When my husband had some uh bonus awesome free time this summer he developed the curious habit of running without being chased* which led to him running his first 5K a few weeks ago. To celebrate we had people over for a little New York brunch (that’s bagels and lox no not homemade not when they’re this good) back at our apartment and still trying to get out of our overzealous apple picking I made apple cinnamon rolls. I didn’t think they were a big deal; I mean they were pretty good just a standard cinnamon roll with two small sliced apples sprinkled on top of the filling but it turns out you can’t just post homemade apple cinnamon rolls on the internet without causing a PLEASE RECIPE frenzy. I should know.
| Channel | Publish Date | Thumbnail & View Count | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|
 Food Network | 2017-08-17 14:00:02 |  33,893 Views |
Smitten Kitchen Challah Breakfast Rolls | Smitten Kitchen | Food Network
I fully intended to share the recipe (although technically I just did) but the only thing more worrisome than having more apples than you can fit in your apartment is the day they run out which happened before I had the chance. And then October turned into November and I started thinking about Thanksgiving which basically leads to me bringing home an absurd barely feasible haul of assorted winter squash cabbage Brussels sprouts potatoes and baskets of fresh cranberries without even coming up with a recipe for them. [This morning's repeated haul is now staring back at me from the dining room table as if to say: Shouldn't you just be working on us and not talking to your friends on your laptop again? What a pain in the ass!]
Until recently I was convinced that the combination of cranberries and orange was almost doomed to death since the breakfast world has been under siege for at least a decade by stale muffins and scones made with unpleasantly dried cranberries (i.e. cranberries plus sugar and oil and a hefty helping of sulphites yum) and a metallic orangey look that's best avoided. But when I started dreaming of a seasonal take on cinnamon rolls that I'd ridiculously love to serve at a brunch/lunch/party in November/December or maybe just because it's the weekend and you really like your housemates I realized that I desperately wanted to save these flavors from mediocrity. I've found that the best way to do this is to work exclusively with fresh or frozen cranberries and skip the orange juice (which is too easily lost in baked goods) in favor of the zest.
But this was the kind of recipe I knew would take a few goes to get right; fresh cranberries can be tricky (they’re very tart) and I wasn’t convinced that even the zest of a whole orange would match the intensity of the cranberries. Plus when I went to bake them the bottom of the pan was covered in cranberry juice a sure sign of impending disaster. I promised a few friends I’d bring the “ruined” ones home with me so I could quickly start a more successful batch. But when they came out of the oven and I had one I held them closer to my body and glared across the room as if I were afraid someone was going to snatch them from me (especially ridiculous since I was alone). My mind raced with possibilities: Wait should I share these? Would anyone know? Why did I promise this to my friends?!
