Cinnamon Buns

Ingredients

Dough

1 cup milk
1 cup lukewarm water
2 pkgs yeast
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
6 cups flour
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Filling

brown sugar
cinnamon
butter (about 1/2 cup)

Icing

1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Instructions

Heat milk until very warm, but not boiling. I used the microwave and heated it for about 2 minutes. Pour over sugar, salt, butter, and nutmeg and mix so the butter and sugar melt. Allow to cool to room temperature. Meanwhile, dissolve yeast in lukewarm water. If using the fresh cake yeast that we get here in Italy, make sure the water is not too hot. While the yeast is dissolving (you’ll have to mix it if it’s the cakey kind), beat the two eggs. Once the milk mixture is cooled, add the yeast mixture and stir, then add the beaten eggs. Add two cups of the flour and mix, then add the remaining flour and mix until you get an elastic dough without lumps. The dough is going to be very sticky. Put it in a large bowl and allow to rise to double it’s size. (I put mine in to rise over lunch and it started to overflow the bowl. O wanted to know if he would be able to get in the door when he came home from work in the evening or if the dough would have taken over the house by then. Did you ever see “The Blob”?)

Once the dough has risen to twice it’s size, punch down. Now we’re going to roll it into a rectangle. Like I said before, the dough is very sticky, so have some flour on hand. Coat your hands with flour and coat the outside of the dough with flour. Flour your rolling board well, then pat it out into a rectangle, adding a dusting of flour as it starts to feel sticky. Flour your rolling pin and roll out into a large rectangle.

Melt the butter (sorry, I didn’t use any measurements here, just melted some butter), then brush it onto the dough. Sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar. (I would say, once you sprinkle it with cinnamon and it looks right, add some more. They are called cinnamon buns after all.)

Roll the dough up like a jelly roll, then cut in 1 inch slices. Place cut side down in a greased baking pan, cover, and let rise to double.

Here’s a picture while they’re rising.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (190 Celsius). Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, then remove pan from oven. If you want to serve the buns warm, start making the frosting now.

Melt butter in saucepan, add brown sugar, bring to a boil, then reduce to medium heat, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add milk, and bring to a boil again. Remove pan from heat, add vanilla and powdered sugar right away, and stir to mix thoroughly. Spoon over cinnamon buns. (I actually had a good bit of this left over.)

Here’s the finished product. It may not be as pretty as something you’d buy in a bakery, but they were yummy. The dough is nice and light and not very sweet, and the frosting on the top wasn’t overpowering.

And another picture

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