Super easy no yeast Cinnabuns

I've been baking again and my ass isn't overly happy about it (though my tastebuds are rejoicing)... Last weekend when I was back home visiting the family, I was having fun with the bread maker and got it in my head that I wanted to make cinnbuns. It took 2 attempts but I finally got them made. They didn't turn out exactly like I wanted them to but it got me thinking about when I was just a kid and our babysitter used to make these awesome cinnabuns in the mornings. I remember that it wasn't a rising dough, that she would basically just roll 'em out and then put them in the oven. My brother and I reminisced over those buns and it got me wanting to make some...

I scoured the internets and found this recipe. I tried it out tonight (even though I totally spaced on the first attempt and added WAY too much milk) and the results were echoes of my childhood. Instead of raisins and pecans I used dried cranberries and a sprinkling of crushed walnuts (that's all I had in my pantry) but either way they are awesome.



These cinnamon rolls are a little faster to make than most, with no rising time.
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients:

* 1/4 cup plus 1 1/2 teaspoons shortening
* 3 cups self-rising flour (if you don't have this, just add a pinch of salt and 1.25 tsp of baking powder for every cup of flour used.)
* 1 cup milk
* 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
* 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
* 3/4 cup chopped pecans (optional)
* 1/2 cup raisins (optional)
* .
* Vanilla Glaze:
* 1 1/4 cups sifted powdered sugar
* 3 tablespoons milk
* 1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation:
Cut shortening into flour with pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 1 cup milk, stirring until dry ingredients are moistened. Add a bit more milk if you need to to get it all sticking together. Turn dough out onto a floured surface; knead lightly.

Roll dough into a 20x14-inch rectangle; spread the softened butter on dough, leaving a border of about 1/2-inch. Combine sugar and cinnamon; mix well, and sprinkle over butter. Top with pecans and raisins, if using. Beginning at long side, roll up jelly roll fashion; press edges and ends together securely. Cut into 1 inch slices; place cut side down in a buttered 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Bake at 375? for 20 to 25 minutes.

Combine powdered sugar and 3 tablespoon milk and vanilla; drizzle over warm rolls. Makes 20 cinnamon rolls.

Halloween in Ottawa

I got to spend Halloween up in Ottawa this year - it was great!

About a month ago Meg texted me telling me that Wylie was giving her a hard time about his costume for Halloween. She had either a Winnie the Pooh costume or a Thomas the Tank Engine costume to work with. He wanted to be Scooby Doo. I told her to tell him that I was coming for Halloween and that I was afraid of Scooby Doo and that he should be Winnie the Pooh instead. She asked me if I could tell him that myself and I said sure. So Wylie called me and after much convincing, it was decided that he would be Winnie the Pooh and I would be Tigger.

I wasn't totally sure how I'd come up with a Tigger costume but luckily Meg found a tiger hat that would work and I rounded up my Mom's old halloween shirt (bright orange with a jack o lantern face on it)that I cut out a fuzzy yellow "belly" and duct taped it on. Black electrical tape became the stripes on the sleeves. Meg had a donkey hat and some grey pants and a grey shirt and she became Eeyore. Oddly, Wylie kept pronouncing Eeyore as "Eerie-O". Strange kid.

Afterwards I took off to meet up with SC and go to a party with some friends from Henry's. She'd contacted me previously and wondered whether I wanted to be part of a 2 part costume. I said sure and then was informed that I was to become Charlie Brown and she was going to be the Kite Eating Tree. I'm not much of a Peanuts fan and actually had to look this up...

The party was great - got to see a bunch of friends that I haven't seen in a long while. There was a few awkward moments involving a certain someone who wasn't overly impressed with me and the situation when Dave and I got back together. Thankfully nothing terrible happened and it was a great night overall.

Drove back to London on Sunday afternoon and made it back in good time - about 6 hours. It was weird being all alone in the car since the last time I drove back and forth myself was about 2 years ago.