Brioche Cinnamon Rolls
I absolutely love brioche and I absolutely adore cinnamon rolls. Bringing the two together is beyond obvious but leave it to me to point out the obvious. These cinnamon rolls turned out tender, buttery, rich, and sweet, with that fabulous bite of cinnamon. These are my new favorite cinnamon rolls.
When I made these I was multi-tasking and trying to get all my kitchen chores crossed off my list so I could take an afternoon nap and I ended up veering from the brioche recipe…actually veering is a polite way to say that I totally blew off the first step of the brioche, the making of the sponge. I’m happy to say that my mistake didn’t seem to harm their tender texture or their superb fluffiness and it saved me 40 minutes so I’m calling it my timesaver method…40 minutes is a sweet little catnap.
I know that not everyone has a stand mixer but honestly I can’t imagine making brioche without one…15 minutes of working the dough on medium speed would be nearly impossible for a hand mixer to handle and only the strongest kitchen geek could manage it by hand…we certainly have none of those around here. I also love baking them on the silpat lined baking sheet since it helped form a sweet carmely crust of sugar on the bottom of each roll…isn’t that excellent!
Brioche Cinnamon Rolls
(printer-friendly version)
1/3 cup warm milk
2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
5 large eggs
4 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Fit the mixer with the paddle attachment and dump all of the above ingredients into the mixer bowl and work it on medium speed until it comes together and forms a nice ball of dough. Switch to the dough hook attachment. Mix for 10 minutes on medium. This will help smooth the dough out. While the dough is being worked you should hear it slapping against the sides of the bowl.
6 ounces unsalted butter at room temperature
Take the butter and smash it about with a rubber spatula…the point of this is to work the butter into the same texture and smoothness as the dough. With the mixer on medium low add the butter to the dough in increments of tablespoons and allow the mixer to work in each increment until it is fully incorporated. The dough may fall apart as the butter is being added but don’t worry, it will come back together…just keep the mixer working the dough.
Once all the butter has been added turn the mixer speed up to medium high for a minute or two and then lower it again to medium low and let it work the dough for 5 – 7 minutes, again it should be slapping the sides of the bowl.
Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and place it in buttered bowl and cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate it overnight.
When you wake up the next morning remove the dough from the refrigerator and turn it out onto a floured counter and let it warm up for a hour. Cut the dough into two equal pieces and roll it out to about 1/3” thickness, brush each piece with softened butter and sprinkle it with cinnamon sugar (2 tablespoons cinnamon and 1 cup sugar). Roll your rolling pin over the top to lightly compress the sugar/butter into the dough and then roll them up, reserving the neatest, straightest edge for the outside edge of the roll. Secure the roll by pinching the loose edge to the roll and then smooth the pinch out. Cut the rolls into 1” pieces and line them up on a silpat lined baking sheet. Place them in a warm spot and let them rise for an hour or until they are doubled in bulk. Bake them at 350°F for about 10 – 12 minutes or until they are golden brown and register 210° on an instant read thermometer. Remove them from the oven and let them cool for as long as you can resist them. I always end up putting them under a fan for a fast cool.
I like to drizzle the top of these delicious babies with a simple powdered sugar, milk, vanilla glaze.
Apple Tartin …just another pretty pie
When we were in Paris this past Spring we stopped one afternoon at Café de Flore for champagne and dessert. I had the Millefeuille of my dreams, Dexter had a luscious slice of Opera Cake, Dave had an Eclair, and Alex had the Apple Tartin which they made to order. I’d never had apple tartin and Alex didn’t want to share a bite, not that I blame him because none of us felt generous with our coveted sweets. So it wasn’t until the first apples of the season made their debut in July that I finally tasted the famous apple tartin. It is easy to make and I suppose it was good but I honestly prefer my favorite apple galette. I will admit that it is an extremely pretty pie, all glossy and gooey, but it’s not for me…but Alex loved it so much.
I can honestly say that I love Fall and it arrived today with gusto; cool temps, rain, and falling leaves. It’s amazing because we had our hottest days of the year on Monday and Tuesday. But there is much to look forward to in Fall, especially Apple galette and so I’ll be off to the farmers’ market again this weekend to load up on apples.
I have to tell you a few things that I’ve been up to. I spent the Summer trying to earn some money as a freelance writer and I discovered that while I love to write, I absolutely hate writing cheesy articles for $0.10 a word… it was not a pleasant or fulfilling experience, in fact it sucked. Since I want to earn money to pay for our yearly travel excursions I’ve taken a full-time job. Obviously my family is spoiled rotten and I’m now in the process of rehabilitating them by delegating tasks and responsibilities and I’m trying to master the art of cooking a good dinner after a long day at work. Expect to see more posts that deal with this issue, one that many of you are already familiar with.
I’m proud to say that I’ve almost got 1,000 readers signed up for my RSS feed…if you don’t get my feed I urge you to sign up…I love numbers and I’m really looking forward to breaking 1,000. Yesterday I found out that I made the cut and I get to join the 9 Rules network. That made me feel happy all over…sort of a payoff for all the work I put into this blog I love so much. I’m coming up to my two year blogiversary and I’m trying to think of a great gift for you, my fabulous readers. While I’d love to take you all to Paris, or buy you all wheels of Pleasant Ridge Reserve, I’m afraid I’m not that flush…maybe I’ll just create a really splendid meal to share with you…I think I can handle that.
