Plump and sweet: homemade cinnamon buns

I’ve had some extra time this week and have put it toward catching up on some cooking “to dos” that have been languishing on my list. Among them, the Daring Bakers’ cinnamon buns have been calling out my name, begging for first dibs.

The Daring Bakers made cinnamon buns right before I joined and I regretted missing such a fun challenge. I’ve been known to get sucked in by the intoxicating aroma of cinnamon buns in many a Midwestern airport, and I figured it would be fun to be able to make such a winning treat from scratch.

I thought I would offer this up as a great Christmas day breakfast treat. It turns out they are very simple to make – just a bit time-consuming as the dough needs to rise and then proof for several hours. But the actual active time is minimal and the dough is made easily with a dough hook in a stand mixer.

The buns can be made into cinnamon buns or sticky buns with a change of glaze and topping. The dough, in either case, is identical. There’s nothing more fun than watching the buns grow in size and squish together on the baking sheet, promising a sweet-tooth satisfying, decadent cinnamon experience that can only be delivered by a cinnamon bun!

The recipe for both cinnamon and sticky buns can be found here, on Pip in the City's blog, the sponsor of the event.

On another note, I wanted to let you know that I am experimenting with selling selected images on ImageKind. You can purchase both prints (framed or unframed) and greeting cards on the site. Both would make a nice belated holiday gift for a cooking enthusiast. Hop on over and have a look - let me know what you think.