Cinnamon Buns

 
A few weekends ago when the weather got colder and one of my New Year's resolutions had worn off, I had a serious craving for comfort food, so I made my favourite cinnamon buns. Served straight out of the oven and drizzled liberally with a sweet sticky icing, they are the ultimate in comfort food.

They do take a while but they really are worth every decadent bite, the time isn't in cooking or preparing, it's in proofing and raising. So they are a perfect weekend treat.

Cinnamon Buns

for the dough

  • 2 teaspoons dried yeast
  • 1/2 cup warm water
  • 1/2 cup hot milk
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup butter
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg
  • 3 and 3/4 cup flour
for the filling
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup melted butter
  • 2 tablespoons cinnamon
for the icing
  • 60 grams butter, softened
  • 2 cups icing sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
  • 60 to 90 mls boiling water

Method

1.   Mix the yeast with the warm water and a pinch of sugar, let sit for 5 minutes until it bubbles up. Mix milk, sugar, butter, salt and egg. Add to 3 cups of flour and mix well, knead until soft and elastic, add more flour if the dough is sticky. Rest in a buttered bowl in a warm place for an hour and a half until doubled in size.




2.   Punch down, and then roll into a rough 40cm by 25cm rectangle. Mix the melted butter, sugar and cinnamon and spread on the dough.




3.   Beginning with the long side, roll the dough up, don't worry if it gets messy. Cut the roll into 12 to 15 pieces and lie flat side in a baking dish. Leave in a warm place to rise for 30 minutes. 



4.   Bake at 180 degrees celsius (350 degrees fahrenheit) for about 30 minutes until cooked. Try not to pick a piece off to taste (as I did). Doesn't look pretty right, wait until you add the icing!



5.   Make the glaze, mix the butter with the icing sugar and vanilla essence and add 3 tablespoons boiling water. Stir to combine. Add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time until icing is a pouring consistency. Drizzle onto the hot buns in the pan.



6.   Remove the buns from the pan and scoff warm - the remainder will keep for 2 days, and are best eaten warmed.