Cinnamon Rolls: Part Deux

My wonderful partner decided to try his hands at making homemade cinnamon rolls again Saturday morning. Oh… my… gawd… were they delicious.

A few alterations was apparently all it took to take a basic dough and turn it into manna from heaven. Of course, making the full batch rather than halving it made a huge difference as it filled the pan much better and allowed the edges to touch, rather than dry out from over-baking. Basically it was the same recipe as before, but with a few minor improvements we talked about a few days ago, like brown sugar instead of white and a heavily whipped cream cheese frosting instead of sweet icing. Sometimes just a couple tweaks is all it takes.

So why is that? Well, from what I’ve gathered, most cookbooks are great places to start from. They usually are formulated to appeal to the widest range of people, and therefore can sometimes be a little bland or lacking for people with more discriminating tastes. There are exceptions, no doubt, and I have a ton of cookbooks I’ve used recipes from without alterations, but a majority require either a little ingenuity and a lot of experience cooking and baking to know what you can and shouldn’t do.

You see, cooking should be an expression of yourself, and the same theory applies to baking. If you are making a dish that traditionally isn’t spicy but you like spice and the dish will lend itself beautifully to a bit of heat, try it. You may want to test it on a small portion just in case it tastes ass-nasty, but really, trust your gut instincts. When he made the first batch of cinnamon rolls, his gut told him to follow the recipe, which whenever trying something new, I always agree that you should start with what it says to do. That way you have a starting point to work from. Does it need more salt? Is it not sweet enough or perhaps a little too sweet for your tastes?

Cooking and baking is all about experimenting. There isn’t a recipe out there that wasn’t created from trial and error, so who says you can’t continue the experiment after someone has gone and published it in a book? But the best thing about cooking and baking, is that you can get the whole family involved. I’m not saying this will be easy or anywhere near as clean and neat as you might cook, but the memories you make together will stick with those kids for a lifetime. I know the ones where my parents (all of them) spent with me and maybe my siblings cooking together or making cookies have probably shaped the reason I love working in the kitchen today. Why not make a few memories of your own?