A couple years ago, my roommate and I were walking through Trader Joe's while we were in college and prepping for a Shabbos meal, and we stumbled across fresh pizza dough. They sold three varieties - plain, whole wheat, and herb - and we bought a couple bags of the plain variety and went to town with a couple experiments. The one the stuck and the one that we have made many times over the years is cinnamon buns. We rolled it out, buttered the dough, added brown sugar, cinnamon, and raisins, rolled it up, sliced and baked it. They came out really well and were always a crowd-pleaser. But I always had 2 problems with the dough: it got a little hard when it cooled down (think about what pizza dough does in general), and it didn't rise or expand too much (again, think about pizza dough). But the really fluffy, really doughy dough is part of what makes a great cinnamon bun!
In looking at cinnamon bun recipes online, they all end up being made with an egg-y dough, similar to a brioche. Well, we're all familiar with egg-y bread dough - hello, challah! So, I decided to use a Kineret challah as the base of my cinnamon buns. (You know what I'm talking about - the kind that you find in the freezer section, that you allow to rise for a couple hours and bake off. It tastes as close to homemade as store-bought will ever taste.) This dough is meant to rise, which means that you end up with a light-as-air dough. When I tell you that they were perfect, it's an understatement. They were so soft, so sticky, so yummy-smelling, and even I was pleasantly surprised with the results! And, come on, can you beat a 5-ingredient recipe? I don't think so.
(P.S. I am going to be perfecting this recipe over the next few weeks. I want to try to come up with a gooey sauce for the bottom of the pan so that, when you invert them, the sauce spills over the sides. Or maybe an icing.....check back soon for an update :-) Also, the photo below shows what they look like in the pan. When I served it, since they were inverted on a plate, they were covered in liquid sugar, which made them shine. Oh so good!)
Super Easy Cinnamon Buns
1 box of frozen Kineret Challah dough
6 tbsp. margarine
1 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup raisins
1. Remove the challah from the box and defrost it until just defrosted. Do NOT allow it to rise.
2. Knead the dough into a ball with your hands.
3. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a 12 inch x 8 inch rectangle, with the long side facing you. (You may need a little flour so that the dough does not stick. It makes it very easy to do this on a cutting board.)
4. Microwave 4 tbsp. of the margarine for 10 seconds, to make it very soft. Spread the margarine all over the dough.
5. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the brown sugar, the cinnamon, and the raisins all over the margarine.
6. Starting with the long side closest to you, roll the dough up into a long snake.
7. Cut the dough into 11 slices, a little over an inch thick.
8. Spray a 9-inch round cake pan with non-stick spray. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of the remaining brown sugar all over the bottom. Place 8 of the cinnamon buns inside the pan, cut side up, leaving space in between.
9. Cover the pan with a damp towel and allow to rise 4 hours to overnight.
10. When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the towel; the buns will have risen and just about doubled in size. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of brown sugar on top. Slice the remaining 2 tsbp. of margarine into paper-thin slices and scatter all over.
11. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the dough is cooked and the sugar is bubbling (but not burning).
12. To serve, invert the cinnamon buns onto a large plate. Pull apart and enjoy!
yummy
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