My son had been begging for me to make cinnamon buns for days. I won’t make them on school days as I don’t think they are the most nutritious breakfast and Saturday we had to be somewhere early, so Sunday was cinnamon rolls day at our house. My husband works till 3 or 4 in the morning with about an hour ride home from work on the weekends- the joys of working in restaurants, so I figured it would be a nice thing for him to wake up to around 11am. Well, my darling, sweet son wanted to have cinnamon buns with Dad. He watched the timer on the oven and every few minutes (at 7am) would run up to tell Dad just how much longer till the cinnamon buns would be ready. Caleb set him a place at the counter, where we have only 2 stools, poured him an orange juice- asking me if dad would want coffee also, and then ran up to tell Dad they were ready. It was too sweet, and Dad does love cinnamon rolls right out of the oven, so he came down to have breakfast with his son. Very sweet moment, especially when you know how much my husband despises mornings. I, however, the preparer of the cinnamon buns was sent to sit at the table alone or on the step stool. I chose step stool even though the height to counter ratio was off at least I could eat with the boys.

Not the most flattering picture, but I was sentenced to the step stool so it's sweet revenge

So how do you make these wonderful cinnamon buns that get even the crankiest of morning people out of bed?

This one is with apple

Cinnamon Buns

For Filling:

1 1/4 c cane sugar (you can use brown sugar here and remove molasses, but I like to make my own)

2 tsp molasses

1 T cinnamon

(in the fall dice up a peeled apple and add it in)

For the buns:

1/2 c buttermilk (1/2 soy milk w/ 1 tsp of cider vinegar whisked in is a non-dairy alternative)

1 egg

3 c all purpose flour

1 T cane sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

12 T COLD butter, cut into small cubes (Earth Balance vegan butter works fine for dairy alternative)

Grease a 9 inch round baking pan. Make the filling, combine ingredients in a bowl and mix with a fork till it looks like a wet sand. Not all sugar and molasses will mix, very small dots of molasses are ok- for better mix use a food processor) Put in the fridge while you prepare dough.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a measuring cup whisk together buttermilk and egg, set aside. In a medium bowl whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Sprinkle butter cubes over flour mixture and work in by rubbing your fingers against thumb. Stop when mixture looks like sand with somee chunks. Add egg mixture and stir with fork until it just starts to hold together- very loose here, just moist, the less you mess with it the flakier it will be.

Dump dough onto a piece of parchment and knead just enough to bring it together. Remember loose is key, it will come together whe you roll it out. Roll out dough into a 9×15 rectangle, with as straight sides as possible.

Sprinkle sugar mixture all over dough, leaving about 1/2 inch border. Add apples if using, and gently press them in.  I like to add a few sprinkles of cinnamon here for good measure. Slowly roll dough into a long log, use parchment to help you as dough should still be a little loose. Squeeze, then put seam side down.

Cut into 9 equal buns and arrange in pan. Bake until golden, about 35 minutes.

While baking I like to make an icing, but it’s really not necessary. Take 1/4 cup powdered sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, and 1 T water. mix. if too runny add more powdered sugar, if too thick SLOWLY add a drop or two of water at a time. Drizzle over the warm buns when they come out of the oven. And serve.