Mardi-Gras: King Cake Cinnamon Rolls

Confession time.  We don't actually celebrate or do anything for Mardi Gras round these parts.  It's a pretty Catholic holiday despite the fact that I think it's taken on a great deal of secularization in New Orleans.  

Which is really one of the things that's most attractive about it.  The whole New Orleans connection.  Because that's just one of those magical places I am dying to visit.  Not DURING Mardi Gras, because the idea of being in those crowds of people is completely and totally overwhelming to me.  Thatmom and Thatdad used to make yearly pilgrimages there, and bring us home Cafe du Monde beignets and THAT is what started the love.  The food.  I love Creole food, and New Orleans (while it has plenty of other amazing things to offer) has some fantastic food.  Which brings us right around to Mardi Gras again.

I saw a recipe for King Cake in a magazine recently and it made me realize I could probably get away with making Mardi-Gras food without actually celebrating the holiday.  And rather than make a cake, I decided that I was going to reinterpret the King Cake to something I knew my family would be all over - cinnamon rolls.   While King Cake normally has a glaze for a topping, I'm more partial to cream cheese for cinnamon rolls.  These rolls take the flavors of King Cake and puts them in a single serving (or triple serving if you're Thatboy who eats three at a time) perfect for your Mardi Gras breakfast, brunch, or anytime feast!

King Cake Cinnamon Rolls

3/4 cup warm milk

1 package active dry yeast

1/4 cup sugar (divided)

3 cups flour

2 tsp ground cinnamon (divided)

1 tsp salt

3 egg yolks

1 egg

2 sticks butter, room temperature

1 tsp lemon zest

1 tsp almond extract

1 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste (divided)

1 cup pecans, chopped

1/3 cup light brown sugar

8 oz cream cheese

1 1/2 cup confectioners sugar

1. Combine the milk, yeast, and 1 tsp sugar and let sit for 10 minutes.
2. In a large bowl whisk together the remaining sugar, flour, 1 tsp cinnamon, and salt.
3. In an electric mixer combine egg yolks, 1 stick of butter, lemon zest, almond extract, and 1 tsp vanilla bean paste.  
4. Stir in yeast mixture
5. Stir in flour mixture.  Knead with a dough hook for 5-7 minutes.  Cover and let rise until doubled in size (about 1 hour).
6. In a small bowl combine pecans, brown sugar, and remaining cinnamon.
7. Turn out dough onto lightly floured surface and roll into a 10 by 15 inch rectangle.
8. Spread dough with half of the remaining butter (half a stick).
9. Sprinkle with pecan mixture and roll dough into a log, starting with the long side.  Pinch the seam to seal.
10. Slice the dough into 1/2 inch pieces and place in a greased cake pan.  Cover with a towel and let rise for another hour.
11. Heat over to 375.  Whisk the remaining egg with 1 Tbsp water.   Brush the dough with the egg wash.  Bake for 25 minutes or until the cinnamon rolls are golden brown.  Let cool.
12. In an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and remaining butter on low speed to combine.
13. Beat in confectioners sugar until blended.
14. Blend in remaining vanilla bean paste.  Divide into 4 bowls and color with green, purple, and yellow food coloring. Spread the white frosting on top of the cooled cinnamon rolls and then use the colored frosting to decorate.

Sov! Sov! Sov!: Sufganiyot

The song of the day is Sevivon (Sov! Sov! Sov!).  It's my all time favorite Chanukah song, and my favorite one to sing Thatbaby.  He likes it too, mostly because he likes to sing out the Sov! Sov! Sov! part.


Part of the beauty of the Jewish holidays is the traditions behind them.  And for most holidays, that includes some traditional food.  Chanukah is no exception. At Chanukah we eat foods fried in oil, to symbolize the oil that burned for 8 days while waiting for the replacement oil.  The Chanukah miracle. 

Sufganiyot are jelly doughnuts, fried in oil. 

My plan was to make these with Thatbaby.  They're a very kid friendly activity, along the lines of sugar cookies (as long as the adult does the frying).  I made them with Thatniece and Thatnephew years ago and they were a big hit.  But time is not on my side right now, and there wasn't enough time to get Thatbaby's assistance.  Next year.

Sufganiyot

1 package dry yeast
4 Tbsp sugar

3/4 cup warm milk
2 1/2 cups flour
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 egg yolks
2 Tbsp butter, room temp 

strawberry preserves

canola oil for frying

1.  Mix the yeast, 2 tablespoons of the sugar, and the milk. Let sit for 5 minutes.
2. Mix the flour and mix it with the remaining sugar, salt, cinnamon, egg yolks, and the yeast mixture in an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook.
3. Knead the dough for 10 minutes or so, until it forms a ball.
4. Add the butter and continue to knead with the dough hook until butter is incorporated into the dough.  Cover with a towel and rise overnight in the refrigerator.
5. Roll the dough out to 1/8 inch thickness and cut into 2 inch rounds.
6.  Place a teaspoon of preserves in the center of half of the rounds, top with the other half, pinching the edges together to seal.  Let rise for and additional 30 minutes.
7. Heat oil to 375.  Cook the doughnuts in batches, until browned, about 3 minutes per side.
8. Drain on paper towels and roll in sugar.

