Cinnamon Rolls

Cinnamon rolls. Most people have at least one favorite memory wrapped around those fresh out of the oven sweet, sometimes gooey, creations.

I'm in the camp of gooey cinnamon rolls. I do eat cinnamon rolls that have icing topping them, but my all time favorite are the ones that are gooey, gooey, gooey. Those were the ones my mother made. Sometimes the carmel gooey was oh so perfect. Sometimes, well, sometimes it wasn't oh so perfect, unless you wanted an all day sucker. Sometimes there just wasn't enough of the gooey per cinnamon roll. Sometimes there was the perfect amount.

My mother followed recipes...when it was convenient for her. Other times she winged it. The gooey portion was always on the fly. Which is why it was always a gamble. But when she got it right, oh, my, gosh, it was worth the failures.

Cinnamon rolls was one of the few things that she was never able to teach any of us. We all loved her cinnamon rolls. We all stood beside her, trying to learn. Wanting to learn her secret, because even when the gooey was wrong, the rolls were still fabulous. She gave each of us her secret recipe. She stood over us and we made them. She had two daughters who failed to learn the secret and three daughter-in-laws who failed to learn her magic. But each and every one of us tried and tried and tried to make cinnamon rolls just like Mom made. Each of us failed at duplicating her cinnamon rolls.

What we've each done is find other recipes and try to get as close as possible to her magic with cinnamon rolls. We've each added our own twist to cinnamon rolls. One, the other half of My Own Two Hands Bakery, went completely rogue and perfected a cinnamon roll with icing on the top. Me? I still love the gooey cinnamon rolls. Today, is my attempt to make sure I haven't lost my touch. In a few minutes a pan full of gooey cinnamon rolls will come out of the oven.

And here they are. Gooey, cinnamon rolls. For me, they bring back to a time when my mother was still alive and presenting her magical cinnamon rolls to us. A time when the stress of having a job, family, obligations was just a far off dream. The biggest concern I faced during those days was wondering if I'd get picked first, somewhere in the middle or last for kickball.

Visit our website or our Etsy Store to order a pan of your own memories. And go back to a time when life was simpler, easier and carefree.

Feel free to share you own memories of fresh out of the oven cinnamon rolls. Or leave a message letting us know if your preference is gooey cinnamon rolls or ones with icing on top.