Sorry for my absence the past couple of weeks. It’s funny how life sometimes gets in the way of our best intentions. I hope everyone has had a wonderful start of the Fall season. I know I am certainly excited for the fall weather. After all it is my favorite time of year!
When I think back on recipes that my dad used to make for me as a child, I remember two things only; deep dish seafood pizza (one day my dear readers, I promise), and breakfast food. Now I’m not saying that those are the only things my dad knows how to cook, but those are the ones that stick out the most. Though inherently I’m not a morning or breakfast food person, I fondly remember spending Saturday mornings in the kitchen watching my dad make pancakes, biscuits, or perhaps my most favorite, his coveted Cinnamon Rolls! It is a recipe that we had used so many times in fact, that if you open up the cookbook, the pages will fall right out! I remember waiting, rather impatiently, in the wings as he would roll out the dough and sprinkle on his cinnamon sugar. I remember watching him painstakingly create the perfect spiral that all Cinnamon Rolls have. I remember watching them bake in the oven, and constantly pestering him to find out if they were done yet. This recipe is truly a piece of my childhood and now its a piece I’m going to share with all of you.
Let’s take a minute to talk about exactly why I will proclaim to my dying day that my fathers cinnamon rolls are the very best. It all starts from our favorite quick biscuit recipe. Yes, that’s right. Our cinnamon rolls do not have yeast. As parents of three, ease and speed were always prioritized, so making a yeasted dough was never something we did in our house. It wasn’t until years later when I went to purchase a cinnamon roll from a store that I found out, rather shockingly, that most people only eat yeasted cinnamon rolls. When I went to pastry school my shock and horror was further compounded when we only learned the yeasted style and what was worse, that they were filled with raisins and then covered in white icing. I didn’t get it then and I still don’t get it now.
This is not to say that the traditional cinnamon roll doesn't have it’s place. For many I’m sure it’s what they crave when they want that tasty, sweet rolled goodness. But let me be honest; I don’t often plan the night before for if I will be awake in time for breakfast, let alone what I’ll be making. I’m someone who values lazy weekend mornings that moves breakfast time to more of a brunch hour. Now my cinnamon rolls might not be puffy or gooey like some, but here’s the thing; they’re so insanely easy to make and you get a tasty biscuit like roll perfect for spreading a little butter and melting hearts. These are the bees knees and I promise, you’re going to love them.
The best thing about this recipe is that if you already have a favorite quick biscuit recipe, you are 90% of the way to a quick cinnamon roll! Our recipe starts with our dry ingredients: All Purpose Flour, Sugar, Baking Powder and a dash of salt. Mix the dry in a bowl. Next, take your fat and cut it into the dry ingredients - the recipe I grew up with uses shortening. Ultimately, you are looking for something that resembles coarse cornmeal. Finally slowly mix in your wet ingredients.
Now here’s the part where we tell you our secret ingredient that we use in every carby breakfast item we make; buttermilk. It’s such a gift really. Its bite gives an extra depth of flavor and the best thing is you don’t even need to buy it. Simply mix 1 Tbs of white vinegar per cup of milk, let it do its thing for a few minutes and voila! Instant buttermilk. The key here is to be careful you don’t mix in too much milk otherwise you end up with a sloppy mess. Keep in mind that the temperature and weather of the day may cause your recipe to vary slightly.
Once your dough has come together into a ball, turn it onto a lightly floured surface. Give it a gentle knead, because even a quickbread will benefit from a little gluten development. Time to rest - take the bowl your dough had been mixed in and turn it upside down covering your dough. This will prevent it from drying out while we get the rest of the ingredients ready.
While your dough is resting, melt some butter, keeping in mind that you will need enough to brush all over your rolled out dough, as well as extra from the tops before going in the oven. Next, combine your brown sugar and cinnamon. If I’m honest here, I never measure for this. For me I do it all by color. So, taking a bowl or a deli container, add a few cups of brown sugar and then sprinkle on a bunch of cinnamon. Ultimately, we are looking for the color to resemble a darkish caramel. Whatever cinnamon sugar you don’t use can be saved for later use.
