sunday mornings
Andrea
The Sunday mornings of my childhood were lazily spent at the farm table in our kitchen under a classic stained glass lamp that still hangs in the exact same spot, over the exact same table. The pantry door would be swung open wide, the small t.v. hidden inside providing the morning soundtrack - Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt. I'd fish through the stack of papers on the table until the Sunday comics surfaced, and after devouring those would peruse the classified ads, always looking for the perfect pet pony or a yorkshire terrier for my momma.
The smells that accompanied these mornings were varied but always indulgent. Sometimes we'd have flakey buttermilk biscuits with sliced ham and provolone, or my daddy would fry up eggs that we'd sop up with buttered toast alongside lil' smokies or pan-fried bacon. And some mornings there were cinnamon rolls or even better, orange danishes. Popped from a can, baked for 15-18 minutes and then slathered with glaze - those Sunday breakfasts were my favorites.
These days, now that I'm all grown up (some might argue with the truth of that, even me...) Sunday mornings are still somewhat lazy and indulgent. Saturdays are started early, sometimes with a long run, and always (during the season) with a trip to the farmer's market for breakfast and the week's produce before embarking on the day's agenda full of errands, chores and projects. Saturdays are busy and productive, the perfect justification for the extra 30 minutes in bed on Sunday mornings and the indulgent breakfasts that typically follow once my feet hit the floor.
And even better than my extra 30 minutes in bed is the fact that Brian typically requires an extra 2 hours in bed on Sundays, leaving me with the kitchen all to myself. This is my baking time. I wake up to a quiet house and kick the dogs out to the back yard to ensure that it remains quiet. I clean up any leftover dishes from the night before while going through breakfast ideas in my head. This is the time when new pancake, biscuit and scone recipes are realized. This is the time when I finally get to try out a recipe I've had bookmarked for quite some time, one that takes me right back to my childhood even though the lamp, reading material and soundtrack have changed.
These cinnamon rolls were delicious, certainly a step up from the canned variety although they take about 3 times as long to prepare. I substituted spelt flour for some of the all-purpose and loved the extra flavor that the whole grains provided. I've become a big fan of spelt flour lately, experimenting with Wiggs' cookies from on high (post to come soon) and these biscuits, with fabulous results. I've noted my other substitutions below.
The original Cook's Illustrated recipe can be found here, via Leite's Culinaria. I made a few exceptions [I can't help it!].
The smells that accompanied these mornings were varied but always indulgent. Sometimes we'd have flakey buttermilk biscuits with sliced ham and provolone, or my daddy would fry up eggs that we'd sop up with buttered toast alongside lil' smokies or pan-fried bacon. And some mornings there were cinnamon rolls or even better, orange danishes. Popped from a can, baked for 15-18 minutes and then slathered with glaze - those Sunday breakfasts were my favorites.
These days, now that I'm all grown up (some might argue with the truth of that, even me...) Sunday mornings are still somewhat lazy and indulgent. Saturdays are started early, sometimes with a long run, and always (during the season) with a trip to the farmer's market for breakfast and the week's produce before embarking on the day's agenda full of errands, chores and projects. Saturdays are busy and productive, the perfect justification for the extra 30 minutes in bed on Sunday mornings and the indulgent breakfasts that typically follow once my feet hit the floor.
And even better than my extra 30 minutes in bed is the fact that Brian typically requires an extra 2 hours in bed on Sundays, leaving me with the kitchen all to myself. This is my baking time. I wake up to a quiet house and kick the dogs out to the back yard to ensure that it remains quiet. I clean up any leftover dishes from the night before while going through breakfast ideas in my head. This is the time when new pancake, biscuit and scone recipes are realized. This is the time when I finally get to try out a recipe I've had bookmarked for quite some time, one that takes me right back to my childhood even though the lamp, reading material and soundtrack have changed.
These cinnamon rolls were delicious, certainly a step up from the canned variety although they take about 3 times as long to prepare. I substituted spelt flour for some of the all-purpose and loved the extra flavor that the whole grains provided. I've become a big fan of spelt flour lately, experimenting with Wiggs' cookies from on high (post to come soon) and these biscuits, with fabulous results. I've noted my other substitutions below.
The original Cook's Illustrated recipe can be found here, via Leite's Culinaria. I made a few exceptions [I can't help it!].
- I used 1 cup of spelt flour and 1-1/2 cups of all-purpose flour.
- I substituted turbinado sugar for all of the sugar in the dough (but still used confectioner's for the glaze)
- I used 3/4 tsp baking soda rather than 1/2 tsp