Cinnamon Swirl Buns (from Cuisinart)

Rohan's early birthday present for me - a Cuisinart® Stand Mixer. We've been adoring them in stores for years - I've wanted one for so long. It's a thing of beauty, but like most kitchen tools we have chosen for what it can do. It was immediately put to work making a batch of chocolate chip cookies with Hannah, then swirling out some rigatoni for Sunday dinner.


First I have to come to terms with the fact that this machine can knead for me. I don't think I'll ever give up kneading by hand, but will find some balance with this new kitchen companion. The mixer came with its own recipe book, which I decided was a good place to start. A tasty lesson in mixer kneading began with
Cinnamon Swirl Buns.
What attracted me most to this recipe was the addition of sour cream in the dough. Absolutely delicious. The dough has a nice tangy flavour, buttery, and sweet. I let the dough hook do the work while I prepped some Sweet Potato Soup.

eggs and yeast

The dough proofed for about an hour and a half, but had I more time I would have let it go a little longer. (We were interrupted and rushed for a hockey game, Parent's vs Kids, Rohan's first time playing hockey, second time on skates - ever). I actually took advantage of the note at the bottom of the recipe that suggests you can put the cut rolls, in their baking dish, in the fridge overnight - to have fresh baked buns in the morning so long as you take them out of the fridge an hour before baking for that final proof. Only I didn't bake our the next morning, but when we returned home from the hockey game (and pizza & beer). They were ready to eat around 12:30am, long after Hannah went to bed and long after we really wanted to eat. The house smelled divine as we fell asleep.
I suppose the fridge trick worked, but the next time I make these buns (maybe later today) I want to have no interruptions in the proofing, to see if they poof a little more. They were soft, but dense, and I'd like to try to make them lighter.
I used 50% more of the sugar and cinnamon mixture, purposely..because I like my cinnamon buns infused and dripping with sugary-cinnamony goodness.

The dough, divided in half, rolled with cinnamon and sugar, then sliced into fifteen cinnamon swirls, repeated with the second half of the dough = 30 somewhat sinful cinnamon swirl buns.

I followed the icing recipe using the cream cheese - next time I will leave out the cheese so that Therese can have a bun. :)

The 1:00am Cinnamon Swirl Bun