Part 2, Molly Yeh's Overnight Tahini Cinnamon Rolls
Anyone have an 8x11" baking dish lying around?
First of all, who the hell has an 8x11” baking dish lying around? It’s narrow and weird and hard to find in a department store kitchen section.
My journey to master one batch of cinnamon rolls continues…
At the last minute, I decided to make Molly Yeh’s, enhanced with Middle Eastern ingredients and flavors, like tahini and pistachios (I left out the dukkah), again — for bible study yesterday.
I even got the proportions mostly right (Math is not my strong suit), using thick, unflavored dental floss to cut through the stuffed, rolled dough. She makes eight, but gives instructions for 12 if you only have the regular, 9x11” baking pan.
I should’ve made 12, the more the merrier, but I really wanted to try to stick to the recipe as much as I could. The only problem was the spacing.
I should’ve made nine.
My issue has always been measuring/cutting exact proportions. One or two rolls are always wonky and way too small. This time I used a ruler and still fucked it up a little.
In the end, it always works out. Even if one or two rolls get overly baked, the enormous amount of icing keeps everything sweet, if not moist.
I kept playing with where to place the rolls in my 9x11” until I went with three in every row and, in the third row — vertical, just two, leaving a space. I figured they had enough support and would rise together in the oven, and the last one floating around with one side free wouldn’t affect anything.
It didn’t.
Yeh says to check the rolls in the oven at 30 minutes, which I did. They looked perfect. Usually, I’m fiddling with five-10 more minutes until I’m absolutely sure they’re cooked through, and wind up burning the edges way more than I’d like.
Not this time. I pulled them out and raced to ice them. It was quite a messy affair.
I barely had time to de-shell and chop enough pistachios to top the iced cinnamon rolls before I quickly threw in a modest confetti of sprinkles and gold dragees.
Everybody loved them. A few people at bible study said the dragees looked like beads and were too hard to chew. (I tried one at home and they were fine; you just have to suck them a little first.)
I joked that I threw in some diamonds for decoration.
In any event, the next time…I’m determined to make exactly the right amount that fits the right pan.
Yes, I went and bought an 8x11” baking dish via Amazon as close to Molly Yeh’s as possible.
I will make the perfect cinnamon rolls, yet.
