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It seems to me that there is an overabundance of successful cooking stories on the web, as if no one ever makes anything that doesn't turn out as expected. Here is one for the history books!

When I saw this recipe last spring I immediately went out and bought the cookbook from whence it came. I was familiar with the group who put the recipes together and liked the idea of having a lighter take on some American classics. For some reason I never got around to making these cinnamon rolls until this weekend, and I'm glad I didn't. It gave me the opportunity to find plenty of other recipes to love in the collection, but this recipe for Everyday Cinnamon Rolls is not one of them.

I should have known that there would be problems when they used the word "shaggy" to describe the dough. I can't figure out how shaggy would ever apply to something soft and pliant like dough, but I was nonetheless prepared for the stickiness. I decided to use a little extra all-purpose flour (and ended up using an additional 100 g) in order to get the dough looking like something other than a lumpy batter, but I was afraid to use too much lest the cinnamon rolls turn out hard and dry. I managed to get some globs of dough into the pan for some free-form buns, but in the end they were a miserable failure. They tasted overly of whole wheat and were way too sweet with the icing.

Having looked at a few other recipes for cinnamon rolls I note that most have a liquid to flour ratio along the lines of 1:4, where as these are more like 1:2. That would explain the stickiness, but not necessarily the taste. My flour is fairly new, leftover from last month's holiday bake-off, so I don't know what went wrong.

All I can say is that I will stick to yeast in the future. If you are looking for an easy recipe for tasty cinnamon rolls, I can recommend Heidi Swanson's take on a Scandinavian classic (kanelsnurrer). I've made them several times and they are very forgiving and adaptable.

Voigtländer Bessa R2m
ЮПИТЕР-8 50mm F2
EKTAR 100

In a secret cubbyhole at United Bakeries at Paleet in Oslo. The note says:

"Curious? There is a lady buried under a tree in the castle park. This lady was murdered in August, 1982. Her hand carries a sign: a copper-colored medallion. This medallion points the way to her murderer and to her secret treasure. Good luck!"

I love that this note was written more than a year ago and is still floating around the cafe. It brought some much needed humor to my otherwise joyless Christmas shopping. The crowds are killing me!

Norway's next food crisis?

Julens bakst er i gang med hjemmelagt smør!