NEW BOOK IN SEPTEMBER!

SHADOWS

I can't wait until September 26!

I don't dare read any descriptions since they always spoil.

I hope it is in Sunshine's world but I'm not counting on it.

I'll read it no matter.

CAN'T WAIT!

No time to bake due to too much work, but still reading. On part 3 ... don't want it to end. I see from my googling that there are many, many people who feel exactly as I do.

Some people make it a yearly tradition to read Sunshine. I just save it for when I need it, which usually turns out to be once a year anyway!

Cinnamon roll hints from Robin McKinley

Ok, so I googled a bit more and found this:

http://robinmckinley.livejournal.com/10712.html

I must try adding some vanilla extract to the dough....

Her agent wanted her to work on recipes even BEFORE the book was published???...sigh...



Yes, I know this is a fictional character
in a book but if someone can do this:

http://lotrproject.com/

then I don't think I need to feel guilty about my little project...

Cinnamon Rolls as Big as Your Head test recipe 1

 

Ok, so here is the recipe I used last Sunday:

Dough:

1/4 cup butter (I used normal, salted butter)

1 cup milk (mine had 1.5% fat)

25 g fresh, compressed (Swedish) yeast

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs, room temperature and whisked slightly

1 tsp salt (I used 3/4 tsp. since the butter was salted - maybe less would be better)

4 cups white flour

 

Filling:

1/3 cup butter, softened (I didn't use that much, maybe 1/4 cup)

1 cup brown sugar, packed (this amount seemed rather extreme)

2 1/2 Tbs. ground cinnamon (also extreme)

(mix the sugar and cinnamon)

 

Cream cheese glaze:

4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

 

 

Directions:

Melt the butter in a saucepan and then mix in the milk to warm it all to a temperature that feels warm but not hot (this is so you don't kill the yeast). Break up the yeast in a large bowl and add a small amount of the milk/butter mixture and stir it until it dissolves. Then add the rest of the milk/butter. Add the sugar, eggs, and salt, and then almost all the flour (try a little at a time - you want the dough to be only slightly sticky, you might need more or less). I then thoroughly mixed it with the dough attachments on a hand-held mixer. (Here I probably should have kneaded the dough by hand but that wasn't in the original recipe, so I will definitely knead it next time!)

 

Butter a large bowl and put the dough in it, turning it to coat. Cover it with plastic wrap and let rise for about an hour until double in size. (here I think I probably didn't have the patience to wait until it really was double in size).

 

Before rising a second time... 

 

I then rolled out the dough to around 12 by 16 inches, spread the soft butter over it and the cinnamon/sugar mixture. (This is too much cinnamon so less next time!). I rolled it up on the long side and cut 12 rolls, placed them on a buttered 11x15 inch glass baking dish, and let them rise 30 minutes (to supposedly double in size but here again, my impatience probably got the better of me and they weren't quite double). Bake 18-20 minutes in 350 degrees Fahrenheit. During this time, whip together the glaze. When the rolls are done (here you have to use your own judgement), take out and immediately spread glaze so that it melts. Let cool and if you aren't feeding customers at a coffeehouse then you can freeze the rolls and they thaw out nicely except that the glaze gets stuck to whatever you freeze them in.

 

 

 

 

 

The glaze was really delicious but just a bit too much cream cheesey so next time I'll try another version.

 

Today we ate up the last two....so good...can they be any better? We shall see.

I am going to the States for a visit and am ordering several cookbooks that should be a help on my project. One of my favorite things to do when I visit is to peruse used book stores so I'm hoping there should be some hidden treasures there too...

Reading instead of baking

Today I finished part one.

I need to test overnight cinnamon rolls. I have googled this and one person wrote that the slow rising process helps the flavor. But I suspect people use this method so that they have fresh rolls in the morning! (or perhaps bakers would do this to avoid getting up even earlier?!). Who knew that there would be tons of websites on this subject? I also discovered that there are several cookbooks on cinnamon rolls and sticky buns (and cinnamon rolls are actually NOT my favorite baked goodie!). I have a feeling this project is going to take longer than I imagined....alas, I have committed myself to this and I will not give up, even after being overwhelmed by the world of cinnamon rolls.


