cinnamon swirl buns + really big news

As if I already haven’t aired enough oddities about myself, I really do feel the need to be completely honest with you and add one more to the bucket: my reading (ya know, the thing people do when they have spare time or an entire week of vacation and let themselves become fully enveloped in a good heart quickening, pulse-throbbing story) rarely involves hardbacks and/or numbered, chaptered, prefaced pages (unless you want to include the editors letter at the beginning of my shiny food magazines). My version, my longed for 5 minutes of nothing so I can sit down and delve into something juicy, really is something juicy. I read Epicurious. The food and wine section in the New York Times. A lengthy peruse of Food Network’s latest. Martha Stewart.

Almost like my addiction to reading cookbooks as if they were 600-page novels, my need to constantly find new, better, more awesome that the previous one I marked recipes is getting a bit “out of control” — if your name is Josh and you like to secretly judge me, but yet thank me because I make you delicious things like these here cinnamon swirly buns (ahem, with glaze).

And had I not, this very morning, decided to check out Food Network and see their almost famous recipe for cinnamon buns (that compares to those of Cinnabon) then we might not have had such a great start to the day. When your morning starts with the smell of cinnamon sugar and yeasty bread baking in the oven and its smell wafting to the bedroom, where it hits your nose that is still shoved under the covers at 9am (obviously I am talking about Josh here) then I fail to see how your day could A) get any better. B) be bad at all. Because these buns, that we, err someone was smelling under the comforter this morning, were then covered in glaze. In like a sugary sweet milky glaze that (I thought) was going to be a disappointment as I am a die-hard cream cheese glaze lover, but instead out-did my lovers addiction and added enough sugar without making me feel like I should skip the 10 calorie salad that was planned for lunch.

And now, for the news. I did say there was news right? I guess I can’t conceal or deny the mounting evidence any more as my food cravings have gone off the charts (soup in a heat wave, anyone?) and my moodiness (no, never moody; and Josh’s opinion doesn’t count.) has fluctuated insanely only a tiny bit and well, I am now in need of some comfy stretchy waist-ed skirts. Yes, the red spoon has an actual bun in the oven. As in, we are about to take on the responsibility of raising a miniature human being — and we are pretty excited. I’m due in December, and until the day our wee one decides to show up, we will continue to coo and gawk and smile uncontrollably from an overload of cuteness on ultrasound screens. Which means, this news is just a big fat warning that hey! I’m going to be ranting (a lot) and making all the foods I have yet to master before I feel like I actually deserve the title of Mom, and yes, there will also be a lot of pregnancy/craving talk. I apologize. At least we get a baby out of it, right?

One Year Ago: Red Potato and Tomato Salad, where we learn great potato salads can be made without that goopy white stuff in a jar.

Glazed Cinnamon Swirl Buns
Compliments of Food Network’s Kitchen

Makes 6 buns

Dough:
1 cup whole milk
1 1/4-ounce packet (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
1/4 cup plus 1/4 teaspoon granulated sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for the bowl
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more if needed
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Filling:
All-purpose flour, for dusting
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for the pan
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons ground cinnamon

Glaze:
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/3 cup heavy cream
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For Dough: Warm the milk in a medium saucepan over low heat until it reaches about 100-degrees. Remove from the heat and sprinkle in the yeast and 1/4 teaspoon sugar (don’t stir). Set aside until foamy, 5 minutes. Whisk in the melted butter, egg yolk and vanilla.

Whisk the flour, the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, the salt and nutmeg in the bowl of a stand mixer. Make a well in the center and pour in the yeast mixture. Mix on low speed with the dough hook until thick and slightly sticky. Knead on medium speed until the dough gathers around the hook, 6 minutes (the dough will be very tacky.). If needed, add up to 2 more tablespoons flour.

Remove the dough and shape into a ball. Butter the mixer bowl and return the dough to the bowl, turning to coat with butter. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, 1 hour 15 minutes.

For Filling: Mix sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a 12-by-14-inch rectangle with the longer side facing you.

Spread with the softened butter, leaving a 1/2-inch border on the far long edge. Mix the sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over the butter.

Brush the unbuttered far edge with water. Roll the dough away from you into a tight cylinder and press on the long edge to seal.

Using a sharp knife remove the ends of the roll (you can bake them in ramekins for a personal, individual serving) and divide the remaining cylinder into 6 equal-size buns.

Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking pan (Note: I baked the buns in an 8-inch round pan and they came out a bit squished. I would use the larger pan for bigger, rounder buns); place the buns cut-side down in the pan, leaving space between each. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, 40 minutes. Preheat the oven to 325.

Bake the buns until golden brown, about 35 minutes. Cool in the pan 15 minutes.

For Glaze: Sift the confectioners’ sugar into a bowl, then whisk in the cream and melted butter. Transfer the buns to a rack and spoon the glaze on top while still warm.