Cinnamon Rolls
a recipe by Marliss Desens Sept. 24,2019

This recipe is inspired by Nona Gouda’s “Snails,” a recipe that she gave to her friend, Aileen Holaday. Her daughter-in-law, Bev, gave me the recipe. I asked because my husband Scott had fond memories of these “Snails.” Aileen’s daughters used the dough as a base for cinnamon rolls, and I have done so here. This recipe is perfect for the dough cycle of a bread machine.

Rolls
¼ cup warm water (110F or slightly less)
2 tsp. special “Gold” yeast (designed for high sugar doughs)

¼ cup sugar (use a pinch of it to proof the yeast)
¾ cup buttermilk
1 egg

2 ½ cups King Arthur AP flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
2 Tbs. flax meal
¼ cup King Arthur special dry milk
½ tsp. salt

3 ½ Tbs. canola oil

Filling
1 cup light brown sugar
1 ½ Tbs. cinnamon

Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbs. milk
¼ tsp. vanilla

Proof yeast in bread machine pan with water and pinch of sugar for five minutes. Add rest of sugar, buttermilk, and egg (break up egg yolk). Add combined five dry ingredients. Begin dough cycle. The machine will mix for 5 minutes, then rest for five. Near the end of the rest period, add the oil. Let machine finish its kneading cycle, then remove dough and put into a greased container. Let rise about 1 hour or until double. Near the end of the rise, combine filling ingredients.

Empty dough onto Silpat mat and gently de-gas. Use hands to pat and shape into a 12x16 inch rectangle. Spritz with water. Use a spoon to sprinkle the filling evenly over the dough, leaving about ¾ inch bare on one 12-inch side. Spritz filling with water, then use spoon to gently press it into the dough. Starting at the covered short side, roll the dough up into a log. Seal along the seam by pinching with fingertips. Using dental floss, cut the dough into 12 equal parts. Place in greased 13x9-inch baking pan. Cover with saran and refrigerate overnight.

The next morning, remove pan from refrigerator and pre-heat oven to 350F. Bake rolls for 25 minutes on middle rack. [These should test 180F in center when done.] Remove from oven and allow to cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Near the end of that time, mix together the glaze ingredients with a fork. Drizzle the glaze evenly over the warm buns.

Note: If you would like less glaze, use ¾ cup powdered sugar, 1 ½ Tbs. milk, and ¼ tsp. vanilla.

What did I change?

When I first got the recipe, Scott found them a bit bland. No doubt Aunt Aileen had made some changes. I substituted ¼ cup butter for ¼ cup shortening and added ½ tsp. cinnamon and ¼ tsp. nutmeg. Instead of using 1 cup milk, I used 1 cup water and ¼ cup of the special dry milk. I made them as separate “rolls,” which baked at 400F for 10 minutes. I switched to the gold yeast, which halved the rising time. I frosted the cooled rolls with a rich glaze of 2 cups powdered sugar, 1 ½-2 Tbs. cream, half-and-half, or evaporated milk. ¼ plus 18th tsp. vanilla, a pinch of salt and 1 Tbs. melted butter. Scott found that this decadent roll ticked all the boxes of his memories, even if it may not have been the way Aunt Aileen baked them. I think the recipe is an adaptation of a Swedish recipe where the rolls are halved and filled with a rich cream filling, so perhaps I was on the right track.

When I needed to cut saturated fat in my diet, I stopped baking these rolls. However, when Scott’s cousins held a reunion in October, I decided to take a cue from Susan, who had used the recipe as a basis for cinnamon rolls that she baked at previous reunions, until she and John started flying rather than driving from Florida. I read various recipes for cinnamon fillings and decided on this combination. I also incorporated some white whole wheat and flax meal. I used buttermilk for ¾ of the liquid, and I substituted canola oil for the butter. The rolls have about ½ a gram of saturated fat per roll. Sugar could be cut by using less filling and less glaze.

• This topic was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by BakerAunt.
• This topic was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by BakerAunt.