/sugar mixture (Photo 4).

I repeated this one more time, placing a dough circle on top (Photo 5) and spreading it with the remaining cinnamon/sugar mixture (Photo 6)

To finish things off, I put the final piece of dough on top of the three layers.

I placed a small bowl in the center of the top dough layer and made 4 equal cuts starting at about ½-inch from the edge of the bowl (Photo 7).  Then, I cut each of the four pieces in half, again starting about ½-inch from the edge of the bowl (Photo 8). Finally, I cut each of the 8 wedges in half (Photo 9).

I ended up total of sixteen cuts. At this point, I removed the bowl from the top of the dough (Photo 10).

To turn the dough into a snowflakes I carefully picked up two pieces of adjacent dough (Photo 11) and twisted them twice away from each other (Photo 12). Then, I pressed the outer edges of the two pieces together (Photo 13). I made sure that the edges were well sealed (Photo 14).

I repeated this with the remaining seven pairs of dough wedges. Voila, Cinnamon Snowflake Bread!

For the finishing touch, I brushed the Cinnamon Snowflake bread with an egg wash.

I popped the cinnamon snowflake bread into a preheated 350°F oven for 23 minutes. After 23 minutes, the bread was golden brown and perfectly cooked.

Making the Icing

While the bread was cooking, I made the icing, which consisted of confectioners’ sugar, unsalted butter, milk and vanilla extract.

I added all of the icing ingredients to a bowl. Then, I beat the mixture on high with my electric mixer until the icing was smooth and of a perfect consistency.

Finishing the Cinnamon Snowflake Bread

After I removed the bread from the oven, I carefully transferred it to a wire cooling rack. Then Susan drizzled the icing over the still hot bread.

All I can say is OMG, is this Cinnamon Snowflake Bread is amazing. It will make the perfect start of Christmas Day for your family. Yum!

For another amazing star bread, check out my Lemon Curd Star Bread. It’s a winner.

More Cinnamon Flavored Breads Where the Bread Machine Does Most of the Work

If you liked this Cinnamon Snowflake bread, you should check out these other amazing recipes:

• Christmas King Cake: Every year, Susan and I make a King Cake for Mardi Gras. This year, Susan suggested that we make a Christmas King Cake, decorated in red and green. I thought – what a good idea, especially since we’re breaking with tradition this year and having a New Orleans themed Christmas dinner.
• Braided Cinnamon Bread Wreath: If you like cinnamon rolls, you’ll absolutely love this show-stopping Braided Cinnamon Bread Wreath. It’s perfect for your holiday brunch or anytime. While it may look difficult to make, it’s actually variation on a classic King Cake. What’s even better is that your bread machine does most of the work!
• Mardi Gras Cinnamon Roll King Cake: Mardi Gras Cinnamon Roll King Cake is an adaptation of the traditional King Cake. Generally, a dough-filled ring forms the King Cake. I thought it would be fun to cut the filled dough into cinnamon rolls and use them to form the ring. Guess what? It worked like a charm! Also, I should mention that I used my bread machine to do most of the work! 
• Overnight Cinnamon Rolls: “Twas the night before Christmas” when visions of cinnamon rolls were twirling in everyone’s head. Could Santa load some on his sleigh for a perfect ooey gooey wake up treat? Of course with Overnight Cinnamon Rolls! They are the perfect make ahead breakfast when your sweet tooth is craving a sugary start to the day.
• Mardi Gras King Cake: Mardi Gras which French for Fat Tuesday begins on January 6 and culminates on the day before Ash Wednesday. The King Cake is a quintessential confection that is decorated in Mardi Gras colors. Purple signifies justice; green denotes faith; and gold or yellow signifies power. Traditionally, a tiny plastic baby is hidden in the King Cake. Whoever, ends up with the baby is named “King” for a day and bound by custom to host the next party and provide the King Cake.

Chula’s Expert Tips

• I always use low-fat sour cream when making the dough.
• Feel free to use half and half or heavy cream when making this amazing icing.
• I generally will add an additional tablespoon of water to the dough as it processed in the bread machine. 
• The dough tends to be a bit springy with it’s being rolled out. Therefore, I’ll roll it out into about a 6-inch circle and let it rest for about 5 minutes. Then, I’ll roll it again into about an 8-inch circle and let it rest again before the final rolling.
• Because the dough will the trimmed once the Cinnamon Snowflake Bread is assembled, the circles don’t need to be perfect.
• Once the bread is assembled, there is no need to let it rise. Just go ahead and pop it into the oven, the same way that would a pizza.
• The Cinnamon Snowflake Bread is awesome when served warm but is also good served cold. However, I like to warm my piece of Cinnamon Snowflake Bread in the microwave for 5 to 10 seconds.

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