Still shooting the movie in my imagination. I would have this song for the closing credits. Not that I am anywhere near the end of the book. Slightly ironic but it would be perfect.






We are still eating up the first batch of cinnamon rolls.

Definitely too much cinnamon with 2 1/2 Tbs. in 12 large rolls.

Another picture inspired by part one:

Sunshine in my backpack makes me happy (sorry John Denver)

I haven't had time to try any new recipes but I have had some things on my mind regarding cinnamon rolls. First, there is the cinnamon question. How much is too much and what kind to use? Apparently there are different kinds and one kind can cause liver damage in some people! And there is a LOT of cinnamon in many recipes.

Then the egg conundrum. 1 or 2?

Thirdly, the "let it rise for around an hour or let it rise overnight in the fridge" puzzle, which probably has some logical answer but I haven't found it yet.

And finally the yeast problem. I thawed out a roll from my test batch and it might have tasted a little yeasty.

I was reading the part where Sunshine changes her pocketknife into a key on the bus this morning and this couple in front of me was making out (at 7 am!). How they had the energy I don't know. It was very distracting (and noisy) so I ended up re-reading the same part over and over ... which is ok since I love that part of the book so much. Afterwards, I had that scene in my head (not the slobbering couple, but the scene in the book) so I decided to really nerd out and make fan art. Yes, I am a nerd but I have never made fan art except for the drawings of R2D2 etc that I did in my pre-teen years. I have never used Photoshop before so it was interesting playing around. I found the coolest background from Flikr (creative commons license to use).

So ... today I learned how to give photographs transparent backgrounds! COOL. So far in the book there is no description of the key and I don't remember if there is one later so I found a key that had a tree-like design at the top which I thought would be appropriate since Sunshine feels that her evolving use of magic is like a sapling growing into a tree.

On a roll...

Oh how I love Sunshine. Reading it on the bus to work this morning and on the way home. It is a ward against the blues.

This song ("Specially for you") would be on the soundtrack if I were making the movie (which I am currently shooting in my imagination).




Check out Dakhabrakha!

As I was pondering cinnamon rolls yesterday I remembered that Sunshine put the dough in the fridge overnight, which is something I've never done. This warrants further investigation...

Sunshine is not cozy but cinnamon rolls are

You might get the idea from my first post that Sunshine is a feel-good, cozy book since it is a comfort to read it. It is not cozy. It is a comfort to read it, not due to romance or descriptions of baked goods, but since the hero (is it politically uncorrect to write "heroine"?) of the story is a young woman who is not perfect, who struggles and overcomes obstacles despite her flaws. There are many reviews online but I would avoid reading them if I hadn't read the book since they often give away too many plot details: "As someone who likes ambiguity in their characters, who likes to make up their own mind, and has loved the story of Beauty and The Beast since childhood Sunshine is one of my favourite novels. It is the ultimate in comfort reading on the days when I am convinced that the world hates me. It inspires me to get out my own baking trays and make muffins, iced buns and other comfort foods to feed my family and friends." (from http://voices.yahoo.com/a-review-sunshine-robin-mckinley-5451265.html)

I will be spoiling big time in this blog so read no further if you haven't read the book.

This is the only book in the whole vampire genre which I have liked (adored), besides Anne Rice's books which I read in the 80s. One reason is that it is dark and messy, in many ways. There is no neat ending and more questions are raised than answers given. This drives some people nuts (seems like the number one reader question to Robin McKinley is "will there be a sequel?" ---followed by requests for recipes!). I would of course love to read more in Sunshine's world but I think the book ended perfectly.

But back to cinnamon rolls.

On page one, Sunshine mentions her coffeshop's most popular item: "Cinnamon Rolls as Big as Your Head". I am re-reading the book and am currently on p. 40 (paperback from 2003). And so far, no more detailed description of these rolls has been given-maybe later, I can't remember...

The first time I encountered HUGE cinnamon rolls was when I was at "Carol's Coffee Cup" in Deming, Washington (must have been the 1990s). At least that is the first time I remember being blown away by the size. They must have been at least 4 or 5 inches high. I guess this would be similar to the Cinnabon rolls. (Hmm...interesting. According to Wikipedia Cinnabon originated in Washington.)

