Confession: I've had the same 5 lb bag of flour for the entirety of 2014. But--Huzzah---I've finally emptied it and I have made serious headway on a second bag. Because the only way to master baking, is to bake.
And it doesn't matter how long it takes, I can only make headway by starting today. Sounds like feel-good motivational poster. I know, so I'm going to do something about it. Remember that time I was all mopeypants--well, that's never happening again.
My husband's super-impressive grandmother has a goal to finish something everyday, and it's definitely working out for her. She's nearing 80 and could possibly be the most productive human being I have ever met. So for the rest of 2014 I commit to completing two projects with my hands everyday. (Because I'm not as awesome as Grandma Lydda--I can't commit to every day for the rest of my life, so I'll just commit to twice as much for a limited time). And for food to count, it must be made from scratch as far as I am capable. So I won't be buying a grain mill or butter-churn, but making pasta with a bottle of Prego and box of spaghetti certainly will not make the cut.
So far I've made chicken stock, yogurt, mayonnaise, bread, squeezed orange juice, cinnamon rolls, steamed buns with red bean paste (long story), soft pretzels, and Irish stew.
And no, I don't plan on making only edible things. But between the bovine-scale task of completing a knit blanket and a case of the munchies--I mostly did my doing in the kitchen this week. And surprisingly, the cinnamon rolls were hella fantastic (Can Mormons say hella? I dunno. Add it to the list.) This good fortune was probably beginner's luck. But just in case lightening strikes twice, here's the recipe I hacked together for the miraculously delicious cinnamon rolls I made. I decided on 5 Spice because I was wanting something a little more spiced but am currently out of love with Pumpkin Spice--It's like the cranberry juice of baked goods--and I saw the bottle sitting in the front of my spice cabinet. Happy coincidences.
Five Spice Cinnamon Rolls
For the actual rolls, I used half of my bread dough from this recipe. I just rolled them flat after the first rise (second rise, if you're counting the "sponge" step as the first). But I'm pretty sure any old white bread dough would do. The magic is in the glaze and the filling.
This makes half the amount of a traditional cinnamon roll recipe, but these are especially rich, and there's only two adults in my house. Thus, halved.
Filling:
1 stick (8 TB) butter, extremely soft
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
a scant 1/2 tsp of McCormick's Chinese Five Spice (McCormick's is only notable because it's more like
Chinese *four* spice since they exclude chiles and instead use two types of anise but don't worry--it tastes nothing like the abomination that is Good n' Plenty. If you're curious, the other spices are cloves, cardamon, and cinnamon)
1. Combine all filling ingredients well. Roll bread dough into flat rectangle, spread thickly with filling and roll up the long-side into tight tube.
2. Cut tube into even 1.5" wide pieces, setting aside the nobby end pieces, and place swirl side up in a butter-greased 8x11 pan. Make sure to keep rolls evenly spaced. (I had a little extra room in my pan so I put in my slightly undersized ends from the dough tube in the corners so that the other rolls had something to rise up against. Plus, they still tasted good for all their odd looks.)
3. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.
Glaze:
4 Tbs Butter, melted
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp Five spice
4. While rolls are baking whisk together glaze.
5. When you remove rolls from oven, drizzle immediately with glaze to cover tops of rolls completely. Let ooze around the pan for a bit while you wait for the cinnamon rolls to reach not-quite-center-of-the-sun hot before you cut into them.
6. Smile as you chew.
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