Fairy Bread

This is my prediction. You will hear more about "Fairy Bread," and not just from me. And if you do, remember - I told you so. 

So what are these delectable little treats? Let's put it this way, it is more about the looks than the taste. I read about this "phenomenon" a year ago, and frankly was intrigued until I read the ingredients. It's simple, really.

White bread, covered with butter, and topped with sprinkles. Why is this going to be one of the next big crazes? It's pretty. It's easy. It's novel. When you don't have time to bake proper French petit fours for your very English high tea, you can make Fairy Bread. You know, because we all make our own petit fours in our spare time... considering we even know what a petit four is. 

One of the earliest references to Fairy Bread came from an article published in a 1934 issue of the Sydney Morning Herald, "Christmas Dinner with Toddlers" advising parents to give their children a slice of fairy bread, sponge cake, and a glass of milk as a "festive treat." 

These colorful little wedges of bread or cookie cutter shaped treats also became popular at birthday parties, not only in Australia, but in New Zealand, as well. Many a Boomer-aged person from "down under" grew up with Fairy Bread. 

Do I really need to give you the ingredients? Okay, anything to promote wings, sparkles, whimsy, and giggles. Let's start with the basics:

8 slices of cheap fluffy and very white bread
1/2 cup butter, softened. I would also recommend to use the salt-free
1/2 cup or more of colorful sprinkles - hundreds and thousands of colors and shapes! 

Be authentic and use white bread. This is not the time to get all healthy with 30-whole grain bread with free trade nuts and seeds from the Rain Forests of Brazil. Don't be a bore. Don't try to make more of this than necessary and get all "foodie gourmet." Keep it original and simple "old school." Relax for fairy's sake. 

Butter all of the bread (one side only) generously from one end to the other side of all crusts. Let no piece of bread shine through. Cut and remove all of the crusts from all four sides of the bread, but do this lightly. Don't crush the fluffiness of the bread. Now, what to do with the excess of the crusts? Eat them or feed them to the dog. Throw them in a bag and later pulverize them in the processor for meat balls or toast them in the oven for breading. Or just throw the damn things away. Why are you making this so hard? 

Now, cut the crust-less bread diagonally into two equal triangular halves. You want two large equally sized, crust-less buttery triangles of cheap spongy white fluffiness. 

Here is where it gets fun. Start the sprinkles! Cover every bit of the buttered bread with sprinkles. Get excessive! Cover every square millimeter evenly with sprinkles. Who cares if a few sprinkles fall off on your serving plate. It just adds to the magic.

If the gourmet foodie in you really cannot stand it and have to "elevate" the simplicity, then for the chocolate lovers, instead of butter, spread the bread evenly with a layer Nutella® before adding the sprinkles. Also, a light layer of sweetened and softened cream cheese would also kick it up a bit. Instead of the traditional wedges or cookie cutter shapes, you could even roll the crust-less buttered sprinkled bread into a jelly roll shape and cut into two to three pieces. If you truly go beyond these suggestions, then anything else is no longer "Fairy Bread."  

Remember me when you see these pretty little breads decked out in the pastry case of your local coffee-house in the future.