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Cinnamon Bun
2 tablespoons butter 4 tablespoons sugar 2 eggs 1 pint flour 3 teaspoons baking powder Milk to make soft dough Butter Sugar Cinnamon Syrup molasses Currants Beat the butter and sugar to a cream; add the eggs; then the baking powder and flour which have been sifted together, alternately with the milk. Have the dough as soft as it is possible to roll out. Place it on a pie board well dusted with flour; roll out about one fourth of an inch in thickness; spread thickly with sugar, cinnamon, currants and syrup molasses; then carefully roll the dough into one long roll; cut into buns about one inch high and place them rather closely in a greased pan. Bake in a moderate oven.
A quick bun raised with baking powder rather than yeast, so the dough goes together and into the oven in one sitting. The whole thing hangs on keeping the dough as soft as it will bear.
- A pint of flourFlour was measured by volume: a pint is 2 cups, roughly 8 to 9 oz of all-purpose flour. Sift it with the baking powder as directed, since the leavening needs to be evenly dispersed in what is a very wet dough.
- Soft as it is possible to rollThis is the hinge. The milk is deliberately unmeasured because flour absorbency varies; add it until the dough is barely manageable, tacky and slack. A stiff dough here bakes into a dry, scone-like bun.
- Moderate ovenRoughly 350 to 375F. Baking powder buns of this size take about 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are set and lightly coloured and the spiral centres no longer look wet.
- Syrup molassesMost likely a light, mild table molasses or cane syrup rather than blackstrap. Golden syrup or light molasses is the closest match; blackstrap will overwhelm the cinnamon and darken the crumb.
- CurrantsDried Zante currants, the small seedless raisin, not fresh red or black currants. They benefit from a brief soak in hot water and thorough draining so they do not scorch on the exposed cut ends.
- Placed rather closelyCrowding is intentional: the buns support each other as they rise and stay soft on the sides. An 8- or 9-inch round or square pan suits the batch.
- YieldAbout a dozen buns, depending on how thin the sheet is rolled. Best eaten the day they are baked, as chemically leavened doughs stale faster than yeasted ones.
- The section headingThis page appears under Frozen Desserts, which does not correspond to anything in the recipe. Nothing here is chilled or frozen.
Cinnamon buns of this sort belong to a large American family of rolled, spiced sweet breads that runs from the Pennsylvania German Schnecken ("snails," named for the spiral) through the plainer teatime buns of English tradition. What marks this version as turn-of-the-century domestic cookery is the leavening: baking powder in place of yeast, which turns an afternoon's project into a half-hour one and reflects how far chemical leaveners had come to supplement sponge-and-dough methods in the home kitchen by 1900, though yeast breads remained standard.