You’ve got to roll with it
A Pinch of Salt
By Donna Marie Riani
I absolutely love baking. I love anything that gets me in the kitchen, but there is something about baking that I find especially satisfying. Over the years, I have had many people in my cooking classes tell me that they don't enjoy baking because it’s too precise, that there isn’t a lot of room to play around with the recipe. But that’s the very thing I love about it. I know if I follow the recipe and do exactly what it says, I will be rewarded with something delicious and often beautiful.
One of my favorite jobs was working for a bakery in the western suburbs of Chicago. In my 10 years there, I was able to hone my baking skills and learn a deep appreciation for this kind of precision.
I can vividly remember rising before the sun and taking the long peaceful drive to work. Most everyone was still asleep, so I felt like I had the world to myself for a few hours. I would park behind the bakery and, as soon as I opened my car door, was greeted by the most heavenly scent: a mixture of yeast, butter, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. That scent always hung in the air. If people didn’t know the bakery was there, all they had to do was follow their noses.
So many people have tried to recreate that scent with bath products, candles and room sprays but no one has come close. I have always said, if I could bottle that smell, I would be a multi-millionaire. I’m still working on it!
I invite you to fill your home with that amazing scent with this recipe for Hazelnut Cinnamon Rolls. Adding nuts to cinnamon rolls makes them especially good and adding hazelnuts takes them over the top.
Oregon is known for our hazelnuts, and about 99 percent of the hazelnuts in the US come from here. They have a natural sweetness that goes beautifully in a cinnamon roll. If you take the time to toast them, and I think you should, you make that sweetness even more pronounced.
This recipe makes just six rolls, which is perfect if you have a small household. This is a delicious addition to your Christmas morning or a sweet way to ring in the New Year.
My friends, this holiday season I wish you all delicious dishes, beautiful baking and a joyful 2022.
Hazelnut Cinnamon Rolls
● 1/2 cup milk
● 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (1 packet)
● 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling out dough
● 1/4 teaspoon salt
● 1/4 cup white sugar
● 1 egg, room temperature, lightly beaten
● 1/4 cup butter, room temperature
● 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
● 2 teaspoons cinnamon
● 1/4 cup of toasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped
For the icing
● 2 tablespoons cream cheese, room temperature
● 2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
● 1/4 cup powdered sugar
● 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
● 1 tablespoon milk
Heat the milk in a saucepan to between 90-100 degrees. Sprinkle the yeast over the milk and let it sit for five minutes. The yeast should get foamy.
In a mixer fitted with a dough hook or by hand, combine the flour, salt and sugar. Pour in the yeast mixture and combine.
Add the egg and butter mixing until combined. You will mix the dough until you notice the mixture is pulling away from the sides of the bowl and it looks fully mixed with no dry spots. The dough will be slightly sticky.
Transfer the dough to a bowl lightly greased with a neutral oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for an hour. You will need to find that sweet spot in your kitchen where there is no draft and it’s not cold so the dough can rise.
In a small bowl mix together the brown sugar and the cinnamon. Set aside.
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface into a 10-inch square. Spread the butter over the dough leaving a small half-inch border all around. That border will help you seal the dough. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over it, then add the hazelnuts.
Roll the dough up tightly and pinch the seams together so it doesn’t unroll. Cut the roll in half and then cut each half into three pieces. Place the rolls in a greased nine-inch round pan and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Bake the rolls in a 350 preheated oven for about 22 minutes. They should be evenly browned.
While the rolls are baking combine the icing ingredients.
Five minutes after the rolls come out of the oven, pour on the icing.