Cinnamon Rolls for Easter Sunday

Bobby Fisher, our school Chaplain, is my biggest cinnamon roll fan.

It isn't Easter Sunday without cinnamon rolls.  Our school chaplain, Bobby Fisher, leads a beautiful sunrise service on Easter morning here at Pomfret School.  We enjoy the sunrise with friends and family with songs and prayer to celebrate Easter.  After the service we gather for fellowship and (here's where I come in) cinnamon rolls at the Lodge.  Bobby is my biggest cinnamon roll fan.  Every year he pulls me aside the week before Easter and with that look on his face that says, "Can I count on you to make them, for all of us?"  How can I say no?  It's every baker's dream to have such a dedicated fan.  I have to admit that the rolls are very tasty and, when served warm, are a perfect complement to the sunrise service.  I always make two pans on Easter Sunday, one for the fellowship group and one for my family, who don't like to get up early for the sunrise.

I use the recipe from The Tasty Kitchen Pioneer Woman blog.  Cinnamon Roll Recipe  I actually started using her recipe about six years ago, before her Food Network fame or the launch of Tasty Kitchen website.  This recipe is easy to follow and works great.  Over the years I have modified it only slightly by adding more kneading time and more rest time for the dough to make it easier to roll out.  I like to proof the rolls overnight in the refrigerator so that all I have to do is bake them in the morning.  I use a cream cheese frosting from the Cinnabon website that has lemon zest and lemon juice in the mix.  The lemony tang gives the frosting a really nice flavor.   Delicious!

Gabe pointing to his cinnamon roll choice.

Gabe asked me to teach him how to make cinnamon rolls this weekend.  It was a lot of fun to make the same recipe with him, explaining my process to him.  He mixed all the ingredients, kneaded the dough, and helped me gauge the correct moisture of the dough.  When we got it right, I pointed out to him how the dough feels moist but not too sticky.  We rolled the dough in two shifts, letting it rest for 30 minutes each time to get a thinner spread of dough.  I think the end result was very good because we got extra layers in our rolls.  He asked if we could make them really big and juicy, so we rolled the dough out into square instead of a rectangle.  Gabe carefully analyzed each roll and chose the perfect one for him to eat first.  My apprentice gets the first dibs on the rolls!