Cinnamon Rolls

After looming menacingly in the too-near future for the last couple of months, Labor Day is finally here. There are some truly awful things about Labor Day, but the days getting cold enough that it's not physical torture to have the oven on is not one of them. Fall flavors combined with a subtle nip in the air are enough to bring what I like to refer to as "baking season" into full swing. My latest project was cinnamon rolls. I love baking your average chocolate chip cookie, but there's something way more fun about a baking project that you have to shape.

Ingredients:

Dough:

2 free-range eggs
3/4 cup warm water
1 package active dry yeast
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup pecan flour
2 tablespoons white sugar
1/2 cup grass-fed butter

Filling:

1/4 cup grass-fed butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/4 cup raisins
1 teaspoon white sugar

Icing:

1/2 cup maple sugar (any sugar will do, but I find that maple crystallizes nicely)
1 tablespoon potato or tapioca starch
2-3 teaspoons grass-fed milk

Directions:

1. Beat eggs in a medium bowl. Add warm water and yeast and stir until everything is dissolved. Refrigerate for ten minutes.

2. In a larger bowl, mix flours, white sugar, and butter, blending until you get coarse crumbs. Make a well in the center and pour in yeast mixture. Knead the resulting dough on a floured surface for about two minutes. Roll dough into a ball, adding a little oil if it doesn't hold together, and place in a lightly greased bowl. Chill for at least two hours.

3. When you're ready to bake your cinnamon rolls, preheat your over to 350 and take the dough out of the fridge. Roll the dough out on a floured surface into a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick.

4. In a medium bowl, mix the filling ingredients. Brush the dough with butter and sprinkle the sugar mixture over it. Then roll up your dough tightly, and cut the roll into 1-inch slices with a serrated knife.

5. Place rolls about two inches apart on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 22 minutes.

6. While your cinnamon rolls are baking, mix the sugar and starch together and slowly add milk a teaspoon at a time until it is the consistency of icing. Wait until your rolls have cooled to drizzle icing over the tops.