Posted by Elizabeth

Last June, as I strolled through the Friendly Street Market in Eugene, Oregon, I spotted an amethyst stone with the word “Patience” printed on one side.  (Only Eugene would have a store and a street named “Friendly.”)  “I need to have this,” I thought to myself, “because if there’s one thing I need more of, it’s patience.”  Living a Life in Pencil is built upon a solid foundation of patience; change often requires heaps of it, as the wheels of progress usually turn slower than we’d like.  I’ve never had enough patience, and whenever I threw a temper tantrum about this or that not moving along quickly enough, my mother, who had patience coming out of her ears, was always fond of reminding me, “Patience is a virtue.”  It still didn’t stop me from trying to jump the rails of my crib when I was nine months old – not because I was developmentally advanced, but because I had places to go and people to see, and my impatience undoubtedly got the best of me.  I’m a doer, and I hate waiting around for things to happen, even when sitting still is what’s best for me at the moment.

Don't these just make you want to leap through the screen and eat one?

It’s because of this lack of patience that I’ve always been a terrible bread baker.  The Yeast Arts require oodles of patience and precision, another thing I’m really bad at.  I never let the dough mix long enough and I hate waiting for it to rise.  The problem is I love eating breads, but because of my deficiencies in the patience category I rarely attempt baking them.  I leave dough duties to Maikael, who is happy to spend an entire day crafting croissants, but doesn’t usually have the time to do so.  Imagine my delight when Mark, who rented our house while we traveled around the world and lived with us for a month before we departed, revealed that he had a gift for bread baking.  It was fun sharing dinner duty for a month, when Mark would often whip up a pizza with a crust that could make Papa John weep.  But Mark’s piece de resistance in the kitchen is his cinnamon rolls, pillows of heaven swaddled in cinnamon and kissed with cream cheese.  Although Mark refuses to believe it, I thought about these cinnamon rolls more than once on my trip, and when we returned I begged him to teach me how to make them.

Despite Mark’s guiding (and patient) hand, my impatience still got the best of me.  At the mention of a chocolate pie, I got distracted by the Hershey’s Chocolate and Cocoa Cookbook, which I dreamily flipped through while Mark was teaching important lessons on dough consistency (don’t worry – Maikael was paying attention).  And the rolls do take about two hours from start to finish, during which time my stomach grumbled and I had to will myself from preparing a pot of oatmeal.  But as my mother always said, “Good things come to those who wait.”  It was a tasty lesson in patience.

Aimee Monda’s Best Cinnamon Rolls

Rolls:

1 cup milk
½ cup water
¼ cup margarine or butter
½ cup whole wheat flour
1 ½ cup bread flour
2-3 cups all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 packages of active dry yeast (quick-rise works fine)
2 tsp. canola or vegetable oil, divided

Cinnamon filling & topping:

6 Tbsp. butter or margarine
2-4 tsp. cinnamon, to taste
¾ cup brown sugar, enough to make spreadable consistency

Cream cheese frosting:

¼ cup margarine or butter
4 ounces of cream cheese
½ box powdered sugar
½ tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. lemon juice

To prepare rolls:

Mix milk and water in glass measure and microwave for 30 seconds on HIGH.  Add milk mixture, yeast, salt, sugar, wheat flour, and bread flour to mixing bowl (you will need an electric stand mixer).  Attach dough hook and mix on lowest speed for 5-10 minutes, until flour no longer appears at the edge of the bowl.  Add all-purpose flour, ½ cup at a time, until bowl is once again clean and all dough gathers around hook (you will not use all 2-3 cups).  Do not rush this process; be patient, even if it’s really hard.  Add margarine one Tablespoon at a time until mixed into the dough.  When dough gathers around the hook once again, continue to add all-purpose flour ½ at a time until dough has gathered in a ball around hook and it doesn’t feel too sticky (bowl should be totally clean, and when hook release from the bottom of the bowl, the dough should easily “spring” away).

Using your fingers or a paper towel, use 1 tsp. of canola or vegetable oil to grease a covered glass baking dish.  Form dough into a ball, place in dish, cover, and let rise for 45 minutes (I know, more patience required).

While dough rises, prepare cinnamon filling/topping and cream cheese frosting.

To prepare cinnamon filling & topping:
Combine all ingredients, adding enough brown sugar to reach a spreadable consistency.

To prepare cream cheese frosting:
Combine all ingredients, adding milk one Tablespoon at a time if mixture is too dry.

To finish rolls:

When dough has finished rising (it will begin to push the glass top off the baking dish), grease countertop with remaining teaspoon of oil.  Maintaining a rectangular shape, pat and roll dough into a large rectangle, approximately ¼ inch thick, 20 inches long and 14 inches wide.  Spread cinnamon mixture in a thin, even layer on rectangle of dough, reserving 2 Tablespoons for sprinkling on top of rolls.  Beginning with long end of rectangle, roll tightly towards opposite end, forming a log.  Using a 12 inch length of dental floss pulled tautly, cut log into 1 ½ inch thick rolls.  Place rolls snugly in a 13×18” glass baking dish (use a second, smaller glass dish if needed).  Let rise for 10 minutes while oven preheats to 425 degrees.  Spread reserved cinnamon mixture on top of each roll before placing in oven.  Bake for 12-15 minutes, until rolls are a light, golden brown.  Ice with cream cheese frosting and serve immediately.

Yields 18-20 cinnamon rolls.