On a lightly floured surface, roll your dough out into a large rectangle until it is about 1/4” - 3/8” thick. Next, using a pastry brush, liberally bush the top of your dough with the melted butter. Be sure to leave about a 1 - 1 1/2” dough “lip” thats unbrushed - this will be what we use to close the cinnamon rolls at the end. This lip is best placed away from you, so that you can roll towards it. Now it’s time to add that sweet, sugary goodness. Using a spoon, your hands or just shaking some on, start to add the cinnamon sugar. I tend to sprinkle it across the middle, and then using my flat palm, spread it out. We are looking for an even coating of the sugar covering all the butter. You may notice your sugar already starting to melt if your butter is still warm which is nothing to worry about.
Ok. Now on to the tricky bit. Rolling up your dough can take a bit of practice, and you may even opt for a second pair of hands to help when you first start to keep things neat and tight. Roll your dough length wise towards your unbuttered lip. The key here is to roll as tightly as possible. If it is not, you will end up with all sorts of catawampus rolls. You may find, if working alone, that you will start at one end and roll a little bit down the length, and then roll back in the opposite direction. Eventually when you have enough rolled, you will be able to splay your fingers out and roll the entire line at once. When you have rolled your dough 95% of the way, stop and carry the lip up and over the top of your dough snake. This will allow you to pinch the dough together lightly.
Time to slice and bake! Using a bench scraper (a metal one will work best) or a knife, slice your dough into 1” thick rolls and place them on your sheet pan - a SilPat works great here, as the melted sugar once out of the oven can be a little sticky but do NOT cut on your SilPat if you’re using a knife (though a bench scraper is fine). You will cut through it and wreck it and no I’m totally NOT speaking from experience… at all. When setting your cinnamon rolls onto you pan, be sure to use a little finesse. The last thing to do before we pop them into the oven is to give them an extra butter bath on the top (no one ever said these were going to be low in calories). Bake them until golden brown and the sugar looks nice and melted.
Serve them while they are still warm and toasty. They are fabulous on their own, or if you are feeling extra indulgent with a small amount of soft salted butter (though my alien little sister for some reason prefers to have them with cold unsalted butter and swears by it). I have fond memories of eating these around the breakfast table, peeling back the spiral and saving the center for last. Afterall, that’s the best part!
Dad’s Simple Cinnamon Rolls
Recipe Adapted from The Restaurants of New Orleans Cookbook By Roy F. Guste Jr.
Courtesy of Corrine Dunbar’s Restaurant
Biscuit Recipe
2 C. Flour
1 Tbs. Baking Powder
3 Tbs. Sugar
1/2 tsp. Salt
5 Tbs. Shortening
1 C. Buttermilk
4 Tbs. Butter, melted
Cinnamon Roll Filling
*QS Brown Sugar
*QS Cinnamon
*QS - Quantity Sufficient
Preheat oven to 450°F.
Combine dry ingredients in a bowl.
Cut in the shortening.
Mix in the buttermilk until a ball of dough is formed.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead gently for a few minutes.
Roll dough into a 1/4” - 3/8” thick rectangle.
Brush dough with melted butter and top with an even layer of Cinnamon Sugar.
Roll dough lengthwise into a snake.
Slice into 1” thick rolls and place on a prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 14-17 minutes, or until they are lightly browned.
If you would like to make the biscuits, omit the cinnamon roll filling, roll them to the same thickness (or your desired thickness) and simply bake the dough in rounds. These themselves are great served with your favorite jam or preserve.
Lagniappe of the Day: Try to make your rolls as round as possible when placing them on the sheet pan, because if they go into the oven looking like a mess, you are sure to pull them out in the same condition. {And yes, my cinnamon rolls that were unbaked here on the blog looked like junk when they came out of the oven. Some of this was to due with the fact that it took so long between making the dough and rolls and taking the pictures before going into the oven. The rest of it had to do with the fact that I didn’t give enough care to the rolls when placing them on the pan. I couldn’t bring myself to photograph them once they were out of the oven. So the final product you see was actually done a few days later, and came out much better.}
