A second guest post from Arav, now 8 years old, to capture another favorite recipe. Incase you missed it, his first post was about his great nana’s famous “white cake.”
story
Cinnamon Roll Story
You can find cinnamon buns around the world, but they originated in Northern Europe and are also very common in North America. Here are some of the cool names they are known by:
- Denmark: kanelsnegl
- Finland: korvapuusti
- Norway: Kanelbolle, Skillingsboller and Kanelsnurr
- Sweden: kanelbulle
- United Sates: Cinnamon roll (also cinnamon bun, cinnamon swirl, cinnamon Danish and cinnamon snail)
All of the photos on this page are from different times that we made this recipe, since I was little. Here is me cutting the cinnamon roll only three days after I turned two!! Oops. The knif is upside down.
My mom made these when she was a kid, too. My favorite part is to brush on the butter… and to eat them.
My mom ate cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning when she was little, so she decided to also make them for us every year. A yummy tradition.
Christmas morning 2020, my sister and I ate the entire pan before lunchtime. We only let mama and dada have one each.
Arav, on how delicious his cinnamon rolls are
music
Cinnamon Roll Playlist!
I bet you didn’t know there were so many songs about cinnamon rolls! You’ll be singing the first one all day.
We came across a lot more but some were not family-friendly. Mom and I decided to remove the ones with bad words, even if I liked the music.
recipe
Cinnamon Rolls
Cinnamon Rolls
Equipment
- 9-inch round baking pan (or similar) is helpful but not required.
Ingredients
Dough
- 2 cups all-purpose flour for a more complex taste, you can swap out 1/2 cup for whole wheat
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 tbsp sugar
- cinnamon optional
- 8 tbsp cold, salted butter, in chunks if unsalted, add 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup whole milk plus a bit more if needed
- butter, to grease pan
Filling
- 5 tbsp salted butter, melted
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 tbsp cinnamon +/- to taste
- 1/3 cup raisins optional
Icing (optional)
- 1/4 tsp almond extract or orange extract
- 1/4 cup confectioners sugar or more for desired taste/consistency
- 1/2 tsp milk or water or more for desired taste/consistency
Instructions
Make the dough
- Mix all of the dry ingredients. Cut in the butter until mixture appears to be all large crumbs. Add milk and stir to combine into one lump of dough, not too wet, not too dry. Knead into a round oval.
Shape Rolls
- On a floured surface, using a lightly-floured rolling pin, roll out the dough into a large rectangle of about 7×14 inches, about 1/4 inch thick. Brush entire surface generously with melted butter. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar mixture over the butter evenly. Add butter and/or cinnamon/sugar mixture until the whole rectangle is covered and you almost can't see the dough. Depending on how large you were able to roll it out, you may not use the whole cinnamon mixture. But do not skimp on butter! Most of the mixture should not look dry once spread onto the dough. If too much is dry, add more melted butter.Gently roll the edge of one of the longer sides of the rectangle towards the other long side, keeping it rather tight. When rolled completely, pinch the dough together gently so that you have a full log.Using a sharp knife, cut the roll into 1" thick slices. Grease a baking pan. Place the slices on their sides so that you see the spiral, spaced out a bit to allow spread (see photo).
Bake
- You can bake immediately in a preheated, 350 degree oven, but we like to let the flour absorb, sometimes even over night in the fridge.If rolls were in the fridge, allow to come to room temperature before baking. Bake for about 30-35 minutes, until the edges are browning slightly, turning the pan halfway through.
Make Icing
- In a small bowl, using a fork, mix the extract(s) of choice into powdered sugar with milk or water (milk will yield a creamer frosting, water more of a glazed icing). It should be watery enough to drizzle over the rolls, yet thick enough to hold some shape when you do so. Adjust ingredients to desired taste and consistency. When rolls have cooled a few minutes (if you are able to fend off anyone within' the vicinity that has been smelling it cook!), drizzle with icing and enjoy. Ten bucks says they will all disappear before the pan has time to fully cool. Yum. Yum. Yum.
Bonus
Ode to Cinnamon Rolls
Mom suspects I had the “Cinnamon Rolls” song in my head when it came time to write poems in school soon after this post, spring 2021.
Ok, one more picture. These look extra cinnamon-y. Where is the frosting?
