Sugar-bug-house Cinnamon Buns!

Good day, all! Today is the first Thursday of the wonderful month of March.  And so, it is also blog day for us! If you’re in the Northern hemisphere you’re likely getting excited at the concept of spring arriving, while those in the Southern hemisphere prepare for the colder months ahead (a little like hibernating, I guess)!

You may or may not have seen Rose’s new series of books, ‘The Tales of Banjo and the Superhero Dentist’. Well, in the second book (Where The Sugar Bugs Are) Banjo the orangutan travels into a dream where the entire world around him is made of baked and sweet treats.  What an experience, although too much sugar is not good for the body or teeth!  But what would life be without a little sweetness, right?  In his dream world, the houses are made from cinnamon buns, believe it or not, so today we’re sharing with you an awesome and easy cinnamon bun recipe that you can prepare over the weekend for friends or family.
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​​Without further a due, here’s the recipe!

​Please note that raisins are optional. If you want to add raisins you can do so – around half a cup should be great! You can also add flaked almonds if you like (again around half a cup should be good).

What you’ll need:

​Bun dough:
3/4 cup warm milk
2 and 1/4 teaspoons active yeast
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup unsalted butter
3 cups bread flour
3/4 teaspoon salt

Sticky-center filling:
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 and 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/4 cup unsalted butter

Icing:
4 ounces (115 grams) cream cheese
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup icing sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
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How to make your buns:
 
1 - Warm your milk to the temperature of bath water then pour it into a large mixing bowl.
2 - Sprinkle your yeast over your warm milk.
3 - Add your sugar, egg, egg yolk and melted butter.
4 - Mix the ingredients together well with a spatula.
5 – Add your flour and salt to the mix, then combine the ingredients until they’ve formed dough.  
6 – Knead your dough into a ball shape on a floured surface  – it should be spongy and a little sticky, but not too sticky.
7 – Place your dough into an oiled bowl, then cover it with a warm towel - allow the yeast to rise. This should take an hour to an hour and a half. It should grow to double its original size.
8 – Once the dough has risen, use a rolling pin to roll it out flat – around 35 cm by 22 cm (14 x 9 inches).
9 – Use a spatula or butter knife to smear your 1/4 cup of softened butter over the flattened dough – leave a centimeter of dough around the edges butter-free.
10 - Mix your brown sugar and cinnamon together in a medium-sized bowl, then sprinkle this mix over your buttered, flattened dough.  
11 – As though making a Swiss roll, roll your dough up into a long, spiral, sausage.
12 – It should now look like a Swiss roll sausage; you can then cut it into pieces using a sharp knife. The pieces (buns) should be between 5 cm and 7 cm thick (roughly 1.5 to 2 inches).
13 – Grease a large baking tray then place your dough pieces onto the greased tray, packing them closely together.  Cover the tray with a warm towel and then allow the pieces to rise at room temperature for 30 to 40 minutes.
14 - Preheat your oven to 350F (180c).  Place your tray of risen raw buns into your heated oven for 25 minutes, baking them until they are golden brown on the surface.  
15 – Once baked, allow them to cool at room temperature for 5-10 minutes.
16 – Prepare your icing by mixing the icing sugar, cream cheese, butter and vanilla extract together well.
17 – Use a thin soft spatula to smear your icing mix over your cooled baked cinnamon buns.
 
And there you have it! This is quite a simple recipe; probably the exact same one used to make the cinnamon bun houses in Rose’s book ‘Where The Sugar Bugs Are’.  You can, of course, find this book in eBook and paperback formats via Amazon, in the links below.

Well, we do hope sincerely that you will send us pictures of your buns once they’re done. You can send them via a comment on Rose’s Facebook or Twitter pages, or you can send them to me directly via my page on Rose’s website.

Here’s wishing you nothing but sweet times head!
Keep smiling,
stay magical,
Sasha ~

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 Where The Sugar Bugs Are  

View on Amazon