Heavenly Cinnamon Buns

I made these during the early days of lockdown when the whole world was baking too! I feel these need to come with some sort of warning, they are made with real eggs, sugar and butter and they are blooming delicious. A good enough reason to bake them. Aah I love the smell of a cinnamon filled kitchen. PS: do allow some time with these.

Electric Mixer with a dough hook

Cinnamon Buns

• 2 tspn dried yeast
• 160ml warmish milk
• 125g unsalted butter, melted
• 2 tspn vanilla extract
• 450g plain cake flour
• 55g caster sugar
• ¼ tspn salt
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten

Cinnamon Sugar

• 150g softened unsalted butter
• 100g brown sugar
• 3tspn ground cinnamon

Icing

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 150g (5oz) sifted icing sugar
• 2 tablespoons water (maybe a bit more)

1. Place the yeast, milk and vanilla in a bowl and mix to combine.Set aside in a warm place for 5 minutes or until bubbles appear on the surface.
2. Place the flour, sugar, salt, egg, butter and yeast mixture in the bowl of an electric mixer with a dough hook attached and beat on low speed for 1 minute until just combined. Increase speed to high and beat for 5–8 minutes or until the wet dough (it is wet!) comes away from the sides of the bowl.
3. Place in a lightly greased bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and set aside in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size (about 2 hours)
4. Pre-heat oven to 180c.
5. To make the cinnamon butter, place the butter, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and mix to combine. Set aside.
6. Roll the dough out between 2 sheets of non-stick baking paper to make a 24x32cm rectangle. Spread with the cinnamon butter, leaving a 1cm border.
7. Starting with the longest side, roll tightly to enclose the filling. Trim the edges cut ( I used a serrated bread knife) into 12 even pieces about 1,5cm thick. The dough will feel quite sticky, dip your knife into flour to help with the even cutting. Place the pieces, side-by-side and scroll-side up, in the tin. Cover with a damp tea towel and set aside for 45–60 minutes or until doubled in size.
8. To make the icing topping, mix the vanilla extract & water and start to mix, mix in more water until desired consistency. Mia went a bit WILD here, I would only have drizzled a little bit on each bun : )
9. Bake for 20min and  cover loosely with baking paper and bake for a further 15–20 minutes or until cooked through and golden. Allow to stand for 2–3 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool. Once cooled drizzle with the icing sugar mix. Makes 12.

Recipe inspired by Donna Hay