Rollin' With The Homies
Homemade cinnamon rolls for the women who have helped me rise.
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Truth be told, I’ve never had or made homemade cinnamon rolls. As a 90s kid, Pillsbury cinnamon rolls were the quintessential sleepover breakfast. I’ve seen homemade cinnamon rolls at diners and bakeries, the giant ones as big as my hand, but I tend to lean towards savory protein for breakfast, so I often overlook the sweets.
However, last weekend I hosted my own girly slumber party, which I 10/10 recommend for anyone of any age. A night with your girlfriends, filled with cozy blankets, fairy lights, laughter, and stories. When thinking of what to serve them for breakfast, these women who have surrounded me, supported me and loved me for the better part of 15 years, I wanted to fuse the nostalgia of my middle school sleepover days with an ounce of the care, attention, and work that they’ve poured into me for so long. So homemade cinnamon rolls seemed a step in the right direction.
Miraculously, I ended up with my grandmother's KitchenAid mixer after she died, this trusty pastel yellow steed that has served the baking ambitions of my family for 50 years, a savior for any baking adventure. After finding a recipe for overnight cinnamon rolls, I got to work. I used a yeasted dough, which like our friendship, can bubble up when activated with heat, but it’s a necessary flare-up that gives the dough depth, flavor, softness, and strength. This chemistry experiment, although a little scary and temperamental, is needed for the dough to rise. After all the dough ingredients have mixed and turned into a soft doughy ball, smooth and bouncy to the touch, we let it rest to rise. Just because something is soft doesn’t mean it’s without some bite, a confident strength built over time, and toughness like gluten. This group of women has played a foundational part in molding and shaping me, and without them, I would not have risen to be the substantial and sweetly softened woman I am today.
Once doubled in size, you punch the dough ball down to release the trapped air. A necessary step for any friendship is an expelling of that no longer serves us on our way to being our best selves, a release of pressure. Pouring the dough onto my prepared surface, I gently begin to roll it out, in awe of its silky smooth texture and, most of all, its warmth. You see, during the proof, the chemistry from the yeast heats the dough as it rises. Despite its cool porcelain appearance, its softness and warmth are what make this dough so special. Friendship is no different. These women can present a cool and calm exterior, but there is so much more going on behind the scenes, a percolation of brilliance, warmth, and love.
Once rolled out into a neatly measured 12x18 rectangle, I paint on a stick of deliciously softened butter with a spatula, a sensation deeply satisfying to my core, amplifying my artistic flair with the love of butter. Glittering the top with cinnamon and brown sugar, I look at my work in wonder and think, yes, this is my masterpiece made with love for royalty.
Carefully, I begin to roll, wrapping up the dough with delicate precision, wanting nothing less than a bakery-level presentation for these loves of my life. Gently I roll with a mild pressure to keep the sugar mixture pressed into the dough, not wanting any of the sweetness to leave us. Excitement builds as my Great British Bake Off cosplay continues. Carefully measuring each slice to be 1.5 inches wide, I cut the rolled dough log into 12 even cylinders and gently placed them in my parchment-lined baking dish. Beautiful spirals of golden cinnamon and soft dough, they look like real cinnamon rolls!
I cover them tightly and place them in the refrigerator overnight. Now, it’s time for our day together. A rainy day filled with togetherness, music, food, and memories old and new. Adding another page to the book which we’ve been writing for years and years.
The next morning, I took the rolls out and placed them into a cold oven to let them rise again for the second proof. This is perhaps the scariest bit. Will they still rise after cooling in the refrigerator, time passing, and leaving my friendship rolls unattended but never out of mind? At first, it wasn’t looking good. They sat there awkwardly, angry at my neglect, giving me the cold shoulder as they sat there staring at me. But after an hour, I notice a change, a softening. Have they grown? I think they have! Slowly, they begin to warm and rise, filling the empty space in the pan with their sweet, warm dough. After two and a half hours of rising, they are ready to bake until golden brown.
While they cooled and I mixed the cream cheese frosting (doubling the cream cheese of course, my friends deserve all the richness and luscious calories fit for the queens that they are), I listened to my friends chat warmly on the couch, sipping coffee and sharing stories. Although we’ve lived in separate states for years, in that moment, it’s as if no time has passed at all. Like we’re back a decade ago, on a different couch, the same warmth and compassion spirals between us, wrapping us in a tight, protective, sugar-centered roll.
This recipe was adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction - Overnight Cinnamon Rolls
I used regular flour, not bread flour
For the frosting, I used a full 8oz brick of cream cheese but did not double the powdered sugar.
Great! Now I want cinnamon rolls 😋