I'm a girl with a new job, crazy hormones, and conflicted thoughts.
I'm a girl that made pies and bread for Thanksgiving, third-wheeled my weekend away, and quietly seethed about the immaturity of this generation of young males. And females. And...everyone.
Shawow, somebody's moody.
High school problems. Very much synonymous with first world problems.
Thanksgiving happened, and I've been saying my thanks! I've not just been a whiny wuss. Sort of. Kind of. Not really.
Alright! Let's talk about muffins. Can we do that? Yes? Good.
I love a traditional yeast-y, gooey, lovely cinnamon roll as much as the next person, but I'm starting to realize (with this whole consistent work schedule stuff) that free time is kind of...limited. And hard to come by. WOAH real life.
And when it starts getting dark at fricken 4:00, and it gets harder to take pictures and...and blog...and stuff. Consequently, waiting on your dough for 4 hours isn't always something you can easily squeeze into your agenda.
So let's do this. Let's make a bowl of sticky, yeast-free dough. Let's knead it (flour is your best friend), then skip the whole let rise for freaking forever in a warm (HA) place. Instead, we're just gonna roll it out. We're going to pile on butter, sugar, and spices, and roll it up. We're going to stuff the rolls into muffin tins, and they will not be set aside to rise, but will go straight into the mouth of the oven.
Quick, soft, gooey-center, bubbling spice goodness...and just a little crazy lookin'. That's where we're at, and it's a good place to be.
I'm going to go on a social networking/texting/calling/communicatingwiththeoutsideworldinanyform hiatus for a few hours...and I might just take a plate of these with me.
No-Yeast Cinnamon Roll Muffins
Yield: 12 muffins
Ingredients for the muffins:
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- A few dashes of freshly-grated nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 egg
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 3 cups flour, plus more as needed
Ingredients for the filling:
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- A few dashed of freshly-grated nutmeg
Ingredients for the glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons milk or cream
Directions:
Place oven racks in the center and bottom of the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin pan, set aside. Take a cookie sheet and place it on the bottom rack, this will catch any drips from the oozing muffins.
In a medium bowl, stir together the brown sugar, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, vanilla, egg, and buttermilk with a fork. Add the flour and stir together with a large spoon until well incorporated.
Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead for a few minutes, until the dough has come together and is no longer extremely sticky, adding more flour as necessary to achieve this texture.
Roll the dough into a 12x24-inch rectangle. Spread on the softened butter and sprinkle with the sugar and spices.
Roll
the dough into a log and stretch slightly until it reaches about 24 inches in length. Cut into 12 two-inch pieces and
put the pieces into the greased muffin tins. You may have to press down on them slightly, so they fill out the tin better.
Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cool, whisk together the powdered sugar and milk in a small bowl. Drizzle over the muffins. Store in an airtight container.
Sources: adapted from The Baker Chick, originally from The Comfort of Cooking
