Cinnamon Rolls, it’s a Bing thing…

In baking and parenting you can be faced with a certain amount of monotony. Stamping tiny letters into 48 biscuits, although repetitive has a certain therapeutic element. Reading the Bing Bunny Bedtime book 48 times however does not.

One trick I used before my eldest was fully aware of the storyline was to edit stories for my own amusement (and sanity). One example;

‘Round the corner, not far away, Flops a bit hungover today…

“Ok Bing bathtime’s done, pyjamas are on, so what’s next?” asks Flop, secretly excited that bedtime is finally here after a long day of gentle parenting.

“HOPPITY VOOSH!” wails Bing. “I can’t find Hoppity”.

“Again?” replies Flop. “Honest to God, Bing it’s like literally every week! If I find him first he’s going in Brenda the blender.”

If you’ve ever watched Bing you’ll appreciate Flop as a model parent, and may want to channel your inner Flop to make these Cinnamon Rolls.

This is a sweet, enriched bread dough so not a quick bake. You may need a bit of patience waiting for the dough to prove but trust me they are well worth the extra time.

You will need a 10″ (or larger) cake tin or quiche dish, well greased.

Ingredients

7g or 1 sachet dried fast action yeast

450g strong white flour

1 egg

4 tablespoons sugar

50g melted butter

70ml warm milk

100ml warm water

For the filling

100g salted butter

150g brown sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

In a jug, combine the water, sugar and yeast, and sit for 5 minutes until the mixture becomes a bit frothy.

In a large bowl add half the flour and stir in the yeast mixture. Whilst stirring, add the milk, egg and melted butter. Add the rest of the flour and mix with your hands until a sticky dough forms.

Knead the dough for about ten minutes or until smooth. Kids are great dough kneaders and love getting involved in this but just be extra prepared for the web/slime-like stickiness of the dough. It’s like quicksand for little hands but great fun!

Pop back into the bowl and cover with a damp tea towel. Leave in a warm place for about an hour or until doubled in size.

In the meantime make your filling by mixing your butter, brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.

Roll your dough out to an oblong shape like below.

Spread the filling evenly over the dough and roll lengthways to a long sausage.

Cut 8 equal portions from your roll and arrange in a cake tin or quiche dish as per the below.

Cover and return to a warm place for 30 minutes or doubled again in size.

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Bake for 15 minutes or until golden.

If you want a bit of extra stickiness, drizzle icing over, made with 50g icing sugar and 1-2 tablespoons of water. But this is certainly optional.