Killer Zebras test recipe 3

Ok, these ones turned out really well. So cute! Great chocolate flavor and texture like shortbread. Didn't spread at all while baking (higher temperature and shorter baking time - don't know if that is what did the trick). However, perhaps they were just a tad dry.

The recipe was from the cookbook "277 sorters kakor":

80 g powdered sugar + 20 g vanilla sugar, 300 g butter, and 400 g flour. That's it. Oh, and 20 g of cocoa in half of the dough.

I need to re-do my spreadsheet and put everything in the metric system so I can compare ratios. So far, recipe number 2 was the most popular with the family. I liked this one better.

Finally! Cinnamon rolls as big as your head ultimate recipe

Today I re-read Robin McKinley's comments on cinnamon rolls where she said they should just be good old white bread rolled around cinnamon sugar. That made me realize that the Cinnabon-type recipes I tried were all wrong: too sweet, too gooey, too much of everything.

I realized that I would have to make a spread sheet in order to get some understanding of what was wrong with the cinnamon roll recipes I was trying. I made three categories: Swedish cinnamon rolls, American cinnamon rolls, and white bread. One recipe in each row, and in columns were the different ingredients.

After comparing over 20 recipes I realized that the rolls I had tried were more like American dinner rolls, with lots of butter, sugar, eggs, and salt in the dough.

However, one American recipe: "Sweet-Roll Dough" caught my eye since it had less butter and sugar. I found it in the Fanny Famer Baking Book by Marion Cunningham:

In the spread sheet I noticed that the dough ingredients from that recipe were almost the same as another recipe I found online:
Leila's American sticky buns

I sort of combined the recipes and tested this:
1 pkg yeast (25 g fresh yeast), 1/4 cup butter, about 3/4 cup milk, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 tsp. salt, 3 cups flour, 1 egg. In the filling I used 1/4 cup butter, 1/2 cup brown sugar, and 3/4 Tbs. cinnamon. Instead of a cream cheese frosting I made a vanilla glaze: 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 Tbs. softened butter, 1/2 tsp vanilla, and enough milk to make it into an icing.

Next time I will cut down the butter in the filling to less than 1/4 cup - that much isn't needed. I will also roll the dough more tightly, since I noticed that a lot of filling melted into the bottom of the pan (hmmm...more searching on how to avoid this will be needed I guess).

The rolls were just perfect: more like a fluffy white bread, with a lovely cinnamon flavor (it could be increased but I noticed before that 1 Tbs cinnamon was grainy). I cut the dough into 8 rolls instead of 10 to make them extra big.

I will write a proper recipe soon but I just had to write this so I wouldn't forget. I can truly imagine Sunshine serving these!

Back to cinnamon bun business

I happened upon a list of cinnamon roll recipes the other day on some site (Huffington Post perhaps?) and one of the links was this:

Perhaps ultimate Cinnamon Roll recipe?

Not only does this recipe make just 8 rolls (thus they will be larger than 12, approaching head-size perhaps?) their icing sounds more like what I'm looking for: less creaminess and more crunch (no added butter and more sugar).

And the origin of the recipe is supposedly Cooks Illustrated, which I have found to be one of the absolute best sources for good recipes. I need to get a subscription again! I listen to their podcast America's Test Kitchen Radio and it is an amazing source of information and laughs.

How could I not have found this recipe in my quest? Is it because they are called "buns" instead of "rolls"?

The butter is downstairs softening. Time for perhaps my last test, so that I can check at least one recipe off my list?

UPDATE:

Complete disaster. When the liquid was added to the flour mixture it became a dry cement-like mess. Impossible to add butter to it. I ended up throwing it away. I read that it was supposed to be a brioche-like recipe but there must have been somthing wrong with it, or it must be difficult to make brioches?...

So I thought I would instead go back to my original recipe (Test recipe 1) and adjust it according to my first comments, and use the filling and glaze from the above recipe. Well, that dough turned out beautifully so I am going to keep that. I let it rise to twice its size and also baked it a few minutes longer than before and it turned out very fluffy - perfect. Test recipe 1 dough is the best (this time I used unsalted butter and added 1 tsp salt to the dough - I think either unsalted or salted is fine).

The filling had too much brown sugar and cinnamon, even when I cut back, so that is still a problem. 1/4 cup of butter is perfect. Next time I'll try 3/4 cup brown sugar and 1 Tbs. cinnamon.

The glaze contained no butter this time but more sugar and vanilla. Delicious.

I actually made 12 rolls since I'm thinking of bringing them to work tomorrow.

I think one more test of this recipe and I will have the ultimate Sunshine rolls.

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/