We’re well into November and in this part of the world, November is a cold and dark month.  The days are short, and often grey.  As the weeks go by, more and more streets and shops are decorated with golden lights… Christmas is in the air already.

So, the other day, I was talking with my dear friend Martina about Christmas traditions… and she was telling me how her mother-in-law always bakes cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning.  That sent me right back to my childhood!  My mother did not have that particular tradition, but she did, occasionally, make the most delicious cinnamon rolls!  I only have to recall the delicious spicy smell that floated through our home and my mouth starts watering.

Now of course, I had not eaten a cinnamon rolls since I had to go gluten free in 2010.  Talking with Martina got me thinking that I just had to try and make some – it might be tricky, but surely it was possible?  So at the weekend, when I had a little time, I started searching the net for the perfect recipe.  I struggled a bit finding THE recipe that seemed just right for me, so I just decided to give it go, follow my instinct and try to come up with my own perfect mix…

Well, I have good news for you – it worked!  Not only is it possible – it is not that difficult and the cinnamon rolls turned out WONDERFUL!  Everyone liked them.  My husband – who can eat gluten – said they were “professional and delicious”.  Our daughters’ friend, who was with us when they came out of the oven, said they were “absolutely wonderful”.  We all loved them – and they did not last long in our kitchen!

So, here is the recipe (makes about 12 good-sized rolls):

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 500 g gluten free bread flour mix
• 25 g psyllium husk powder
• 5 g salt
• 100 g sugar
• 75 g butter (softened and cut in small cubes)
• 1 egg
• 7 g dry yeast
• 450 ml tepid water

For the filling:

• 150 g brown cane sugar
• 100 g butter
• 6 g cinnamon

For the icing:

• 150 g icing sugar
• 30 ml milk

Method:

• Place the water in a large bowl.  Add the yeast and sprinkle the surface with a little sugar.  Let it stand for about ten minutes until the yeast is activated (see Baking bread)
• Add – in that order – the sugar, butter, flour, psyllium husk powder, salt and egg.
• Mix well, until all the ingredients are properly combined.  I used my hand mixer with the dough hooks for this; if you have one, use it – it really helps combine everything well.
• Let the dough rise for about an hour.  It doesn’t rise much – don’t be surprised – but it should rise a little and become less compact.

• While it is rising, make the filling: place the butter, cane sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.  Put it into the microwave for less than a minute, just until the butter is sufficiently melted for you to combine all the ingredients well.

• Once the dough has risen, place it on a floured surface and roll it into a rectangle.  This is the trickiest bit.  You’ll need to flour your rolling pin too.  I put a piece of non-stick baking paper on the table, and floured that and it worked well.
• Spread the filling evenly onto the dough.
• Roll the dough on itself – as if you were making a Swiss roll.
• Slice the roll into fairly thick slices – I cut them about 1.5 cm (a little over half an inch)
• Place the slices into a non-stick baking tray, making sure you leave space in between the rolls, as they will rise again and expand.
• Let the rolls rise again for about half an hour.
• Bake in preheated oven for 35 minutes at 180°C.

Let your cinnamon rolls cool down completely before you ice them.

• For the icing, simply mix the icing sugar and milk and ice the rolls in whichever way you like.

Here are a few pictures of the different stages of production 🙂

Hope you enjoy them as much as we did!  I’ll be making them again, that’s for sure:-)