At Long Last

On this day, Dec. 4, 2016, I have finally conquered a baked good that has had me stumped for years.

The cinnamon roll has been my holy grail for some time now. My many failed attempts over the years led me to give up on ever trying it again, until last week when I came across a recipe that seemed simple enough. I tried it. And failed once again.

I realized my mistake after I had spent several minutes trying to correct a very temperamental dough, fought same dough in trying to roll it out into a rectangle, and painstakingly rolling the little devil into a tight log--and then it hit me. The egg! I had forgotten to put an egg in the dough!

I thought the results were terrible, (more like a very dry white bread with sugar sprinkled on it) although I took it to my parents, and they ate it with no complaints. That is what parents do, I guess. Even when their children are in their 40s.

It took me seven days to recover. 

I awoke this morning with a new sense of purpose, a drive to accomplish the impossible, and the realization that we had no grocery money for the next four days and I had to come up with something for breakfast...

So I took my time, followed the recipe exactly, and came home from church to pop these little babies in the oven. My heart, much like my belly at this moment, is full.

Mix together:

2-1/4 cups of flour (plus approx. 1/4 cup more in reserve bowl)

3 Tbs. sugar

1 tps. salt

1 packet of yeast

In small sauce pan combine and heat (low) until butter is melted:

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup milk

2-1/2 Tbs. of butter

Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture, combine them, then add

1 egg

 I used a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, until the mixer met resistance (and started making the noise a KitchenAid mixer makes when it needs more power..Scotty). Then I switched to the dough hook, and added a little bit of the reserve flour at a time, until I achieved a soft, smooth, dough that was tacky, but not incredibly sticky.

Then turned the dough out into a lightly buttered bowl, and let it rest for about 10 minutes.

In a separate bowl mix:

1/2 cup sugar

1 Tbs. cinnamon

Once your dough has rested, lightly flour your work surface, and your rolling pin, and roll the dough out into large rectangle  approximately a 1/4 inch thick (or if you are like me, a large oval that you can shape into a rectangle with your hands). 

Now take 2-3 Tbs. of softened butter (a few seconds in the microwave will do the trick), and massage it into the surface of your rolled dough. Then evenly sprinkle on the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Then just start at one long side of your rectangle, and work your fingers back and forth (like playing with the keys on a piano) while gently rolling the dough up. When you are done, you should have a long log. I found it helpful to stretch and lightly squeeze the log as I went along, especially the center. It helped me get a more uniform log. 

Starting from either end, cut the log into equal size portions. I found it helpful to make a few practice marks along the top, until I figured out what size cut was going to work for me. I settled for 3/4 inch cuts. That gave me 18 rolls (although two of them ended up a little small).

Once you have them cut, place them either in pie pans (two of them), or any size baking vessel that will adequately hold them, and give the bottom of the vessel a light coating of butter. I used a 9x13 baker. Then covered them and let them rise. About 1-1/2 to 2 hours. 

Then bake in a 375 degree oven for 23-25 minutes. I use stoneware, and should have taken the temp down to 350, as the bottoms got a little crunchy. So just make sure you know your oven and baking vessels very well.

For the glaze, I did a simple mix of:

1 cup powdered sugar

1/4 milk

1/2 tsp. of vanilla

Pinch of salt

Add more milk until it gets to the consistency you like. I like it loose enough to drizzle/pour. Once I took them out of the oven, I let them cool for just a few minutes, then applied the glaze.

Then you are ready to eat. 

And I did. 

And lo, it was good.