Anyone who knows me knows that I can’t bake. Not anything resembling the intended outcome (my friend Maria knows exactly what I’m talking about). Something about the rules of baking and the fact that it is pure chemistry and quantities and processes matter, make me a very bad baker as my cooking is mostly intuitive and eye-balled.
But today I was craving cinnamon rolls. Sweet, soft, gooey, lovely, warm cinnamon rolls.
And I wanted to use up some dried wood avens root I had in the cupboard in order to see if it gives its clove-like smell to baked goods.
So, because I have no idea how to bake, I decided to follow this fantastic recipe here, with a twist.
Ingredients for 9 wood avens- cinnamon rolls:
For the dough:
- ¾ cup warm milk
- 1 sachet quick rise or active yeast
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
- ¼ cup butter, melted
- 3 cups bread flour, plus more for dusting
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- For the filling:
- 2/3 cup dark brown sugar (light brown sugar also works)
- 1 ½ tablespoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ cup butter
- 3 large wood avens roots
- For the cream cheese frosting:
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened
- 3 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1 250ml wood avens syrup jar (roots in)
- 1 Tbs lemon juice
- Instructions
Heat the milk until it is luke-warm and not hot. Add it to a bowl and drizzle the yeast over it. Add the melted butter, egg and egg yolk and mix well. Then add the flour and salt and mix until all the liquid is incorporated. Knead for 8-10 mins. Set aside in a warm place until it doubles in size.
In the meantime, for the filling, take the wood avens roots and bash them to break them up a bit in a mortar or blender. Add the butter over them and heat gently so that the butter doesn’t cook but the wood avens roots start emitting their smell and infuse the butter. After 5′ of heating, leave in a warm place and wait until the dough has doubled in size. While butter is still liquid strain the root out of the butter using a tea strainer or a muslin.
After the dough has doubled, place on a floured surface and using a rolling pin (or beer/wine bottle) open the dough in a 14×9 inch rectangle. Take the soft (not melted) butter and spread it over the dough leaving a bit in the margin out.
In a bowl mix the brown sugar with the cinnamon and massage into the buttered dough. Roll the dough tightly, starting from the 9 inch side, and cut into 9 pieces using a serrated knife or floss.
Preheat your oven at 180 C.
Place the rolls into a buttered oven dish and leave in a warm place to rise for 30-45 mins.
In the meantime prepare your wood avens frosting. Take a jar of wood avens syrup and the roots and heat it all up in a pot on medium heat until it thickens, but be careful to not caramelise it. While warm, strain and mix it with the butter and the cream cheese and add the lemon juice. TIP: You can dehydrate the wood avens roots to make a sweet clove-y spice.
Place buns in the oven for 20-25 mins until lightly golden brown.
Take out of the oven and leave on a rack to cool down a bit. After 10-20 mins they are ready for the cream cheese- wood avens syrup frosting.
(Fer)mental Greens 