The O-Zone

I found a recipe for Cinnamon Rolls on the internet and they were good, so now I’m playing with the recipe.

Grease a 9 inch glass pie pan and set it aside; pre-heat oven to 375F.

Step one:   Wash and dry an organic Orange, and then finely grate the orange peel, collecting approximately 1 Tablespoon of peel in a bowl – set aside

Step two:  Cream together 2 Tablespoons margarine or butter with 1/4 cup white sugar, and then add the grated orange peel

Step three:  Heat 2/3 cup of almond milk to 110F – add to it 1/4 cup of canola oil, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1 large egg.  Beat to combine.

Step four:  Add the milk mixture to the butter/sugar/orange peel mixture and whisk thoroughly.  Add 1 Tablespoon dry yeast and whisk again

Step five:  Combine 1/2 cup potato starch, 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons corn starch, 2-1/2 teaspoons xantham gum, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda.  Stir to combine.

Step six:  Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and whisk to combine as much as possible, and then use a large heavy spatula to make sure everything is mixed well.  The dough will be very soft.

Step seven:  Cover a breadboard with plastic wrap; sprinkle with some white sugar.  Place the ball of dough in the middle of the board, and sprinkle with a teaspoon of corn starch.  Cover with more plastic wrap and then roll it out with a rolling pin to about 12 inches square.

Step eight:  Mix 1/2 cup brown sugar with 1 teaspoon (scant) cinnamon.  Sprinkle this evenly on the flat dough, leaving 1/2 inch margin clear on the edge of the dough.  Sprinkle raisins around.

Step nine:  Using the edge of the plastic wrap closest to you, start rolling the dough up until it is in a tube.

Step ten:  Cut the tube in half and then cut each half into four even slices.  They will be around an inch wide, give or take a bit.  Place the slices into the prepared pie pan.

Step eleven (optional step):  Put the pie pan in the oven.  Drop the contents of the pan into the bottom of the oven.  Curse a little.  Turn off the oven and the smoke alarm.  Remove the mess from the bottom of the oven as much as possible given the fact it’s very hot.  Open the windows in the kitchen.  Console the cat who is sure the world just ended.  Clean the oven, and the rest of the dishes.  Repeat steps one through ten, and skip the whole dropping into the oven.

Make some icing while the rolls are baking for 23 minutes:

Combined 1 Tablespoon soft margarine or butter with 3/4 cup of powdered sugar and fresh orange juice from the orange you just used to make orange zest.  Drizzle over the rolls when they emerge from the oven.

The first time I tried this experiment with the original recipe, I didn’t have any fresh oranges, so I used orange extract.  That was awful!!!!!  Don’t do that.