National Cinnamon Bun Day ©

Today, October 4th, as I write, is National Cinnamon Bun Day. Boy, did it ever release a flood of memories, as well as salivary gland activity when I discovered that!

My first experience with cinnamon buns was as a kid growing up in NJ. My mother loved them and would occasionally make them but more often than not, talk my dad into getting a dozen at the local bakery (that didn’t take much persuasion!). We all loved them.

Later, in the 1980s we started making our own whole wheat bread, including grinding the wheat, and as a byproduct, my wife perfected a family-favorite recipe. In fact, at one point, my wife had a Sunday morning routine where she would make five loaves of bread and one batch of cinnamon buns (she calls them “Sticky” buns) all before church! How she ever did that as well as get ready for church, etc. I’ll never know!

Also, in the 80s and 90s while I was still doing a good bit of travel for Blue Bird the Cinnabon® franchise appeared in airports. Here’s clip about that from their website: “It all started with a father, a son and a mission to create the world’s greatest cinnamon roll from scratch. Add in one master baker, months of trial and error, hundreds of different recipes and when the duo finally landed on the most magical combination of exceptional ingredients from across the globe, they knew they’d created the perfect recipe. So on December 4, 1985, they transformed their hard-earned dream into a delicious reality with the opening of the first Cinnabon® Bakery in the SeaTac Mall in Seattle, Washington”.

Later, after I retired, I stared making a lot of homemade bread and I’d make an extra batch of dough that my wife would turn into her “Sticky Buns”. If there is a family favorite recipe, this is it, hands down! In fact I’d put it up against the Cinnabon® recipe any day. Here it is:

• Combine and stir in a large glass measuring cup: 1-1/3 cups warm water, 1/3 cup honey, 2 Tbs. oil, 1 tsp salt

• Pour the liquid into a bowl or bread maker if you have one.

• Add 3 cups of bread flour and stir, (make it half fresh-ground whole wheat flour if you want to go all out and make it a “Health Food” as well; that removes the guilt when you eat a second one!).

• Add one package of instant yeast.

• Run the bread maker through the mix and knead cycle only and remove the dough, or mix and knead by hand. Next, the sticky/cinnamon part.

For the syrup:

• Generously oil the bottom of a round cake pan arrange pecan halves in circles starting from the outside, (like you would pepperoni on a pizza) Set aside.

• In a small saucepan add 1/2 cup butter, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 2 Tbs Karo syrup. Stir.

• Heat and continue stirring until sugar melts, and small bubbles appear. Then drizzle syrup onto the pecans in the cake pan.

Now back to the dough:

• Roll the dough into a rectangle, sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon, and some raisins. Press lightly into the dough.

• Roll the dough up into a “log” (short side to short side) and cut into 8 equal pieces about 1-1/2 inch thick. Place the dough pieces over the pecans, then cover with a light cloth, place in a warm spot and let rise until doubled in size.

• Bake in a preheated oven at 325 degrees for 18-25 minutes (because ovens vary). Watch out that they don’t over bake!

• Place your serving plate over the baked buns, invert and wait for them to slide out. Beautiful!

• Enjoy them while they’re still warm (Hint: it’s ok to add more butter to the warm bun; in fact, it would be a waste not to!)

I know this sounds like a lot of work but trust me, once you try them you won’t regret the effort. Enjoy. After all, they didn’t proclaim a National Cinnamon Bun Day for nothing!

Thanks for reading All About Seniors … see you next week!

Bill Milby is a Director of Visiting Angels® of Central Georgia, a non-medical, living assistance service for seniors. If you have questions or comments about this column you can reach him at william.mercylink@gmail.com or search for us at https://www.facebook.com/VisitingAngelsofCentralGA/.

HHJ News