My thought is that Sunshine's rolls would be similar in size to these. Robin McKinley seems to want to leave a lot to the reader's imagination (or is ambivalent ...).
So a Cinnabon-similar roll is what I imagine. I had actually never baked anything like this before. In Sweden cinnamon rolls are traditionally the size of your palm and are sprinkled with a special type of sugar (pärlsocker...just looked it up and it is apparently called "nib sugar".). No glaze. I found a Cinnabon-like recipe and used a glaze from another recipe (it contained more cream cheese than the original - which I will change next time since it became too creamy, and I would like it to be just a bit more sugary so that it hardens to a slight crust on top).

If you google "Cinnabon recipe" then you will find several. I guess these would be classified as sticky buns in the old days (sort of) but without the sticky, nutty layer. Strangely I have no memory of eating cinnamon rolls earlier than in the late 1980s. Cinnamon toast yes, but not rolls.

Yeast is a problem since it seems like dried yeast in Sweden is different than dried yeast in the States. I used fresh, compressed yeast and I'm never sure if I'm using the correct amount. I might buy some yeast from the English shop in Stockholm and see if there is any difference.

This is the result. In Sweden the filling is made with regular white sugar (and cinnamon and butter of course), but in the States it seems that brown sugar is used. How this could have escaped me for so many years is a mystery. It was really delicious of course. But I won't be satisfied until I try another cinnamon roll recipe or two...

Fellow Sunshine cinnamon roll bakers:

http://www.passingpinwheels.com/2012/03/cinnamon-rolls-not-as-big-as-your-head.html

http://lauren.merrywednesday.org.uk/pictures/3/cinnamon-rolls-as-big-as-your-head

http://lingfree.wordpress.com/2013/02/09/new-project-sunshines-pastries/

http://hungrybloggers.com/article/cinnamon-rolls

http://msbarrows.tumblr.com/post/25282041046

http://lanternhollowpress.com/2011/04/12/fantasy-and-food-even-frodo-had-to-eat/

And here is a person who has adapted recipes for a creative writing class. Sometimes this link works and sometimes not.

http://vectors.umwblogs.org/2012/03/14/sunshine-sunshines-recipes/

My Sunshine baking obsession

I love how the internet makes us realize that we are not alone with what we might think are strange interests (ok - that is too mild a word..."obsessions" is the right one).

This all started for me when a book about teenage vampires was published. I did not get past the first few chapters and while reading the one star reviews on Amazon, I discovered that I was not alone. In one review someone mentioned the book "Sunshine" by Robin McKinley as being vastly superior. It was. And that is how my obsession began.

In Sunshine, the main character Rae/Sunshine is a baker in a coffee shop. I have been obsessed with baking since I was old enough to be unsupervised in the kitchen. I go through yearly phases when I am determined to, for example, bake the "ultimate" peanut butter cookie (I will try several recipes but give up since I'm never satisfied. The freezer will be full though and my family is happy to eat up the rejects). Since I moved from the States to Sweden 20 plus years ago, my baking attempts are always a challenge since the flour, etc. is slightly different and of course measurements are not the same. I could write an entire blog on my attempts of finding the perfect recipe of whatever, but this is about Sunshine.

When I read Sunshine the first time (I read it yearly - especially when I'm feeling down) I was overwhelmed by the sort of stream-of-consciousness narration, so I gave up half way. For some reason, I gave it a second chance, and that was when I got hooked. A few years after I discovered it, I wrote down all the names of the baked goods she describes, and thought it would be fun to try to bake a few. Then I found Robin McKinley's blog, and a section called "Playing with your food", as well as her forum for cooking with a section about Sunshine and I discovered that there are many of us who have thought the same things, have written lists of Sunshine's baked goodies, etc. These are my people!

http://www.robinmckinleysblog.com/recipes/


http://robinmckinleysblog.com/forum/index.php?t=msg&th=2580&start=0&

I have been feeling really stressed lately and couldn't find a good book, so it was time to re-read Sunshine. But this time, I had to start my baking experiment.

Here goes...