The smell of success

We're not really a cinnamon bun kind of family. Thatboy grew up with pancakes for special occasion breakfasts and I grew up with blueberry muffins. I know that for many people, cinnamon buns are one of those Christmas morning breakfasts, but the inlaws never do anything quite as fun. I've actually offered to make Christmas morning cinnamon buns and been shot down - because they'd rather stick with the usual fare. Know what the inlaws do for breakfast Christmas morning? Cold cereal. Merry Christmas one and all!

And yet, here I am recommending a cinnamon bun recipe to all of y'all. So something must be up, right? Well these rolls have a very easy explanation. They smell good.

I think it's a fairly common housewarming trip. one that certainly has been co-opted by realtors over the year, that baking cinnamon imparts a warm, welcoming, and lasting scent throughout any home. And so, when we were preparing for Thatbaby's open house, when Thatboy turned to me and said "I wish it smelled like something was baking in here," I knew exactly what had to be done.

Sure, I could have taken the easy way out and just stuck some cinnamon sticks in the oven. That would impart the warm fragrance with minimal work on my part. But roasting cinnamon sticks doesn't give you something to eat for breakfast for a full week. I had seen a copy-cat recipe for Cinnabon's Cinnamon Rolls a couple months ago in Food Network Magazine, and thought they would make a much better alternative.

See - I have this thing about Cinnabon. It's one of my secret guilty pleasures. Problem is, I very rarely get to indulge. Mostly because - have you seen the size of those things? I could never finish one in a sitting and I can't stand throwing a good portion away. So I've only ever gotten them if I can rope Thatboy into sharing one with me. When we were first dating, I could usually convince him anytime we were in an airport. But the San Diego Airport doesn't have a Cinnabon, so really it's been years. And if I was going to make cinnamon rolls - there is no other recipe I'd rather call upon, and making them myself I could make them smaller.

The recipe below originally said it made 6 cinnamon buns. But when I saw the uncut cylinder I knew that would make them far too big, so I decided to cut the roll into 8 pieces. Frankly, those were still a little large for my taste - but you make the decision for yourself.

As for the results? As the guests arrived they all commented on how good it smelled. Which was the purpose after all. And then of course, there was the secondary benefit. Thatboy had one of these babies every day for breakfast before his first week of work. Usually as he ate, he commented to either Thatbaby or Thatdog about how "mom sure makes a delicious cinnamon roll." And when they were gone, he was sad. He mused about it a couple of days later as we sat watching television one night. Seemingly out of nowhere he turned to me and stated that those cinnamon rolls I made were really good. This year we're spending Christmas just us, no inlaws. I think I know what's going to be on the table Christmas Morning, and though it probably will be served with milk, it's a far cry from cereal.

Almost Famous Cinnamon Buns (From Foodnetwork.com)
1 cup milk
1 packet yeast
3/4 cup plus 1/4 tspn granulated sugar
8 Tbsp melted butter
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 tspn vanilla extract
2 3/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
12 tablespoons butter at room temperature
3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/3 cup heavy cream

1. Make the dough: Warm the milk in a medium saucepan over low heat until it reaches about 100. Remove from the heat and sprinkle in the yeast and 1/4 teaspoon sugar (don't stir). Set aside until foamy, 5 minutes.
2. Whisk in 4 Tbsp melted butter, egg yolk, and vanilla.
3. Whisk the flour, 1/4 cup sugar, the salt and nutmeg in the bowl of a stand mixer.
   
4. Make a well in the center and pour in the yeast mixture. Mix on low speed with the dough hook until thick and slightly sticky.
5. Knead on medium speed until the dough gathers around the hook, 6 minutes.
6. Remove the dough and shape into a ball. Grease the bowl and return the dough to the bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft free location until doubled, 1 hour 15 minutes.
7. Roll out the dough into a 12-by-14-inch rectangle with the longer side facing you.
8. Spread the room temperature butter over the rectangle, leaving a 1/2-inch border around the edge.
9. Mix the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over the butter.
10. Brush the far edge with water. Roll the dough away from you into a tight cylinder and press on the long edge to seal.
11. Cut the cylinder into 8 pieces. Spray a large baking pan with baking spray and place the buns cut-side down in the pan, leaving space between each. Cover and place back in that warm, draft free space and let rise until doubled, 40 minutes.
    
12. Preheat the oven to 325. Bake the buns until golden brown, about 35 minutes. Cool in the pan 15 minutes.
    
13. While buns are cooling, sift the confectioners' sugar into a bowl, then whisk in the cream and remaining 4 Tbsp melted butter.
    
14. Transfer the buns to a rack and spoon the glaze on top while still warm.