Cinnamon Roll Quest

Zack loves cinnamon rolls. He really loves cinnamon anything, but cinnamon rolls sit on a special pedestal in his pastry worldview. A fun thing to do on a Saturday morning is to go in search of a good one, a kind of rolly quest. We have yet to find a really awesome one in Seattle because he has particular standards. He likes a classic cinnamon roll, the one with the buttery white glaze and no "fillers" which are what he calls nuts and raisins. These are surprisingly hard to find out side of Cinnabon, which is totally unacceptable and just over-the-top sticky sweet.


Yesterday, we were sitting at lunch and thinking about what to do next. It's a really huge week for him and the team at The City so we decided that baking something extra nifty was in order. He immediately suggested cinnamon rolls. Not just cinnamon rolls, but rather, miniature cinnamon rolls. "Miniature" I asked? "Yes", he said, "miniature is key." He is very funny sometimes.

Home we went to get baking. The thing is, though Zack loves these gooey treats, I've baked them only 1-2 times in five years of marriage. I certainly bake many things, but for some reason, I have always considered the cinnamon roll something we should go out and find, not something I would make myself. This, as I type it, is ridiculous. I think this happens a lot in my kitchen. There are many things I am comfortable with and will make or even stretch myself to attempt, but some things seem out of bounds. I'll make any kind of bread, dessert, Italian or French dish, no matter how challenging its supposed to be, but I've never endeavored to make my own Chinese food, for instance. It always seems like something I need to buy, not something I can make myself. It's a weird culinary cage I put myself in. Maybe you can relate? But I digress...


Anyway, we made miniature cinnamon rolls. First, I searched all my favorite blogs to no avail but ended up finding a recipe that looked promising on www.epicurious.com Like I said, Zack is a purist, no added nuts or fruit in his rolls! Just perfect dough, butter, cinnamon, and sugar filling and icing. Not hard cracky icing, something smooth and creamy. I consider these rolls a good first try. The dough itself was actually wonderful. The filling, according to Zack, needed more cinnamon and texture. We've decided to continue to work on this recipe in a quest for perfection. I'll post the recipe as Zack's Ultimate Cinnamon Rolls once we've gotten there.


Meanwhile, these little treats were delightful and I'm told caused an impromptu staff meeting around the coffee pot today.

Meeting Agenda: Demolish contents of two pans of miniature cinnamon rolls.
Meeting Notes: Task accomplished in record time.