The smell of cinnamon always take me back to my childhood. My grandmother liberally used cinnamon in most of her baking, from layered palacsinta (pancake) cake to babke. The smell makes me feel like I’m being lovingly enveloped in my grandmothers arms once again. Cinnamon mixed with lavender perfume, her bright red lipstick and gold gaudy costume jewellery (picture an 80 year old Zsa Zsa Gabor).
There is a lovely Jewish tradition associated with cinnamon buns. When a woman goes in to labour, the dough is made so that the baby is born into a wonderful cinnamon infused world. Sounds lovely doesn’t it. Not sure whether my obstetrician would of approved of the making of cinnamon buns in the operating theatre when I had my caesarean though!
Dough
- 7g (0.2 oz) dried yeast packet
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 3 tsp caster sugar
- 4 1/2 cups strong high protein flour for bread making (though plain flour will do)
- 1/2 cup caster sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 100ml (2 3/4 fl oz) pure cream
- 50ml (2 fl oz) milk
- 2 eggs
- 85g (3 oz) unsalted butter
- 2 tblsp vegetable oil
To make the dough, in a small bowl mix together the warm water, 3 tsp sugar and yeast sachet. Leave it covered to one side to activate and foam. If it doesn’t foam, throw it away and start again.
In a large mixing bowl add the flour, 1/2 cup sugar and salt and mix through. In another small bowl whisk together the eggs, cream and milk and in a small saucepan melt the butter with the oil (or in the microwave). Once all the elements are ready add the yeast mix, egg mix and butter mix to the flour. Mix together until all the ingredients are combined and then knead the dough for a couple of minutes. You can use a dough attachment on your mixer if you have one.
Leave the dough covered in a warm place until it doubles in size. It took two hours for me – but it was a cold day.
Cinnamon filling
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 2 tblsp ground cinnamon
- 100g (3.5 oz) unsalted butter, melted
Glaze
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 tblsp warm water
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.
For the filling, mix the sugar and cinnamon together and in a separate bowl melt the butter. Once the dough is ready, knead it on a floured surface for ten minutes and divide into three pieces.
Roll out each piece to 20 x 30cm (A4 paper size). With a pastry brush, brush on the butter and then sprinkle on 1/3 of the cinnamon sugar mix. Roll up the dough along the long side and cut in to six equal pieces. Up end each piece to show the swirl and squash it down with your palm. Repeat for the other two dough pieces, making 18 buns.
Place the buns on baking trays and let them rest for another ten minutes. Whisk the egg yolks and water together to make a glaze and brush on top of the buns before baking.
Bake for 20 minutes or until they are golden brown.
Now my home is filled with delightful cinnamon. Perfect. It’s best to eat them fresh out of the oven.
