Saturday 4 June 2011

Cinnabuns...and other things

Around ten years ago, when I was living in Mombasa, I learnt how to make home made bounty chocolate at school. It was amazing. The first thing I ever learnt how to 'cook'.
I was so excited, I came home clutching my tin of hand made chocolate covered coconut bars with a huge smile on my face. It was so exciting!! Whether they liked it or not, everyone at home was pretty much forced to have some and everyone HAD to praise it.
Yes!!! This was it. I was going to spend the rest of my life making the yummiest bounty chocolate and would sell them and make a fortune!!!
That was all that was going through my mind.
As soon as I saw the box of chocolates empty, I ran into the kitchen and made some more.
Everyone had to eat it again. And again. And again. And again.

I must admit, soon I was too sick of bounty chocolate to even think about making it again (to everyones relief).
That was the end.

A few years later after we had moved to the UK, I was going through my mums recipe book and came across a recipe for flapjacks. So easy and so yummy.
Yay!! I made a batch and they turned out fantastic...and history repeated itself. Although this time, I'm pretty sure the family appreciated it the first few times around. 
Then we all got fed up of it. That was probably after I made it for the 20th time.
Story over. I learnt my lesson. Make something, let everyone appreciate it...and then don't make it for a long time until people really want it again.

Nevertheless, I recently came across a recipe for Cinnabuns. I love these.
Actually, I love anything cinnamony. Everytime I walk past a Cinnabon, I can just shut my eyes and feel myself float off the ground and glide towards the direction of this gorgeous aroma.
It was actually a scary task, to make these at home. Why? It needs a dough ofcourse- and like I've mentioned earlier, dough gives me too much grief.
It turns out too hard or too sticky. It never rises and just the thought of wrestling with it makes me exhausted.
But I had to try it. Luckily, the recipe calls for an exact measurement of milk at the beginning, so I couldn't put too much or too little of the ingredient even if I wanted to.

After making the dough, I left it for a couple of hours, expecting it to take forever to double in size, or not rise at all.
To my surprise, I went downstairs to my kitchen two hours later to see it tripled in size. The lid of the bowl that I had put it in had come off the top and was floating on top of the big mound of dough. I was so happy, I grabbed my phone and called the Taste Tester to tell him the news.
Not so exciting for anyone who doesn't know how rubbish I am at making any sort of bread!

Anyway, the rest of the process is very easy. I rolled out the dough, spread butter on it and added raisins to the cinnamon and brown sugar mix that you are supposed to spread on to it. (you can add anything you like to the filling including nuts).
After cutting the rolls, they took just 10 minutes in a preheated oven. 
If you're making these, make sure you taste them as soon as they come out of the oven...they're divine!!
There's a recipe of a lovely cheese frosting that you spread on top of the buns which make them taste EVEN better.

I've already made them four times. Nobody is tired of them yet. They're THAT good!! :-)





Ingredients:
1 (1/4 ounce) package dry yeast
1 cup warm milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup margarine
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
4 cups flour

Filling:
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
1/3 cup margarine, softened ( i used butter. If you're going to have the calories, might as well enjoy it!!)

Icing:
(I halved the recipe and it was still more than enough)
8 tablespoons margarine
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt

1. For the rolls, dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in a large bowl.
2. Add sugar, margarine salt, eggs, and flour, mix well.
3. Knead the dough into a large ball, using your hands dusted lightly with flour.
4. Put in a bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
5. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface, until it is approx 21 inches long by 16 inches wide.
6. It should be approx 1/4 thick.
7. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
8. To make filling, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.
9. Spread the softened margarine over the surface of the dough, then sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon evenly over the surface.
10. Working carefully, from the long edge, roll the dough down to the bottom edge.
11. Cut the dough into 1 3/4 inch slices, and place in a lightly greased baking pan.
12. Bake for 10 minutes or until light golden brown.
13. While the rolls are baking combine the icing ingredients.
14. Beat well with an electric mixer until fluffy.
15. When the rolls are done, spread generously with icing.

Sounds like a lot of work, but it really doesn't take that long and is well well worth the effort.
Enjoy :-)

I got the recipe from here


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