Cinnamon Rolls and Reminiscing on Past Loves

Today’s Journal Prompt is from an experience I had over the weekend. I showed pictures of making cinnamon rolls on my stories with the last caption being, “I used to love baking. Motherhood and business kinda took it away from me, but every once in a while I have fun baking again.”

I was surprised with how many people reached out to me expressing that they feel the same way about it so it inspired today’s journal prompt. Today’s journal prompt is my recipe for cinnamon rolls and this question: What’s something that you used to enjoy and would like to enjoy doing again?

Emily’s Cinnamon Roll Recipe (note: I’m sorry - I don’t really measure some things like flour or the frosting ingredients so just go slowly and adjust it to your liking)

Ingredients for the dough:

1 ¾  cups water

¼ cup whipping cream

1 cup milk

2 Tbsp rapid rise yeast

⅓ cup white sugar

3 Tbsp vegetable oil or melted butter

1 egg

1 Tbsp sea salt

5-6 cups bread flour

Ingredients for the filling:

1 stick butter

white sugar

brown sugar

cinnamon

corn starch

Ingredients for the frosting:

3 Tbsp softened butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

whipping cream

powdered sugar

dash of lemon juice

Directions:

1. Put the yeast and sugar in a big bowl and add the warm water, whipping cream, and milk. Make sure the liquids are not too hot or they will kill the yeast/too cold and they won’t activate it.
2. Let the yeast mixture sit for 5 minutes or until you see some foaming at the top.
3. Add in the oil or melted butter, salt, egg, and 3 cups bread flour.
4. Mix well (should be a soupy consistency)
5. Add in the remaining flour slowly (by ½ cups or less) until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
6. Put the dough on the counter and knead it until it is smooth and elastic. Flour the countertop occasionally to keep the dough from sticking, but don’t use too much flour or the dough will be dry.
7. Let the dough rise until doubled in size.
8. Cut the dough in half and roll out one half of it into a rectangle on a floured surface. The rectangle should be about a ½ inch thick.
9. Spread ½ of the softened butter stick (not melted) over the dough
10. Combine your brown sugar, white sugar, cinnamon, and a little corn starch. I’m not sure how much you’ll need (it depends on how much you want to have for filling) but I usually follow equal parts brown sugar and white sugar, a generous amount of cinnamon, and 1 Tbsp cornstarch.
11. Sprinkle your filling generously over the butter.
12. Tightly roll up your cinnamon rolls being careful not to tear them as you roll them.
13. Divide the roll into 16 even sections and place on an oiled baking sheet.
14. Let the rolls rise again till doubled in size.
15. Bake at 375 degrees for five minutes and then 350 until golden brown.
16. Frosting: combine the butter, powdered sugar, and cream until smooth then add in the vanilla extract and a dash of lemon juice (just a tiny dash).
17. Frost your rolls when they come out of the oven hot.
18. Plate, serve, share, and enjoy!

Okay there you have it! My very first recipe I’ve ever written down so keep that in mind as you follow it and use your own experience in baking to make it your own. I hope you find joy in the rolls and also in picking back up something you used to love.

Have a great week!

Na,

Emily