Monday 2 March 2015

Cinnamon Monkey Buns

cinnamon rolls and monkey bread combined

Not everything goes quite according to plan in the Cakeyboi kitchen you know. Take last weekend for example.

I wanted to make some cinnamon buns for our breakfast the following day. Disneyboi loves cinnamon swirls from Starbucks, so I thought I would rustle some up. No bother.

cinnamon rolls and monkey bread combined

I looked for a pretty easy recipe online and set about making them. The dough for the buns called for pretty much the normal ingredients you would expect. Flour, yeast, an egg, sugar and milk. I brought the ingredients together in a bowl, initially by hand and found the mixture to be quite loose.

I thought I’d pop it into the mixer to knead, as there was no way I could do it by hand. It would have been like a scene from the 1950’s ‘B’ move ‘The Blob’. So I popped on the mixer, dough hook attached and left it for 10 minutes, hoping the sloppy mix would get firmer as the glutens developed.

Wishful thinking! I added more flour as a last resort and it did firm up the mix a bit. I left it to prove whilst I went to the gym and upon my return it had doubled in size, which I hoped it would.

I then rolled it out on to a bit of greaseproof paper, then spread my filling of butter, sugar and cinnamon onto the dough. Then my troubles really began!


I tried rolling it up, but the dough had stuck to the paper. I used a bench scraper to try and peel it off the paper as much as I could. The final result was a mish-mash of dough, sugary cinnamon and butter. I decided to roll it into a ball, then slowly cut it into 6 large bun shapes ( I would recommend 12 more sensible sized buns next time).

I placed them onto a greased pan and let them prove again. At this point they weren’t looking too bad at all. But after the allotted proving time, they had sunk again into a pool!

Nothing ventured, nothing gained and I popped them into the oven to bake. And to my surprise they rose. Not quite as tall or as picturesquely as I would have liked but they did become edible buns.

I whipped up a cream cheese frosting for them and poured that over the buns and then let them cool fully. And you know what - they tasted lovely.

cinnamon rolls and monkey bread combined

I would describe them as a mix between cinnamon buns and monkey bread. Their haphazard shape meant bits could be torn off to enjoy.

All in all a disaster which turned out not too bad. Here’s how I made what I have now christened Cinnamon Monkey Buns…

Cinnamon Monkey Buns


Thumbnail Url A cross between cinnamon rolls and monkey bread!
Adapted from Food.Com
Cuisine: Breakfast Category: Breads Yields: 12  buns
Prep Time: Cook Time: Total Time:
 

Ingredients
Buns:
7 grams, dry active yeast
250 ml warmed milk (I used almond)
115 grams granulated sugar
75 grams unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, room temperature
450 grams plain flour

Filling:
150 grams dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
75 grams unsalted butter, softened

Icing:
150 grams icing sugar
50 grams cream cheese
100 grams unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
Pinch of salt
 
Instructions
  1. Place the milk, in a mug, in the microwave and heat for 30 seconds until warm. Stir in the yeast and leave aside for 5 minutes.
  2. In a bowl of a mixer, mix together the butter, sugar, salt, eggs and flour. Add the yeasty milk and combine until a dough forms. Attach a dough hook to the mixer and turn it on medium high for 10 minutes.
  3. After 10 minutes, the dough will become elastic but still quite wet. Transfer it to a lightly greased bowl, cover with a tea towel and allow to prove in a warm place for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.
  4. Make the filling by mixing the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon.
  5. After the dough has proved place onto a long piece of floured greaseproof paper. With your hands, spread the dough to a long rectangle about 24 inches by the width of the paper. Spread the filling on to the dough evenly then attempt to roll the dough from one of the short ends to the other.
  6. Use a bench scraper to pull the dough from the paper as you go along. If you are lucky your dough will come away easily from the paper and you can cut the resultant log into 12 buns.
  7. If not, like me, you will have a sticky mass of dough and cinnamon sugar. Don’t worry, just divide the mix into 12 balls.
  8. Whatever you have, place the buns onto a 13”x9” greased baking tin. Set aside to prove for another hour. Preheat the oven to 200C.
  9. Make the icing by mixing the butter, icing sugar, cream cheese, vanilla and salt together until smooth.
  10. After the hour, pop the buns into the oven and bake for 10 to 15 minutes. They will turn golden brown and sugar may be bubbling around them. Remove from the oven before they start to burn.
  11. Allow to cool before pouring the icing mix over the buns.
  12. When fully cool and the icing has mostly set, remove from the pan with a spatula and serve with a piping hot cup of coffee.

7 comments:

  1. Aw, what a shame, but they look and sound fab! A bit more stressful that you'd planned perhaps, but I bet they went down a treat!

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  2. They looks just fine to me! I love cinnamon and everything sweet so those would be perfect, especially with a cup of tea after long walk on a freezing cold, windy beach :)

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  3. They look and sound delicious! I love how you've turned a potential baking stress into a success!

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    Replies
    1. Always a way to turn most things into a success Kat x

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  4. Look so yummy.
    http://www.dctbrand.com

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