Cinnamon Bread – The Best Christmas Bread for Gifting!

Name: Cinnamon Bread Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 50 min
Ingredients: 2 cups sugar; 4 cups flour; 2 tablespoons baking powder; 1 teaspoon salt; 2 eggs; 2 cups milk; ⅔ cup vegetable oil; 1 tablespoon cinnamon (+ 1 tsp); ⅔ cup sugar

4.83

50 minutes

Jump to Recipe Video

By: Julie Blanner253 Comments
Updated: 9/10/21

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An easy Cinnamon Bread Recipe that is perfect for breakfast, snacks and gifting to friends, neighbors and co-workers! This Christmas bread makes a beautiful gift wrapped into inexpensive giftable loaf pans.

3 cinnamon bread loaves 2 gift wrapped in a bow by christmas greenery

Cinnamon Bread is an easy quick bread, which is a no yeast bread. Instead, it’s leavened with baking powder making it simple and fuss free!

It’s a moist bread full of flavor often synonymous with Christmas because of it’s amazing cinnamon sugar scent and flavor! It’s a delicious breakfast or snack on it’s own or slathered in butter.

However, it also makes an amazing treat! One bite and you’ll see why!

When you bake this bread, your kitchen will smell like Christmas! It’s a great homemade food gift to give to friends and family throughout the holidays. That’s exactly why I’ve dubbed this Christmas bread!

Each year I bake up giftable loaves for friends, family, teachers and neighbors. It’s a treat that anyone will surely love!

Even better, it’s quick and easy to make (just about 5 minutes hands on time) with ingredients you have in your pantry!

cinnamon bread in white loaf pans by christmas greenery gold scissors and red bakers twine

I am a bit of a quick bread devotee, or a connoisseur if you will. I’ve shared countless quick bread recipes, including a classic sweet bread, apple cinnamon bread and brown sugar bread that have been baked over a million times. I’ve got a quick bread guide that will walk you through each and every recipe in my line-up, along with tips and tricks to enhance your baking experience!

Cinnamon Bread Ingredients

Cinnamon Bread is made with staple ingredients that mean you can make it to enjoy or gift on a whim!

Sugar – White granulated sugar sweetens this bread. You can substitute brown sugar if you prefer.
Flour – All purpose flour, no need to sift.
Baking Powder – The leavening agent in this no yeast quick bread.
Salt – A hint of salt brings out all the other flavors.
Eggs – Eggs are the binding ingredient and help leaven the bread.
Milk – Use whatever you have on hand from skim to vitamin D! You can make it dairy free using almond milk. This contributes to the light texture of the bread.
Vegetable Oil – This helps to make the bread incredibly moist. You can substitute canola oil or melted butter if needed.
Cinnamon – The star of the show that gives this bread so much color and flavor.

Variations

Glaze – This bread is amazing on its own, but you can also cover it (or drizzle if you show any restraint) with Glaze, Cream Cheese Glaze or Apple Glaze.
Make Cinnamon Raisin Bread – Swirl in up to 1 cup raisins.
Make Cinnamon Nut Bread – Swirl in 1 cup walnuts, pecans or almonds and sprinkle on top just before baking.
Make Apple Cinnamon Bread – Dice 1 large apple (or up to 2) and swirl into the mixture.
Spice it Up – Alternatively, you can use apple pie spice.
Add a Topping – Simply combine cinnamon, brown sugar, flour and butter until crumbly and add just before baking.
Make it Healthier –Replace half the oil with unsweetened apple sauce and eliminate the cinnamon sugar mixture on top.

How to Make Cinnamon Bread

This Cinnamon Bread recipe is so easy to make – in just 5 minutes hands on time, you yield 6 miniature loaves of moist, sweet, delicious cinnamon bread. Who can resist?

To make Cinnamon Bread, you simply combine all ingredients, swirl in cinnamon sugar and bake to perfection! It’s a foolproof no yeast bread recipe. You can see how easy it is to make by watching the video in this post and get the printable recipe below.

