Perfect Cinnamon Buns

I think I’ve mentioned before about how much I love cinnamon buns. But they have to be good. A lot of cinnamon buns I buy from bakeries have a very thick dough, which is often a bit dry, so it’s basically like eating a big hunk of day-old bread with a touch of cinnamon. That is not for me. My definition of a good cinnamon bun is one that is somewhat dense, moist and chewy, with a thin spiral of dough surrounding the delicious sticky sweet cinnamon filling. And a nice glaze of icing on the top really hits the spot.

So I set out to try and make myself my ideal cinnamon bun. I used a recipe from my favourite bread cookbook, and without even trying it first, I made some modifications that I thought would improve my chances for success, and decrease the chances of disappointment.

First, the sweet dough recipe. It called for sugar, so I used brown instead of white, because I find that brown sugar adds more moisture. It called for one egg, so I used two, in the hope that it would also add more moisture and some extra chewiness. And because I used these added ‘moisturizers,’ I had to add a bit more flour to keep the dough from being extra sticky and difficult to roll out.

For the filling, I followed all the directions as they were, except I omitted the raisins, because although I like raisins in general, I don’t like them in my cinnamon buns.

Then when it came time to bake, the recipe said to bake them for 25-30 minutes. I baked them for 22, and was not disappointed. I was indeed successful at making a cinnamon bun I really loved, and spread on some leftover buttermilk frosting I had which made them all the better!