Cinnamon Rolls

Hey everyone.

Remember me? Blog abandoner extraordinaire?

I'm back. I'm hoping to be back regularly. And since every piece of advice I've ever read on blogging says not to apologize or offer excuses for prolonged blogging absences, I won't. On to the recipe!

These have become a Christmas day tradition over the last few years. For as long as I can remember, we've had a Christmas Eve tradition, where we ditch the cooking for a night and go out for a big, splurgy dinner at a fancy restaurant - usually Italian. I took it upon myself to add a little structure to Christmas day, and started the tradition of baking up homemade cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning. I make the dough the day before, and wake up before everyone else to start rolling the dough out. The clattering of pans and rolling pins generally means I won't be alone in the kitchen long.

They're gooey and messy and cozy - the kind of indulgence you can eat in your pajamas, with bed hair and no makeup, amongst family.

You will need:

1 quart whole milk

1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2 packages active dry yeast
8 cups (plus 1 cup additional, divided) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon (heaping) baking powder
1 teaspoon (scant) baking soda
1 tablespoon (heaping) salt
2 sticks melted butter
2 cups sugar
Cinnamon (use your best judgement)

Glaze:

1/2 bag powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon salt

To make the dough, heat the milk, vegetable oil, and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat to scald it (right before it boils, about 200 degrees). Remove from heat and cool to warm. Sprinkle yeast on surface of milk and let it sit on the milk for 1 minute.

Add 8 cups of the flour. Stir until combined, then cover and set aside in a warm place for 1 hour. After an hour, remove the cover and add baking powder, baking soda, salt, and the remaining 1 cup flour. Stir thoroughly to combine. At this point you can use the dough right away and start to assemble the cinnamon rolls, or refrigerate for up to 24 hours, punching down the dough if it rises to the top of the bowl. (Note: dough is easier to work with if it’s been chilled for at least an hour or so beforehand.)

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

To assemble the rolls, remove half the dough from the bowl. On a floured baking surface, roll the dough into a large rectangle, rolled very thin.

To make the filling, pour 3/4 cup to 1 cup of the melted butter over the surface of the dough. Use your fingers or a pastry brush to spread the butter evenly. Generously sprinkle half of the ground cinnamon and 1 cup of the sugar over the butter. Use more butter and/or sugar/cinnamon as needed and desired.

Beginning at the end farthest from you, roll the rectangle tightly towards you. Keep the roll tight - I find sometimes it's easier to fold the dough over itself. When you reach the end, pinch the seam together and flip the roll so that the seam is face down.

With a sharp knife, make 1/2-inch slices. Pour a couple of teaspoons of melted butter into cake pans and coat. Place the sliced rolls in the pans.

Repeat the rolling/sugar/butter process with the other half of the dough and more pans. Set aside to rise again for at least 20 minutes before baking. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until golden brown. Don’t overcook!

In the meantime, make the icing: in a large bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, butter, and salt. Whisk until smooth. Taste and add in more ingredients as needed until the icing reaches the desired consistency/flavor. The icing should be somewhat thick but still very pourable.

Remove pans from the oven. Immediately drizzle icing over the top.
 
Adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks.

Grapefruit Honey Yogurt Scones

I have always been a grapefruit lover. I'm sure my initial introduction to grapefruit was partially influenced by the fact that my mom! let me! sprinkle sugar! on my breakfast!, but it stuck with me. I plan on coercing my someday-children into an early grapefruit adoration the same way.

Unfortunately my someday-children won't be able to witness a true grapefruit enthusiast in action in their early days of grapefruit consumption. My grandfather could eat a grapefruit like I'd never seen and likely will never see again. A product of his wartime and Depression-era generation, Grandpa was very mindful of waste, and cleaned out every grapefruit half he ate (one half every morning) down to the rind. Every shred of flesh was meticulously scraped away with a ridged grapefruit spoon and consumed, his clean rind shells never failing to fascinate (I liked to turn them inside out like rubber poppers when nobody was watching). To this day, I can't eat more than the inner sections, juice, and whatever I can scrape away of the edges without puckering as the flesh becomes more and more tart - and all of that after a teaspoon of sugar, still.

Either I picked up the wrong bag of grapefruit last week (I wanted the red Rio Star and got the pink instead) or grapefruit season is already over. While they're not my favorite, I decided to take a page from Grandpa and use what I had. I thought scones from Joy the Baker would be a good place to start.

You will need:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
1 Ruby Red grapefruit (or in my case, an unwanted pink grapefruit), zested and segmented
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside (note: I thought I could just spray a sheet pan, but they stuck a little..parchment would be best).

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

Zest the grapefruit and combined zest and granulated sugar on a clean cutting board. Rub together the zest and sugar with the back of a spoon or a plastic bench knife. The sugar will be a pale orange color and smell of grapefruit. Measure 2 tablespoons of the grapefruit sugar and whisk into the dry ingredients. Save the remaining grapefruit sugar for topping the scones just before baking.

Segment the grapefruit next. Slice off the bottom and top of the grapefruit, then use a sharp knife to cut away the peel and pith of the grapefruit, exposing the pink grapefruit flesh. Remove the inner core membrane from the peeled fruit, then use your fingers to peel away the white membranes surrounding each segment. Set segments aside.

Dice cold butter into small chunks and add to the dry ingredients. Using your fingers or a pastry knife, break the butter down into the flour mixture until butter chunks resemble a coarse meal (like biscuit dough). Add the honey, yogurt and grapefruit segments. Toss together with a fork until all of the dry ingredients are moistened by the yogurt and honey.

Turn the scone dough out onto a lightly floured pastry mat. Pat into an 8 inch circle, about 1 inch thick. Use a knife to cut the dough into six scone triangles - first cutting a cross, then an X. Place on the prepared baking sheet. Lightly brush the tops of the scones with milk or buttermilk, and sprinkle generously with grapefruit sugar.

Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, until golden brown on top and firm but soft in the center. Allow to cool on the pan for 10 minutes before serving.