Whipping up a batch of these cinnamon scrolls made me feel like a rock star – they look super complicated (but they really aren’t) and they while they are baking they smell good enough to wake a sleeping giant. Mum used to make a version of these when we were kids, studded with walnuts and sticky with brown sugar. This recipe is from my favourite food blog/magazine Lucky Peach that is doing a series on home recipes called “We love Mom”.
The recipe made enough for two batches so I froze the second mid rise for a rainy day. The frosting is really unnecessary but it does make them extra delicious. Best eaten hot about 5 minutes after you have removed them from the oven. That’s about how long it takes before you succumb to the soft crumb, sticky sugar and vanilla frosting which drips over your fingers as you bite into a warm scroll.
Ingredients
Dough
- 1/2 cup butter, cut into cubes
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 x 7g packets of yeast
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 7 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
Filling
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 tbs cinnamon
- 5 tbs butter
Frosting
- 3 tbs butter
- 1 1/2 cups icing sugar/mixture
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 1/4 cup milk (or less, or more)
Method
- Put the butter in a large bowl. Combine the milk, sugar and salt in a saucepan and heat over a gentle heat until tiny bubbles form around the edges. Pour over the butter and stir gently. Allow to cool.
- In a small bowl, add 1 cup of lukewarm water and the yeast, with a pinch of sugar. When the mixture begins to bubble, stir in the beaten eggs.
- Add the yeast mixture to the large bowl and gradually add the flour with the nutmeg, reserving about 1/2 cup of flour. Stir with a spoon or your hands until the mixture forms a soft slightly sticky dough.
- Knead with your hand in the bowl for a couple of minutes until the dough becomes smooth. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and set aside to rise for about an hour, or until doubled in size.
- For the filling, melt the butter in a bowl and stir in the sugar and cinnamon.
- When the dough has risen, cut into two pieces.
- Sprinkle your bench with flour and roll out one piece to a large rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. Cover with half of the filling mixture.
- Roll from the long edge into a tube and then cut into rounds about 3/4 inch wide. Starting from the centre, place into your baking pan with the seams facing in.
- Repeat with your second piece of dough.
- Cover and allow to rise again for about 30 minutes or until they fill out a bit and begin to look “puffy”.
- Bake in a 180 degree C oven for about 30 minutes.
- When cooked, remove from the oven and invert onto a plate, and then back onto another plate so the right side is facing up.
- Spread with frosting (or leave as they are) and eat immediately. The cooked scrolls freeze as well as the raw dough (if you have any left!)
