Such lovely buns!

Cinnamon buns were a success I'd say. There are some things I would do differently next time but overall I'm pleased with the result and how I didn't panic or anything.

When I first dumped the dough out after its second rising it looked like this:

Weep-womp! It was super gooey and while Henry's wife warned it would still be a "light batter" and not to make it too stiff with more flour, I ended up adding probably almost 2 more cups of flour to be able to even pat it flat, let alone roll it. It was a relief that it got there, at least. I think it could have used less flour than I ended up putting in, but not by a lot.

Once it was flat and vaguely rectangular I spread the butter. The recipe didn't say, but taking a cue from the other recipes I looked at, I melted the butter first. The recipe also had the afterthought of raisins and nuts... add them too! Um, ok! Being proud of myself for having read the whole recipe before starting I chose to add them to the middle. I saved some extra nuts for the topping but forgot to use them, whoops. The only downside so far is I used the last of my fancy cinnamon from The Spice Shop in Chicago. So sad. On the other hand, I resisted adding red curry or some other not-called-for spice, just for fun. Go me.

It rolled up fairly nicely but nothing compared to the Pioneer Woman's. :) I don't think it matters much in the long run. I made a huge mess of the counter in the process. Yay!

I wonder if there's a trick to cutting them where they don't get all squashed like this, like you use vinegar to keep your sushi rice from sticking to the knife. There may be, I just don't know it. By this point I was feeling pretty good about it all. This recipe doesn't use a frosting, which I appreciate. Cinnamon buns are always too sweet. This one has a topping that you put in the bottom of the pan, and then put the buns on top to bake.

I left them in the oven a little too long, just a couple of minutes. No real harm but they would have been less bready if I'd gotten them on time.

And here they are inverted and plated:

Mmmm. The topping has a glob of light syrup in it, which cooks up to a crispy outer coating as the buns bake. It's all caramel in your mouth, mmm. I took the plate over to the neighbor's for dessert and they were pronounced delicious. There were 2 pans so what was left stayed there and we dug into the other pan this morning for 2nd breakfast. Good and not too cloying. I approve. We have one in the freezer too to test how they warm back up. A little stash of cinnamon buns in the freezer sounds lovely.