Cinnamon Ears

Finnish Cinnamon Rolls

In Japan, I was introduced to “mimi pan” (the ears of the bread). They cut the heels (now that I think of it, ears makes more sense than heels) of the loaf off before selling it and, at least at the time I was a missionary there, in many cases they threw it away. So as money-strapped missionaries we could get a whole bag of it either for free or for very little dough. When I read about these “little ear buns” on Rosa’s site I decided I had to give them a try.

Bread has always been a comfort food for me. When I was growing up my mom always made bread. I remember the smell of fresh-baked bread and spreading fresh-churned butter and home-made jam on it. Then washing it down with a tall glass of milk. And dough boys where you cut a nice willow branch, stripped the bark up 8 or so inches then wrapped bread dough around the stick and cooked them over the coals of a fire. My mom always made whole-wheat dough for these and hers were always the most popular in the neighborhood. Once they were done you’d pop them off the stick and fill the hole left in the middle with butter and chokecherry jam. Hmmm. I’ll be right back, I think one of the last of these ears is calling my name…

Ingredients and Recipe for 8 ears (Print recipe here)

Dough

1 Package (7g) Active dry yeast
1/2 Cup (120ml) Lukewarm water
1/4 Cup (60g) Unsalted butter, melted
1/4 Cup (50g) Bakers sugar
1 Egg, slightly beaten
1 Egg yolk
1/2 Tsp Fine sea salt
3/4 Tsp ground cardamom
2 1/4 -2 1/2 Cups (~ 300g) All-purpose flour

Filling

1/4 Cup (60g) Unsalted butter, softened
1/4 Cup (50g) Bakers sugar
1 Tbs Ground cinnamon

Glaze

1 Egg, slightly beaten
1 Tbs Milk

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water and let stand 5 minutes.
2. Stir in the butter, sugar, egg, yolk, salt, cardamom and flour, then knead until dough is smooth.

3. Cover and refrigerate for 2 to 24 hours.
4. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll out to a 12 inches by 24 inches rectangle.
5. Spread with the butter, then sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.

6. Roll up tightly, starting from one of the 24-inch sides.

7. Cut the roll diagonally into 8-12 pieces (each piece will be about ½ inch on one side and 3 inches wide on the other side).

8. With two thumbs or the handle of a big wooden spoon, press down the middle of the side of each roll (by doing that the two cut edges will be forced upward so that the rolls will look like two “ears”).

9. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly grease it.
10. Place the cinnamon ears on prepared baking sheets. Cover them with plastic wrap and a damp towel.
11. Let rise for about 40 minutes, until the rolls are puffy and have doubled in size.
12. Preheat the oven to 400° F after 20 minutes of rising.
13. Once the rolls have risen, mix the egg and milk together.
14. Brush each roll with the egg-milk mixture.

15. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly golden.

These turned out to be delicious. The hint of cardamom gave it a different taste and I really liked it. Next time I will roll them more tightly as mine flattened out more and did not turn out nearly as nice looking as Rosa’s. Be sure to check out her blog if you want to see what they should look like.
 

I am looking forward to having Nipponnin back home and really want to see what great things she has planned for her next blog. Thanks for reading. 

Banana Sticky Buns

My husband as a baker

At a grocery store recently, I picked out cooking magazine called ‘fine Cooking’. The magazine cover featured a great looking photo of meatloaf. To me meatloaf does not necessary equal fine cooking but whatever. Another headline said ’ready in 30 minutes! Special Valentine’s Supper’. After reading just that, I’m sold. At home my carb-loving husband was immediately drawn to page70, ‘overnight banana sticky buns with pecans’. Lucky for him,he had everything needed to make this dish. Must be some kind of banana karma as my daughter also put up a banana cake recipe.

It is a kind of challenge to live with person who loves carbohydrate that much and makes such wonderful carb-loaded treats,especially for a person who is trying to avoid it to lose weight. I sometimes wonder how fellow food bloggers like Da stays so thin. If she knows the secret she must share with me ASAP.

For the dough

• 1 pound (about 3-1/2 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour; more as needed
• 1 (1/4 oz.) package fast-rising yeast
• 1/2 cup very warm milk or water (about 125F)
• 3/4 cup mashed very ripe banana (about 1 large)
• 2 Tablespoon unsalted butter, melted; more for bowl
• 2 Tablespoon sugar
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1-1/4 tsp. salt

For the Filling

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened.
• 1/2 cup finely chopped toasted pecans
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1-3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. In a medium bowl, combine 1 cup of of the flour with yeast. Stir in the warm milk or water until combined.
2. Cover the bowl and let sit in a warm spot in the kitchen for 30 minutes.
3. Stir the banana, melted butter, sugar, egg, and salt into the yeast mixture until well combined.
4. Stir in all but 1/4 cup of the remaining flour to make a stiff, shaggy dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.
5. Knead, folding the dough over onto itself. Sprinkle a small amount of flour onto surface as needed. Keep kneading until the dough becomes smooth and easy to handle.
6. Put the dough in a lightly buttered bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place until doubled, 40 to 50 minutes.
   
7. On a lightly floured surface , shape the dough into a rectangle. Roll out into a 16x11 inch rectangle.
8. Spread the softened butter evenly over the dough to within 1/8 inch of the edge.
9. Combine the chopped pecans.brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the butter.
10. Roll up the dough length wise, starting from a long edge and pinch the seam to seal. Flip the dough so that seam side is on the bottom.
11. Trim off and discard 1/2 inch from each end then cut log into twelve 1-1/4 inch pieces (he uses dental floss – not the flavored one – to cut). Cover with plastic wrap.

For the caramel-pecan sauce

• 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter. Softened butter for the pan
• 11/2 cups sugar
• 1 large ripe banana, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Generous pinch salt
• 1 cup pecan halves

1. Generously butter a 12-cup standard muffin pan, set aside.
2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar and 1/4 cup warm water. Stir until sugar dissolves – 2 to 3 minutes.
3. Cook the syrup without stirring, until it begins to caramelize- be careful not to burn and don’t panic when syrup starts to crystalize. Gently swirl the pan to help it brown evenly.
4. Once the syrup has turned an amber color, remove the pan from the heat and carefully stir in the banana and cold butter. Then stir in the heavy cream, returning the pan to low heat if the mixture doesn’t smooth out immediately.
5. Add vanilla and salt and stir until smooth. Strain the sauce and discard banana. Let the caramel cool for 15 minutes.
6. Pour about 1-1/2 Tablespoon of caramel into each muffin cup. reserve the rest of the caramel sauce at room temperature.
7. Place a few pecans each in muffin cup.
8. Place the dough slices over sauce and nuts, cut side down. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate over night.
9. The next day, remove from refrigerator and let the dough rise in a warm spot until doubled. 1 to 1-1/2 hours.
10. Preheat oven to 350F. Put the muffin pan on a cookie sheet (to catch the caramel if it overflows) and bake until the tops and edges are browned, 20 to 22 minutes.
11. Immediately invert the pan onto a rimmed baking sheet lined with foil. Replace any pecans that fell off and let cool for 10 minutes. Reheat the reserved caramel and drizzle over the buns.

It was quite the process but he made amazing sticky-buns. I appreciate his efforts. Thank you fine Cooking!