Yesterday I awoke to the scent of hot cinnamon buns wafting up the stairs to my room. That smell will send you deeper into dreamy bliss!  They were baking in the oven and soon arrived to my bedside on a plate drenched in a sticky, gooey glaze of sweet goodness.  Along with a fresh pot of coffee and three, very excited children bounding into bed with me armed with homemade cards and gifts, it was a perfect Mother’s Day morning. These were actually even better today once the glaze had time to soak in, making them even sweeter. Ten seconds in the microwave makes them extra gooey all over again.

This recipe begins with a Basic Sweet Dough that can be used for tasty coffee cakes or sweet buns.

 

Ingredients

 

Basic Sweet Dough

½ cup sugar

2 packages dry yeast

1 ½ tsp. salt

7 cups flour

1 ¼ cup apple juice

1 cup butter or margarine

3 eggs, room temperature

1 tsp. Spice Islands Vanilla Extract

1 tbs. vegetable oil

Filling

 

½ cup brown sugar, firmly packed

½ cup walnuts, chopped

2 tsp Spice Islands Cinnamon, Ground Saigon

¼ cup butter or margarine

Glaze

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

4 tsp. water

 

Method for the Basic Sweet Dough

In the bowl of your mixer, combine the sugar, yeast, salt, 2 cups of the flour.

Meanwhile, in a 1-quart saucepan, heat the apple juice and butter until just warm.

Gradually add the warm liquid to the dry ingredients blending with the mixer at a low speed until just combined then increase speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes.

Add the eggs, the Spice Islands Vanilla Extract and 2 ½ cups of the flour. Continue beating for another few minutes. Add a final 2 cups of flour and beat together until combined.

Onto a lightly floured board, turn out the dough kneading for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Add additional flour as necessary.

Place the dough in a well oiled bowl and turn the dough to cover in the oil. Cover and let rise in a warm place for about an hour or until doubled in bulk.

When ready, punch the dough down and allow it to rest for 15 minutes.

 

Method for Preparing the Cinnamon Buns

 

Prepare the filling in a medium bowl by combining the brown sugar, walnuts and Spice Islands Cinnamon, Ground Saigon

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. .

Place the dough on a floured board. Roll it out to form a 12” x 18” rectangle.

Brush the top of the dough with the melted butter and sprinkle the Spice Islands Cinnamon, Ground Saigon and sugar mixture over the top.

Beginning with the long side (the 18” side) roll the dough, jelly roll fashion, pinching the seams to close it.

With the seam sides down, cut the roll crosswise into 18- 1” slices. Pinch the outer seam together on the bottom of each sliced bun.  This way the centers will puff up when baking, but the filling won’t spill out.

Place the rolls into a cake pan, either square or round.  Cover and let rise for about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Bake until light golden brown, about 30-35 minutes.

While the buns are baking; prepare the glaze by combining the confectioner’s sugar and the water.

Remove the buns from the oven and pour the glaze over the top. Serve warm to grand applause and smiles!

 

Disclosure: We recently received several awesome spices from Spice Islands to try and review.  We have been busily creating recipes to go along with all the different varieties of spices and you will see them over the next few weeks as we post about them.

Today’s recipe was greatly enhanced by Spice Islands Pure Vanilla Extract made from beans grown in Madagascar. This vanilla extract is wonderful in that there is no corn syrup added and it is naturally sweet. David Lebovitz wrote an incredibly informative blog post about this extract and the process it goes through to become the great extract it is.

The other spice that graced these sweet buns is cinnamon, Spice Islands Cinnamon, Ground Saigon. Cinnamon is one of my favorite spices.  It imparts a spicy sweetness and warm a aroma that not only enhances baked goods, but several meat dishes as well.  Spice Islands Cinnamon comes from the forests of Vietnam, which is known for its premium cassia (a cinnamon tree). Because this variety of cassia is high in volatile oils, the Vietnamese cassia trees produce a deep, reddish-brown cinnamon with an intense fragrance and a sweet but almost chili like flavor. I can not wait to make my Cinnamon Spiced Baked Chicken and Rice with it and share it with you! Meanwhile, I have to go reheat some Cinnamon Buns. They are calling my name!

Enjoy!