The Smell of Fresh Baked Bread & Cinnamon

Yummy!  Yummy!  Yummy!

School started.  And so many things went right!  My room was ready.  My students were wonderful.  We kept busy.  It was good.  Mostly.  It was over 100 degrees every day!  Ants not only invaded my kitchen they invaded the TV room.  (I'm not sure what they were after, they just seemed to be wandering all over the place!)  My shower head broke off.  My window fan stopped working.  (In fact, it was making noises like someone had put rocks in it.)  I broke an entire jar of homemade chipolte dressing and it poured all over me and all over the stove and floor. (This was after the ants so that isn't what brought them in the house.)  I started to think I was cursed.  And then I thought of something that would break any curse.  The smell of freshly baked bread and cinnamon.  Really, nothing bad can survive the delicious sweet smell of homemade cinnamon rolls.  So that's what I made this weekend.  I don't know if they broke the curse but I do know they were delicious!  Soft!  Sweet!  Easy to pull apart!  Topped with a light vanilla glaze.  Pure yumminess!  I veganized what seemed to be the standard recipe on the Internet.  (At least they all seemed very similar.)

Cinnamon Rolls Using Bread Machine

½ plain almond milk

½ cup water

¼ cup vegan margarine

½ cup white sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 TB egg replacer mixed with 1 TB oil + 2 TB almond milk

½ tsp salt

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

2¼ teaspoons yeast

Softened vegan margarine

Brown Sugar

Cinnamon

Directions for Making Dough:

• 1)   Heat milk, water, margarine, sugar, & vanilla in sauce pan until margarine melts and steam rises but milk does not boil.
• 2)   Place warmed liquid mixture in pan of bread machine.
• 3)  Add egg replacer, salt, flours, and yeast.  (Follow the directions of your bread machine.  Mine calls for liquids first and then flours, and finally yeast)
• 4)  Press dough setting and if you are lucky – go and read a book.  If you are me, go and grade papers.

Directions for making Cinnamon Rolls (I did not measure the margarine, sugar, or cinnamon – I just put what felt right to me at the time.)

• 1)   When dough is ready, roll into a large rectangle.  (I rolled mine until it was the size of my cookie sheet.)
• 2)   Spread the dough with a layer of softened vegan margarine.
• 3)   Sprinkle (Sprinkle is too delicate a word), Cover the margarine with a layer of brown sugar and then sprinkle liberally (really sprinkle this time) with cinnamon.
• 4)   Roll the dough so the sugar mixture is on the inside and you have a long log.  Carefully cut the log into ½ inch rounds.  (I was able to get 15 nice fat cinnamon rolls out of the one recipe.)
• 5)   Place them on a baking pan, leaving space between each roll as they will continue to rise.
• 6)   Set them aside to rise for about 1 hour.
• 7)   Bake in 375-degree oven for about 20 to 25 minutes.  (I tend to take mine out on the early size because I like them very soft.)

Light Glaze (If you want them even sweeter!)

2/3 cup powdered sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla

2-3 TB almond milk

Mix together and drizzle over rolls when you first remove them from the oven.

There are many other things in my life that break the curse of a bad day (or week).  Talking to a friend.  Getting a massage.  Holding a purring cat.  Reading a good book.  What breaks the curses of your life?

Lavender is another curse breaker. It's beautiful and it smells great!