Quick Cinnamon Buns

I have loved this quick cinnamon roll recipe for a good 10 years now. It is from the book The New Best Recipe but I have also seen it on the Cooks Illustrated website. I can't believe that the cinnamon roll gods can be cheated with this fast recipe. No yeast, no rising, no delay to cinnamon roll happiness. Give yourself 45 minutes, start to finish, to get these made and baked. I would say the texture of these buns are a cross between a muffin and a biscuit. So good.

My family of five can devour all 8 in one sitting so I made these last night and again today. My high school kiddos run track so they eat a lot these days! Especially my son Nathan who is 18. He ate 2 or 3 last night!

They are similar to these canned cinnamon rolls but a thousand times better. Okay I've never actually tasted these, just assuming that homemade is always better.

You start out by making the biscuit dough. Once stirred together you'll knead it a few times on the counter and then pat it out to a 9"x12" rectangle. I always keep a ruler in my baking drawer for this sort of thing.

Dump the cinnamon sugar mixture on the dough and press firmly into dough. I love this part--you really smell that scant 1/8 teaspoon of cloves in the mix. 

It is kind of sticky so you'll want to use a bench scraper or a spatula to help you scrape and roll the dough. Flouring the counter does help but the dough is really tender unlike a yeast dough that is stronger.

Use plain (not mint!) dental floss and cut up the dough into eight pieces. First cut in half, then cut each half in half to have 4 pieces. Then cut those 4 pieces in half again to have 8 uniformly sized rolls. I keep dental floss in my baking drawer as well. My motto is to always be prepared to make cinnamon rolls. You can use a serrated knife if you want to but floss works way better.

Place in buttered pan and bake. Drizzle with icing and eat while warm.

PRINTABLE RECIPE CLICK HERE

QUICK CINNAMON BUNS

Melt one stick of butter and then just measure out what you need for each step.

CINNAMON-SUGAR FILLING

¾ cup dark brown sugar (packed, 5 ¼ ounces)

¼ cup granulated sugar (1 ¾ ounces)

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

⅛ teaspoon ground cloves

⅛ teaspoon table salt

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

BISCUIT DOUGH

2 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour (12 ½ ounces), plus additional flour for work surface

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon table salt

1 ¼ cups buttermilk

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

ICING

2 T. cream cheese, softened OR 2 T. sour cream can be substituted

2 T. buttermilk

1 cup powdered sugar

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Pour 1 tablespoon melted butter in 9-inch nonstick cake pan or comparable oval pan; brush to coat pan.

2. To make cinnamon-sugar filling: Combine sugars, spices, and salt in small bowl. Add 1 tablespoon melted butter and stir with fork or fingers.

3. To make biscuit dough: Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. Whisk buttermilk and 2 tablespoons melted butter in measuring cup or small bowl. Add liquid to dry ingredients and stir with wooden spoon until liquid is absorbed (dough will look very shaggy), about 30 seconds. Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface and knead until just smooth and no longer shaggy.

4. Pat dough with hands into 12 by 9-inch rectangle. Brush dough with 2 Tablespoons melted butter. Dump sugar mixture onto dough and press into dough. Cut with dental floss into 8 rolls, and arrange buns in buttered cake pan. Brush with 2 tablespoons remaining melted butter. Bake until edges are golden brown, 23 to 25 minutes. Use offset metal spatula to loosen buns from pan; without separating, slide buns out of pan onto greased cooling rack. Cool about 5 minutes before icing.

5. To make icing and finish buns: While buns are cooling, line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper (for easy cleanup); set rack with buns over baking sheet. Whisk cream cheese and buttermilk bowl until thick and smooth (mixture will look like cottage cheese at first). Sift powdered sugar over; whisk until smooth glaze forms, about 30 seconds. Spoon glaze evenly over buns; serve immediately.

The Best Bran Muffins

I’m a big believer in muffins for breakfast. But let’s face it, most of time you are just eating cake. Not that I have a problem with cake for breakfast, but most days I am trying to get some fiber into the family. These muffins are the perfect kind of bran muffin—lots of fiber, lots of tasty ingredients like butter and molasses, and just enough sweetness so they don’t taste like health food. I’ve loved this recipe for years—probably at least 10 years. And of course, it’s from Cook’s Illustrated. You can find the original recipe by clicking here.

