CREAMY CINNAMONY CREAM OF WHEAT

1/4 c cream of wheat

1.5 T butter (divided)

2 cups 1% or 2% milk (not skim, whole can work but might change texture)

2 T sugar

¼ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. good vanilla extract

Melt 1 T of butter in a medium sauce pan over medium high heat.

Once melted, add the cream of wheat and stir often until it just barely begins to brown. (If you go too far and get noticeable browning, throw it out and start over.)

Stirring constantly, add milk, You'll get a burst of steam when you first start to add the milk to the frying cream of wheat, so watch out, but if you don't stir at this point, you'll get lumps.

Once the milk has been added, turn the heat down to medium, and add the salt, sugar and cinnamon.

Let cook slowly for about 20 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla The porridge will continue to cook for a bit, and will thicken some as it cools.

Consistency is key here -- you want the finished product to have the texture of a warm loose pudding, which means it needs to be on the liquidly side at this point. If it's too thick, add a bit more milk to thin it out.

Cover the sauce pan and let it sit for five minutes or so, then stir in the remaining half T of butter and pour into two bowls.

Options: add a shake cinnamon before serving, but if you want to get fancy, you can also add a teaspoon or two of sugar and caramelize it with a torch (like a creme bruleé). Also, you can add a bit of nutmeg along with the cinnamon if you like, but be careful -- the nutmeg tends to overpower the other relatively subtle flavors in this dish -- one scrap on the nutmeg grater is enough.