Recipe : Cinnamon Buns

I can hardly believe that we are almost halfway through the fast...our holy month of Ramadaan. It has been many years since I have fully enveloped the benefits of this month; lost in the art of juggling young kids and everyday chores, while having to submit to my religious duties proved to be challenging. I always ended the month wishing I had done more with my time, fulfilled more acts of worship, spent less time consumed in the 'world' and less time in the kitchen! Yet year after year I would get lost in the same cycle.

 

Ramadaan started to become a month of indulgence and extravagance instead of it's intended sacrifice and humility! Although there is some wisdom in doing a little preparation before this holy month; I'm guessing was started so that we have more free time to plough into prayer, meditation and introspection; it has slowly become somewhat of a tradition to stock our freezers full of indulgences we would otherwise not regularly consume. I, myself am guilty of spending an unnecessary amount of time in the kitchen creating decadent treats our shrunken stomachs can't even eat...

 

Over the past few years I have trimmed down our extravagant consumptions considerably and this year seems to be our best year yet! With the kids on school break too, there's no taxi-ing, no homework and no energy (the kids); for the first time in a long time there is a calm and tranquil peace looming in our home during this month... and it is exhilarating! Our meals are mostly simple... things we would eat under normal circumstances and we haven't gone overboard with the 'extras'. Naturally, with young, fasting kids in the house, we have not cut out everything, but I make sure that when I do spoil them with a treat, it is something that I have not slaved hours to prepare!

 

And so in the spirit of saving time in the kitchen, I've decided to share this super quick and easy recipe (that I got from a friend) with you, that will have you out of the kitchen in no time! I have also included all the tips and guidelines so generously offered by some of you on my Facebook page...

 

INGREDIENTS

• 4 Cups Flour

• 1/2 Cup Castor Sugar

• 1 packet (10 gr) yeast

• 1 Cup warm milk

• 2 eggs (jumbo) lightly beaten

• 3/4 cup melted butter

For the sprinkle

• 3 Tblsp brown sugar (I used Treacle and a little more than this)

• 1 1/2tsp cinnamon sugar

• 1/2 cup melted/softened butter

• Pecan nuts chopped (this is optional...I left them out)

METHOD

1. Sift dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. Add all the liquids and mix in a mixer until combined. Mixture will be slightly sticky.
3. Leave mixture in a warm place to rise until double. (There was no warm place with the temperatures so low, so I stood the bowl on a heated bean bag!)
4. Once mixture has doubled, flatten by rolling into a rectangle shape.
5. Spread butter on top and then sprinkle generously with brown sugar and cinnamon making sure you don't exclude the edges.
6. The recipe said to roll dough like a swissroll, ending up with one big log, but I rolled up from both ends until they met in the centre landing up with 2 smaller logs and resulting in smaller, individual portion size buns.
7. Use floss or cotton to slide through the dough to cut desired size buns. Then place them in greased and lined tins face side up, leaving enough space between them to allow for rising. I found that a tray with raised sides baked the buns more evenly.
8. Bake in a pre-heated oven of 180 deg Celsius for 10-15 min
9. Spread topping over hot buns.

The recipe asked for cream cheese frosting but my kids weren't too keen, so I made a caramel topping instead.

CARAMEL SAUCE

• 125 gr Butter

• 75 gr packed brown sugar

• 125ml thickened cream

• 60 ml maple/golden syrup

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Heat all ingredients together and pour spoonful's over the hot cinnamon buns and ENJOY!

 

 

 

Happy Baking!

 

Thanks for reading.

 

Peace,

 

NAMU :)

 

Recipe Courtesy of Atyia Sonday