maple cinnybuns

One might notice, one bun already went missing before I could even snap a shot.

This is a whole afternoon project, but having homemade cinnybuns around is no small pleasure.

Must warn readers that this post has gratuitous bun shots.

Maple Cinnybuns

I tend to make small buns which have lots of filling because that one mouthful is blissful cinnamon sugar butter heaven. This recipe makes around 60? I'm not sure since they disappear so fast.

Sorry this is in international metric, since it's been adapted from a Swedish recipe. There are many international converters on the web, google "international converter."

Dough:
900 g white flour
200 g white sugar
3/4 t salt
150 g room temperature butter (unsalted)
50 g fresh yeast for sweet dough
500 ml of whole milk

Filling:
200 g soft butter
250 g sugar
4 T ground cinnamon
3 T or more of maple syrup (toss in some maple sugar if you have it)

You can use cake forms or muffin tins (nonstick) or muffin cups

1 egg for painting the tops

Some beginning pointer tips for the bun dilettante. The butter should be room temperature. Don't let hot milk kill the yeast. Freeze the buns directly after you bake them and then warm them before you serve them -- that way they taste best.

Put most of the flour in a bowl, and spare some of that 900 g for sprinkling over to see if you need more or less, or when you're rolling out the dough.





Add the sugar, salt, and butter a bit at a time, and crumble the fresh yeast.

Warm a little of the milk and then blend it with cold milk so it won't be too warm.

Either work the dough in a standing mixer for about five minute until the dough starts to pull away from the bowl. Or if you work by hand let the yeast foam a bit in the luke warm milk before mixing it in.

In a separate bowl, mix the filling. Let the dough rise 30 minutes beneath a kitchen towel. I normally set on the oven for a little bit, then turn it off before putting the dough in (it's my way of cheating on the "no drafts" rule)

After it has risen, divide the dough into 6, and roll them out to 1/2 cm thick rectangles. Spread the filling and roll them together. Cut them in pieces and use either the cake tins (I used springform). Let them rise again for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 225 C. paint the tops with egg wash and bake.





Bake buns for about 8-10 minutes.

With the muffin cups and tins it definitely only took 8 minutes, but with the stuck together buns (pull apart buns) in cake pans it took only a little bit longer (surprisingly) but tap on the buns to see if they're finished. They should feel finished, a bit like how bread sounds hollowish, but with not too much give.

I noticed first of all, that making cinnamon buns is a rather inexpensive (aside from the butter) and straightforward project. It's definitely a project meant for a calm afternoon. It is extremely important to freeze the buns right after you bake them. In the first moments when the bun is finished fresh out of the oven, that is the time to cram it into your mouth with a sigh of happiness. Wait ten minutes that same plush bun is now a hockey puck. I suppose someone really decadent could use the dry buns for bun pudding (a spin off bread pudding). Hm, that reminds me, it's time for some pumpkin desserts in celebration of fall.

I'm thinking pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin cupcakes, and best of all pumpkin bread pudding with caramel sauce. Now, to go find some apple cider to mull ...