Cinnamon Buns

There is nothing more comforting than a nice, warm cinnamon bun on a chilly morning.  Although they take some time, cinnamon buns are always worth the work.  There's a recipe from King Arthur Flour called Ridiculously Easy No-Knead Sticky Buns that is pretty easy and turned out to be very yummy.

This recipe makes 3 batches of cinnamon buns. At first I thought that sounded like too many, but I gave a pan away to my sister and after finishing off one pan, I was glad I had one to spare.




Start by measuring out all the dough ingredients and adding them to your stand mixer.  I bought a kitchen scale that has been very helpful in making breads and other baked goods.  I never realized how much variance there could be in measuring flour until I got the scale.

Mix up all the ingredients until a nice uniform dough is formed.  Then transfer it to a bigger bowl (because it is going to grow) and put it in the refrigerator.  I mixed up the dough in the afternoon and then put in in the fridge overnight so that I could make the rolls in the morning.

Here it is doubled in size. You can't really tell from the picture, but this is a much bigger bowl than the one from the mixer.

Divide the dough into thirds.  This is another great time to use the kitchen scale.  Keep the two pieces you aren't working with in the refrigerator.  It's easier to work the dough when it's cold.

Instead of the cinnamon bun filling that King Arthur Flour recommends, I just used a mixture of white sugar, brown sugar and a lot of cinnamon.  Roll it out into a rectangle that's about 15" x 10" and sprinkle generously with the sugar mixture.  I added pecans to one of the batches.

Roll it up, not too tightly though because it will cause the centers to pop up.

Cut the log into individual buns and put them in a greased pan.  If you'd rather have sticky buns, you can sprinkle sugar, cinnamon, nuts and butter in the bottom of the pan before you add the buns.  I was going for more of a cinnamon bun with frosting vs sticky bun so I left it out.

Cover the pan and let them rise until puffy, about 1 hour.  Then bake them for about 40 minutes at 350.

Turn the pan over onto a baking sheet.  Make a glaze with powdered sugar and milk and pour over the warm cinnamon rolls.

Then pour a cup of coffee or a glass of milk and enjoy!

If you're more of a visual person, check out the link to the recipe on the King Arthur site.  They even post a YouTube video to provide further instruction.