Rolls

One of the most decadent breakfast foods around is also the next food to appear on our list (and the last new food item to appear in Chamber of Secrets!):

Percy didn't smile back. "Pass me those rolls, Harry, I'm starving" (Chamber of Secrets).

Yes, yes, simple rolls are not very decadent at all. But Dinah Bucholz seems to think that J.K. Rowling was referring to "Cinnamon Pull-Apart Breakfast Rolls" (i.e., cinnamon buns). Since that is the recipe included in The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook, that is the recipe I will be using today. Heads up, this recipe takes several hours to make.

For the Dough, You Will Need:

1/4 cup warm water

1 Tbs (1 package) active dry yeast

1 Tbs granulated sugar

2/3 cup whole milk

1/2 stick (4Tbs) butter

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 large eggs

1/3 cup granulated sugar

For the Cinnamon Filling, You Will Need:

1 Tbs butter, melted

1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 Tbs ground cinnamon

For the Icing, You Will Need:

1 cup confectioner's sugar, sifted

4 oz cream cheese, softened

1 Tbs heavy cream

1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Combine the water, yeast, and 1Tbs sugar in a small mixing bowl and set aside until puffy.

2. Heat the milk and butter in a small saucepan (or the microwave) until the butter is melted. Set aside.

3. Whisk together the flour and salt and set aside.

4. In yet another bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar, then whisk in the milk-butter mixture.

5. Add the yeast and egg mixtures to the flour and stir to combine (it's helpful to whisk 1/2 cup if the flour into the egg mixture first until smooth before combining everything).

6. Knead the dough until it's smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.

7. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, turing to coat, and cover. Leave in a warm place until doubled in size, 1.5 to 2 hours.

8. Grease and flour a 9x13" pan. 

9. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll (or press) out into a 16x12" rectangle.

10. Brush the melted butter over the dough.

11. Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle generously over the dough within 1/2" of the edges.

12. Roll up the dough long ways and cut off the messy ends if you want (I didn't).

13. Use dental floss (no, really!) to cut the roll in halves until you have 12 rolls.

14. Lay the rolls in the prepared pan and leave them to rise until the rolls are all touching and reach the rim, about 1.5 to 2 hours.

15. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake the rolls for 20 minutes until golden brown.

16. Let the rolls cool for 10 minutes before inverting the rolls out of the pan, and then flipping them again onto a serving dish.

17. To make the icing, beat the icing ingredients together with a fork (if you don't sift the powdered sugar, the icing will be lumpy).

18. Spread the icing over the warm rolls and eat as soon as possible. They really don't keep well for more than a couple hours!

Wow, these are some delicious cinnamon buns! The icing is really cream-cheesy, very rich, unlike most frozen cinnamon buns you would buy from the market. Delicious. And as I predicted, very decadent. Enjoy!