I prefer a recipe where a box of cereal isn’t the source of fiber. I find it easier to keep a small bag of wheat bran in the pantry rather than a box of All-Bran cereal. I like Bob’s Red Mill but I am sure there are many other choices. I do however like the cereal box version of the Cook’s Illustrated muffin. I’ve made both at the same time and had the family do a taste test. They like the cereal box version just slightly better whereas I prefer this version with the wheat bran. And since I am the baker, my vote counted more. So this is the version I make and freeze in small batches so that we can easily microwave a few at a time for breakfast.

Enjoy! Printable recipe click here.

The Best Bran Muffins

Original recipe from cooksillustrated.com

1 1/4 cups bleached all-purpose flour

1/4 cup whole-wheat flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon table salt

1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon ground allspice

½ teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg

7 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup dark brown sugar plus 2 additional tablespoons

2 large eggs

2 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

3 tablespoons molasses

1/4 cup sour cream

1 cup buttermilk plus 3 additional tablespoons

1 ½ cups wheat bran (I like Bob’s Red Mill)

1 cup raisins (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix flour through nutmeg in medium bowl; set aside.

2. Beat butter in large bowl of electric mixer or with handheld mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add brown sugar, increase speed to medium-high, and beat until combined and fluffy, about 1 minute longer. Add eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly before adding the next. Beat in vanilla, molasses, and sour cream until thoroughly combined and creamy, about 1 minute longer. At this point mine always looks curdled. Reduce speed to low; beat in buttermilk and half the flour mixture until combined, about 1 minute. Beat in remaining flour mixture until incorporated and slightly curdled looking, about 1 minute longer, scraping sides of bowl as necessary. Stir in bran and raisins if using.

3. Spray a muffin tin. Divide batter evenly among molds using spoon or ice cream scoop. Bake until a toothpick inserted into center withdraws cleanly or with a few moist particles adhering to it, about 20-25 minutes. Set on wire rack to cool slightly, about 5 minutes. Remove muffins from tin and serve warm.

I prefer to double this recipe and freeze muffins. They microwave great while still frozen!

 

 

Belgian Waffles

For 17 years Paul and I have been making these Belgian Waffles. I’m not sure how “Belgian” they are but Paul lived in Belgium for a couple of years, he speaks Dutch (he lived in the Flemish region), and therefore that makes him the closest person in my life that can authenticate these waffles. It’s probably not saying much, but hey, that’s good enough for me. Because these waffles are so, so, very good. Light, fluffy, yeasty, and crispy.

I’m kind of embarrassed to tell you how I got this recipe. It’s bad and wicked. When we were newlyweds in 1995 we were still college students at BYU. We were poor kids that’s for sure. We lived in the crustiest basement apartment with an avocado green toilet and bathtub and my knuckles would scrape the ceiling when I’d shampoo my hair. The floor was uneven and there was a tootsie pop stuck in the corner of the carpet courtesy of the previous owners that never came out. The place was $300 a month. We didn’t have a TV and guess what, we didn’t care. We were blissful newlyweds who together made $800 a month at our on-campus jobs.

Explaining all this doesn’t excuse what I did. We were on the hunt for a yeasty Belgian waffle recipe and this was before the internet as we know it. So we went to a bookstore and scoured cooking books. I found one that sounded promising. So instead of buying the book, I copied down the recipe in my notebook. Gasp. What a bottom feeder. Looking back I think it was the Joy of Cooking but I’ve looked in my copy of Joy of Cooking (yes, I eventually paid for the book) and I don’t think this is exactly it—although they could’ve revised it in my copy. Either way, I adore this recipe. Make sure you have a deep-well waffle iron to make these.

After you make the batter you’ll gently fold in the egg whites that you’ve beaten to soft peaks. You still have a few white streaks from the egg whites, and that’s ok. It’ll look like this:

Cover and let the batter rise at least half an hour if not more. Your kids will love them. So will you. Please top them with fruit and real cream and avoid crappy pancake syrup.

Click here for recipe.