Homemade cinnamon rolls are by far one my favorite treats. I usually associate them with cold snowy days, what better way to spend the morning than cuddled up in a blanket with a book, hot coffee and a warm gooey cinnamon roll right out the oven?
Speaking of snow days. I have always lived on the east coast and in a place that gets snow. During my elementary years I was in upstate New York, roughly 30 miles south of Canada. Does anyone remember the blizzard of ’93 – I do, it fell on my 10th birthday party – everyone had to leave early so that they weren’t snowed in at our house. We got 6ft of snow! I feel bad for people like my husband who grew up in Southern California and never experienced the snow day excitement as a kid. There was nothing better than hearing “school closed” on the radio and then spending the day in a full snowsuit as you played outside – carefully scheduling bathroom breaks with snack times to avoid the getting-undressed-process.
He understands it now as we still anxiously await to hear if work is closed but he missed out on the first 20 years. I love snowy days and the nostalgia it brings.
This winter in DC the snowy days were hard to come by. The first snow I missed it because I was working my internship in the restaurant. Then the second snow was in the middle of MARCH! I had high hopes that we would get a snow day from work so I could cuddle up with a cinnamon roll – however that dream was shattered the next morning when I woke up to no day off, I did work from home so I suppose that is still a cinnamon roll win.
I make my cinnamon rolls a little unique. Using my favorite cinnamon roll recipe, I drizzle peanut butter icing on top instead of the traditional icing. I stole this idea from a bakery near my grandma’s house. As a kid, and even now as an adult, I love their cinnamon swirl doughnuts with peanut butter icing.
It’s simple really, just powdered sugar, a couple scoops of peanut butter and milk. Slowly add the milk in and whisk until it’s all fully combined. The more milk you use the thinner the icing will be. I usually eye-ball it but I would say for every 1 cup of powdered sugar you will want 4-5 spoon scoops of peanut butter and 4-6 Tbsp of milk. You want it to be a smooth runny consistency like pouring hot molasses or honey. I usually do a taste test and add in more of whatever is missing – keeping the consistency the same, so more milk will be necessary, if you add in more sugar or peanut butter.
Then I pour the peanut butter icing over the hot cinnamon rolls right when they come out of the oven…