Prep – Preheat oven and grease loaf pans.
Combine Dry Ingredients – Combine sugar, flour, baking powder and salt.
Beat Wet Ingredients – Combine eggs, milk and vegetable oil.
Combine – Gradually fold dry mixture into wet until just moist.
Make Topping – Combine cinnamon and sugar.
Swirl – Fill pan 1/4 of the way. Top with cinnamon sugar mixture. Use a knife to make swirls in the mixture. Pour batter on top and repeat.
Bake.

christmas bread in white miniature loaf pans wrapped in a bow

How to Gift Christmas Bread

When I was shopping at Michael’s for something for Adalyn, I came across ceramic loaf pans for just $1. They’re perfect for gifting my cinnamon bread – the quintessential Christmas bread.

Year after year they offer shades of red and green and a great standard, white! You can also now find white year round. It makes perfectly delicious little giftable loaves every time!

You can also use paper loaf pans!

3 cinnamon bread loaves in white miniature loaf pans with red bakers twine and gold scissors

Wipe the top of the baking dish with a wet paper towel to eliminate any residue from cooking spray.
Let the bread cool to room temperature before wrapping or serving.
Wrap the loaves with parchment paper, baker’s twine or ribbon and garnish with cinnamon sticks.

A batch yields 6 mini-loaves, that’s a lot of happy friends! I love that I can make 6 gifts of homemade cinnamon bread in just 10 minutes or easily double the batch for more!

christmas greenery by wrapped bread loaves

Are you on the list? Subscribers receive access to my free printable library that includes “Wishing you a sweet Christmas” gift tags. You can join here!

These adorable little loaves make great neighbor and teacher gifts – as well as breakfast for yourself. Enjoy alone or with a little butter. You definitely want to save a loaf for yourself!

There’s never a bad time to enjoy this bread! It can easily be served as a breakfast bread, a mid morning or afternoon snack or as an after dinner treat. It’s so perfectly festive and the smell of cinnamon when you bake this bread is to die for!

beautiful loaves of cinnamon bread wrapped with a ribbon next to greenery

A Quick Bread Recipe With No Yeast

There is no yeast in this recipe, so you don’t need to let it rise. It’s perfect for easy baking! You just need 5 minutes to make the batter and then it’s straight into the oven!

It’s the perfect bread recipe if you are short on time! It’s made with pantry staple ingredients, so the chances are you don’t even need to plan a trip to the store.

Tips

Grease Baking Dishes – Be sure to grease your baking dishes for easy removal.
Don’t Overswirl – Swirl gently or the cinnamon sugar mixture will begin to settle into the batter.
Use the Toothpick Test – Bake time varies with oven, altitude, loaf pan size and material. Use the toothpick test to determine when your loaves are baked through. When a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, it’s ready to be removed from the oven.

Alternative Baking Options

Large Loaves – Don’t want 6 miniature loaves? You can also make this Sweet Bread recipe in 2 – 1 pound loaf pans or cut the recipe in half for just 1 loaf pan and bake 50 minutes or until it passes the toothpick test.
Make Cinnamon Muffins – If you prefer to make them into muffins, just grease miniature muffin tins and fill each to 2/3 full. Bake 12 minutes.
Make it Ornate – Alternatively, you can also bake it in an ornate loaf pan with the same minimal effort!

How to Store Homemade Cinnamon Bread

Room Temperature – Store no yeast bread in a sealed plastic bag or covered in saran wrap at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Refrigerate – Up to 1 week in an airtight container.
Freeze – Wrap them tightly in heavy foil, saran wrap or place them in freezer bags (I like to do at least 2 to prevent freezer odors from seeping in), and freeze for up to 3 months. Bring to room temperature to serve.

For more tips and tricks to store quick breads and keep them as fresh as the day they were baked, don’t skip How to Store Banana Bread.

If you try this cinnamon bread recipe, please come back to share using my 5 star rating in the comments below! Not only do I appreciate it, but I know readers do, too! For more easy recipes and simple living ideas, subscribe to my newsletter!