Last year during summer we were sitting at a bar on a beach and  my brother posted this picture of us on Facebook with the tag ” sitting on the beach, drinking Jack and coke”

His picture sparked some interesting comments from his friends. One of them even quoted Bible verses. The reality of the situation wasn’t that we are a bunch of drunks who only value partying but rather that I haven’t seen my brother for almost half a year despite living in the same country. In addition we only get 5 days vacation  in Summer ,which includes the weekend, generally we work long hours and don’t even have Fridays as part of our weekends. Having Jack in Coke is considered a luxury here in Korea since the alcohol is imported an generally fetches the ‘lovely’ price of $8. We managed to get a little restaurant in the street where our apartment was that sold the drink for really cheap.

For us it was a special moment because we were enjoying a relaxing weekend with the people we love most, while other people would rather quickly jump to conclusions and judge others as vain or say that they don’t value the small things in life. This whole experience was about family and not the beach nor the booze. We did enjoy ourselves, yes, but no one knows how hard we have to work and save to be able to do these things, and although they only see the good times, people don’t really post about the bad times, when you’re all alone in a foreign country, or how hard they have to work to have an enjoyable time when they finally get a break.

Happy New year!!! I’m sure by now everyone has made some new years resolutions and you have already been working towards them. One of my resolutions is to follow a healthier lifestyle, therefore these Cinnamon buns/rolls was my last refined sugar fuelled breakfast… for a few weeks at least 😀

Some of my other resolutions this year is to plan ahead. Too often I just jump into things without planning, especially when it comes to events or trips. This leaves me either spending all my money in one weekend or realising that what I want to do is too expensive and then I end up not doing it or not buying something I really want. For example a few months ago I saw a gorgeous Armani bomber jacket for $570, I reckoned that if I save $100 every month I’ll be able to buy it before the end of winter…. so guess what???… after 3 months I still don’t have the money nor the jacket and I can’t even tell you what I did with my money, that’s the worst of it 😦

I thinks those are the two main resolutions in addition I have some plans for my blog, I’ve been doing a lot of food posts over the last month and they’ve been doing exceptionally well, so I want to keep doing that, but I also want to share other aspects of my life with you, including my fashion style, some party DIY stuff and home improvements. I hope you will bare with me through the next chapter of my blog. 😀

Giant Cinnamon Rolls

I followed this amazing recipe from Sally’s baking addiction if you want to have a look at what she did there. These Giant cinnamon rolls are easily the best rolls I’ve ever had. The dough is kind of sour yet it melts in your mouth. Baked rolls can also be frozen and heated in the microwave for about 2 minutes for an easy breakfast.

INGREDIENTS

DOUGH

• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2/3 cup  granulated sugar
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons  active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup  unsalted butter,  room temperature and cut into 4 pieces
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour , plus more for dusting/rolling

FILLING

• 6 Tablespoons (90g) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup  granulated sugar
• 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon

CREAM CHEESE ICING

•  1/4 cup or 56g full-fat cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 Tablespoons  unsalted butter,  room temperature
• 1 and 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Making the dough

(you can use a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment. I did everything manually)

In a sauce pan heat the buttermilk on a low heat, until it starts to break apart then remove from the heat. Pour it into a mixing bowl and manually add the sugar and yeast. Cover and let it rest for 5 minutes until the yeast is foamy. Next add the eggs one at a time and add the salt. Then add the butter. The butter will remain in pieces as it doesn’t mix very well. Mix for about 5 minutes, then turn the dough out on a floured surface and knead with your hands for about 1 minute.

After kneading you can form the dough into a ball and put it in a creased bowl to rise double in size. Remember to cover you dough with a towel or some plastic wrap to keep it from drying out. Since its really cold here and my dough never rise, I took Sally’s advice and turned on my oven for 10 minutes, when the timer ran out I placed the dough in the warm oven for 2 hours. I had to follow this step again after 1 hour, so I took the dough out of the oven, heated it for 10 minutes which after I placed the dough back in the oven for another hour.

Since my oven is really small I greased two 6×8 inch baking dishes. I then rolled out the dough in a 10×16 inch rectangle.

Making the filling. I melted the butter and  covered the dough with the melted butter making sure to cover it evenly. Then I mixed the sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkled it on top of the melted butter until the dough was covered in cinnamon sugar. I then rolled it into a log and cut the log into 8 pieces. I then  placed the rolls in the 2 dishes and covered it with plastic ,then allowed the dough to rise for about 2 hours using the same method with the oven, as above.

After the dough doubled in size, I took them out of the oven. Then I preheated the oven to 375°F (191°C) while I removed the plastic from the baking dish. I baked the rolls for 25 minutes, around 15 minutes I placed a piece of foil on top of the rolls so they wouldn’t burn on top.

I took them out of the oven and prepared the icing by creaming the butter and cream cheese together, and adding the confectioners sugar and vanilla extract. Using a spoon I spread the icing over the warm rolls so that it can melt into the cinnamon roll.