07 July 2008

Another bun in the oven

Last week Erqsome posted a recipe for cinnamon rolls, and though I often drool over her various homely successes (be they of the baking, cooking or knitting variety), this is the one and only time I felt I could not pass up the opportunity to try one out for myself. It was either that or beg her to Fed Ex me a batch, which seemed a bit drastic.

Not nearly as drastic was the impetus to spend almost £80 on baking tools and ingredients heretofore unfamiliar with our kitchen, but I reasoned that if they turned out, I could be persuaded to make stuff from scratch more often.

By late Sunday evening, I was in a bind. I did not feel like embarking on a solo baking adventure that (as Bruce predicted earlier) would likely end in tears – bitter tears of disappointment at having allowed myself to think for one solitary moment that I wouldn’t cock it up.

Because following a recipe from beginning to end, from mixing bowl to oven – especially one that involves kneading and proofing – goes against my very nature. It’s why the bakery section in grocery stores was invented: to save people like myself from feeling like failures every time we fancy a bit of lard and allspice.

But actually, once I got the scary bit over and done with (i.e. the dough), the rest was relatively simple. And by 23.00 hrs, I opened my oven and was greeted by the luscious, heady smell of cinnamon rolls:




Cinnamon buns


Elegant they are not, but tasty? Oh yes.

I won’t tell you how I blundered my way through the recipe, as Erqsome has written some perfectly good directives. But I do encourage anyone who is a bit oven-shy to try and make something they’ve never made before, as I’m convinced I haven’t been this proud of myself since I graduated university six years ago.

And Bruce is officially too full up to eat his words.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, yum!

pk said...

well done: thanks for the tip on the fleet foxes by the way. I am listening to a live broadcast of their show from Washington, on NPR right this minute, thanks to the marvel of the thingy.It's great.

Ariel said...

Those buns look delish! Isn't baking grand! Tomorrow I will try my hand at a real yeasted bread--completely uncharted territory for this baker. Wish me luck!

Anonymous said...

Fleet Foxes! I've been listening to almost nothing else. Sadly, the song I posted here is not on the album I downloaded. I'm hoping they come back soon, to headline their own show.

Ariel: I've only just begun, but I am convinced that yeast in baking is what separates the women from the girls! And it's actually very easy to use, at least in my limited experience. Bread might be an entirely different ballpark, though. I'd wish you luck, but I don't think I need to. x