On Sunday, Nov. 30, 2008 I wanted to be different, so I embarked on a journey I never thought I’d succeed in, baking cinnamon buns from scratch. I wanted to bring something to the table that no one else had tried to embark on, and most importantly I wanted it to be delicious. This was the first time I’d ever done something this complex and all by myself, ( I did have to make a “mom” call to check something out though, vitamin d and whole milk are the same, who knew?) so I took extra time to prep.
I wanted to make cinnamon buns, but I didn’t want to go with the frozen Phillsbury kind because there fake. I don’t eat canned, frozen, or porcessed food unless I’m forced to, and I wasn’t about to to serve that to you guys if I won’t even touch it. I looked at three different recipes, finally settling on one from an Emeril cookbook. It had all the right ingredients, well minus the raisins, and the directions were simple and even included pictures. The other two were super healthy and I don’t eat healthy junk food, it’s not possible. Plus, I think it’s okay to splurge on calories when it comes to foods that you only eat every so often.
Gooey Cinnamon Buns from Emeril Lagasse’s “There a Chef in my Soup!”
Ingredients:
Cinnamon Buns
1 cup whole milk
6 tbsp granulated sugar
1 package of active dry yeast
3 cups plus 2 tbsp all purpose flour, plus more for rolling out dough
½ tsp unsalted butter, softened
1 egg
½ cup raisins
1 tsp vegetable oil
Nutty filling
¾ cup packed light brown sugar
½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans
2 tbsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp of salt
12 tbsp melted unsalted butter
Glaze
1 ½ cups of confectioners sugar
2 tbsp of whole milk
1 tsp of vanilla extract
Directions:
- Place milk in a small saucepan. Heat over medium-low heat until milk is warm, remove from heat.
- Combine 2 tbsp of the sugar with the yeast in a small bowl, whisk with warm milk. Let rest until slightly thickened and foamy, about 5 minutes.
- Sift flour, remaining sugar, and salt into a large bowl. Add softened butter, egg, raisins, and yeast mixture, stirring well with a large wooden spoon. Incorporate all the flour
- Place dough an a work surface sprinkled with 2 tbsp of flour and knead until smooth and elastic, about 3 to 5 minutes. Dough should not be sticky.
- Using hands, form the dough into a ball and lightly grease it with vegetable oil.
- Place the dough into a large mixing bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let reast in a warm, draft free place. About 1 1/2 hours
- When dough has risen, divide into 2 equal parts
- In a small bowl, make nutty filling by combining the brown sugar, nuts, cinnamon, salt, and melted butter, and stir until smooth.
- Place portion of dough on a lightly floured surface and sprinkle with a bit more flour, use a rolling pin to roll dough into a large rectangle about 12inches by 9 inches.
- Using back of spoon, carefully spread half of the nutty filling over the top of the dough.
- With the long end of the rectangle facing you, roll up the dough into a tight cylinder.
- Pinch the edges together and use a sharp knife to cut 1-inch-thick slices
- Place the rounds on large baking sheet, leaving half inch spaces between the rounds
- repeat with remaining dough
- cover rounds with plastic wrap and let rest in a warm, draft free place until risen by half their size and almost touching, 30 to 60 minutes.
- Make sure the oven rack is in the center position and preheat the oven to 350 degrees
- Bake until golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes
- Combine the glaze ingredients in a medium bowl and stir until smooth
- Using oven mitts or pot holders, remove buns from oven and drizzle the glaze over the tops, Serve warm.
1. Use a recipe if your not sure how to make it. Find a few recipes from different people or books and compare them, see which ones you like and use it as a foundation for what you want to make. Be aware of the ingredients that seem weird or unnecessary, like the ones that are super healthy or extra fat because you may not need them.
2. Follow recipe measurements accurately. Measuring is a key part in making sure your food comes out great, it’s chemistry in the end. I pre-measure the ingredients and put it in separate containers before I pour it all in together because you can always add more, but it’s nearly impossible to take out ingredients once they’ve been added into the mixture.
3. Make sure you have all the ingredients needed in the recipe before you start. There is nothing more annoying than not having all the ingredients you need for a particular project, especially after you’ve already started mixing ingredients because it becomes a waste of time and food if you can’t finish it. Take the recipe to the store with you or write out a list, you’d be surprised how easy it is to forget the one thing you went into the store for.
4. Make sure you have the correct ingredients. This sounds stupid, but it happens all the time. In the store, the cottage cheese and sour cream container can look exactly the same if your not paying attention. Baking soda isn’t all the same, some is specifically for baking, some for cleaning, and some can be used for both, just pay attention to labels when your cooking or baking.
5. Put love in your food. This may sound weird, but this is the most important part of cooking or baking. You have to feel something positive when your preparing food because you and your feelings go into it. If you want it to taste good, believe that it will and work toward that taste. If the recipe requires kneading, chopping, coating, or whatever, do it with passion because it comes through to whomever is eating it. It helps to play music or wear a favorite t-shirt, do whatever makes you feel most comfortable.
