Culinary Traditions: Cinnamon Buns

This entry was posted about a year ago, during the 2009 Holiday Season.  We thought it would be loads of fun to repost this ‘oldie, but goodie’ in the spirit of celebrating tradition, culture, family and friends.  Happy Holidays!

Before having my own children, my mother was responsible for managing/sustaining family tradition and for demonstrating its relationship to our identity and ancestry.  As a child, I had limited concern for the significance of many things, including tradition.  As long as the event/custom/tradition/whatever involved good times, I was set.

Well, I still enjoy good times, but since having my own children, I find greater relevance in not only upholding old family ways, but also establishing new routines, customs that reflect our progression and who we (think) we have become.

Culinary traditions were hardly a part of my upbringing or customary education.  Sure, my mom fed us food that she rotated off of her limited repertoire of meals, but we never had the obligatory Christmas pot roast or traditional, Thanksgiving pumpkin pie.  Food had no strong correlation to our holidays.    Our holiday meals typically incorporated a hodge podge of meals that we normally ate on any given day…making our ‘holiday meal’ something short of special.

Perhaps that is why I (obsessively) create my own holiday-food associations.   In 30 years, I want my children to instantly remember the comforts of home on a wintery December day when they inhale the scent of baking cinnamon buns.  That is why I will be baking these Cinnamon Buns every Christmas morning until I can no longer turn on my Kitchen Aid.

These Cinnamon Buns are out of this world.  While typically considered a dessert, you could literally eat these buns as a breakfast and not feel entirely guilty.  There is no butter in the dough, but the buns are equally chewy and delicious, especially coiled between layers of sweet, plump raisins, crunchy sliced almonds and molasses flavored brown sugar.  The topping is optional, but for something as special as a holiday, I highly recommend pouring the glaze all over the top of the buns.

Happy Holidays from the Zomppas!!!!

Zomppa’s Cinnamon Buns

Cinnamon Buns
Adapted from The Little Red Barn Baking Book

Ingredients:

Dough:
1 packet of active dry yeast
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
½ up of milk
2 tablespoons of canola oil
1-teaspoon salt
2 cups of whole-wheat pastry flour
1 ½ – ½ cup of all purpose flour
1 egg, lightly beaten

Filling:
1/3-cup brown sugar
2-teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup of sliced almonds
2 tablespoons of canola oil

Glaze:

1 ½ cup confectioner’s sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 tablespoons of half and half

Instructions:

To make the dough, dissolve yeast and 1 tablespoon of sugar in ½ cup of warm water.  Set aside until double in size and foamy.  In the meantime, warm milk in a pan.  Take off heat and add the canola oil, remaining sugar and salt.  Stir until sugar and salt dissolves.

In an electric mixer with paddle, add 2 cups of whole-wheat pastry flour and 1 ½ cup of all-purpose flour in bowl.  Add the yeast and milk mixture and stir until just combined.   Switch to dough hook and mix on low speed for 5 minutes.  Add the additional ½ cup of the all-purpose flour a tablespoon at a time if dough sticks to the sides.  Remove dough from mixer and place in a buttered bowl.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap for 2 hours.   After 2 hours, punch dough down with fist and then leave to rest for another 10 minutes.

Lightly grease your muffin tin (12 tins) with butter or oil.  In a small bowl, mix the light brown sugar, cinnamon and nuts.

Roll your dough into a rectangle about 12 x 9 inches.  Brush the dough with canola oil and sprinkle the filing mixture over the dough.  Press lightly with your rolling pin.  Roll the dough up like a jellyroll starting with the long side.  With a serrated knife, cut the roll into 12 equal slices.  Place your 12 buns, cut side down, in the greased muffin tin and let sit for 40 minutes in a warm place.

Pre heat the oven to 400 degrees.  Bake your buns for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.  Let buns cool on rack for 10 minutes, then remove your buns and place them on a rack.  Mix the glaze ingredients and pour over the buns while buns are still slightly warm.  Then eat!

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