One of the many things that I rave about my sister, Andrea, is that the girl can cook. As in, "Hot damn! Are these the Nobu seared scallops with jalapeno sauce?! You made these?!" She has mastered how to make the perfect steak and potatoes, replicate many of her favorite high end restaurant dishes, and lucky for us, takes requests from our family. Most impressively, Dre, as I call her, makes most of her magic happen in what she describes as the 'busted kitchen' - old, ugly, and falling apart - that came as is when she bought her fixer upper home.
With this unprecedented 'Covid Season,' where as a family who is quarantining together has adopted the 'let's bake A LOT' attitude, I love that after who knows how many pleas, Dre let me document the making of one of her masterpieces. Like the times we are in, it's about using our resources, as little or as much as they may be, to get by: thank you busted kitchen for giving Andrea the space to get creative to share her love for us through food! Thank you baking for giving us an activity we do collectively (I mixed the frosting, thanks!) and thank you Andrea for taking my request for these Cinnabon copycat cinnamon rolls and for letting me post these photos when we never had any intention in sharing them ha!
Stay home, be kind, and don’t worry about that summer body cause cinnamon rolls trump everything! - Evelyn
There is not one cinnamon roll recipe that calls for throwing the dough in the air, however I asked Dre to do so for dramatic effect. Give it some oomph into the air, girl!
While she let the dough rise, she made the cream cheese frosting that I eventually mixed: my contribution to this project! Ha!
Dre always reminds me that baking is a science: everything really should be exact, even the length of the rolled dough hence the measuring tape!
Ladies and gentlemen, the before, above. Below, THE AFTER. Perfectly crisp, smelling like heaven aka cinnamon sugar.
Viola, homies! Look at those gooey, swirly, crisp on the outside, doughy but not undercooked middle, cinnamon rolls, MADE WITH LOVE.
