Cinnamon Rolls…

The first time I came in the USA was in 1993, It was just a few months shy of my 21st birthday. It was an eye-opening experience I will tell you… If at first I was not really impressed with the environment I had landed in ( Mid June, 100 degree weather, high humidity, lone house amid large acreage, in the rural environment of South Carolina…), I soon learned to like it, and appreciate it. Today it will be exactly 21 years since I first put my foot on this strange land, and I am happy to have stayed and to have chosen it as my home. One of the thing that really took me by surprise, at first, was the size of everything: big houses, huge plated dinners, large interstates, gigantic cars…But what surprised me the most was what people ate. I could go on and on for hours about the food I was not accustomed to see, but today I will talk about cinnamon.

I never liked cinnamon growing up. I despised it so much, in fact, that it would me make me sick. I could not smell it, much  less eat it.

Cinnamon is pretty inexistant in France. You will see it, at times, in recipes of homemade ginger bread, but you will never see it mixed with apples.  So I really was astonishing to me to see the amount of cinannon that was used here in everything: Apple pies, pies, sweet potatoes casserole, gum, candies. The family,  I stayed with that first year,  would prepare cinnamon toasts which was a piece of bread slathered with butter, sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon, and then toasted. The odor was so strong, it would make me want to exit the room. As time went by, though, my sensitivity to cinnamon disappeared. I really think it is because I got used to smell it in everything, especially at Christmas and Thanksgiving.

Today after 20 years, I cook with it occasionally, and it will not bother me. I actually like it. How funny how your senses change and adapt over time;-)

How ironic that after 20 years, I am sharing with you a recipe of Cinnamon rolls. Why did I cook them?? For whatever reason, I craved to eat them. And I was not about to buy the Pillsbury kind;-)))

The recipe I used is from Paula Deen. I adjusted a few things though.

This recipe is good to make about 14 cinnamon buns:

Ingredients:

• 1 package of yeast
• 1 cup of warm milk
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 6 tbsp of butter melted
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour

Filling:

• 1 stick of butter melted 
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 1-2 tablespoons ground cinnamon (in the recipe, it suggests using 2, but I used one and it was plenty!!)

Glaze:

• 6 tbsp of butter at room temperature
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, or vanilla bean extract ( much better)
• 6 oz. of cream cheese at room temperature.

1. Turn the oven to 2oo, or turn your warming oven if you have one.
2. In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in about 2 tbsp of warm milk,  and set aside.
3. In a very large bowl mix milk, sugar, melted butter, salt and egg.
4. Add 2 cups of flour and mix well until the dough is homogeneous.
5. Then add the yeast.
6. Finally add the rest of the flour ( it may another 1 1/2 to 2 more cups).
7. Knead dough inside the bowl.
8. Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and place the bowl in the oven that you would have turned off and propped the door open. Let the dough rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
9. When time is up, take the dough and place it on the roulpat ( non-stick silicone map) that you would have spread over you counter.
10. With the rolling-pin, roll out the dough  into a 11 by 20-inch rectangle. You will not need flour is your dough is the right consistency and is not sticky. I did not need any.
11. Place the butter in a small bowl, melt it in the microwave for 30 seconds or until it is melted and with a brush, brush the butter all over the dough.
12. Mix sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the buttered dough.
13. Roll the dough up from the top so that you will end up with a 20 inch long roll.
14. Cut the rolls into 12 to 15 slices.
15. I placed mine into the large round mold, but it was not enough room for the dough to expand, so you will use the grande mold. Place cinnamon roll slices close together in the pan. If you have any melted butter, drizzle it over the dough. 
16. Place the pan back either into the oven to the warming drawer,  and let rise until dough has doubled, about 45 minutes.
17. Bake for about 20 minutes or until it is a nice golden brown color.
18. While the rolls are baking, prepare the glaze. Place the butter and cream cheese in the microwave and warm them up for 20 seconds so that they are soft. Place the cream cheese, butter, sugar and vanilla into a kitchen mixer, and beat the mixture on high.
19. Spoon and spread the glaze over the rolls as soon as you are removing them from the oven.
20. And try not to eat them all at once. Yummy!! And yes, I have been eating them. Such a yummy easy treats for my weekend breakfast;-)) You TRY!!!!

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!