
That's right -- a little trash, inconvenience, and disorganization is no big deal compared to The Brunch Problem. You see, while Rome clearly has the whole excellent-meal-thing down pat, it's negata (translation: kind of hopeless) when it comes to brunch, consistently missing the mark. My favorite breakfast-lunch hybrid when served here in Italy is curiously devoid of orange juice, pancakes, french toast, or eggs, consisting instead of distinctly non-brunch dishes -- lasagne, vegetables, meat, pizza -- served buffet-style and eaten a bit earlier than the average lunch (at 12:30 instead of 1:00). I shouldn't complain, I know -- Italian food is so delicious that it would be insulting to do so! -- but all the same, sometimes I really miss a good brunch. Like I said, no one is perfect.
It wasn't until fairly recently, after my umpteenth disappointing brunch that I had an epiphany; if I couldn't go out to brunch, I would just have to bring brunch to me. I'm not sure why it took me so long to arrive at this conclusion -- perhaps I was set on the idea of going out to brunch?! -- but I've found that hosting my own brunches at home is the best solution. It's a bit more time-consuming, sure, but also a lot more fun (as you may or may not have noticed, I do kind of like to cook). This is just what my friend Emily (a talented cook) and I decided to do this past Easter Sunday, and our Pasqua brunch went a little something like this: a savory multi-layered crepe cake filled with mushrooms and goat cheese; eggs baked with artichokes, spinach, and cream, finished off with a lemon-y hollandaise sauce; strawberries with honey; traditional colomba; and, of course, the star of today's post, these cinnamon rolls.
Ahh, cinnamon rolls! There's nothing quite as heavenly as a cinnamon roll eaten warm, fresh out of the oven, and these right here are particularly dreamy, buttery and spicy and sweet all at the same time, beautified with generous dollops of glossy, cinnamon-tinged icing, 100% a joy to eat, down to the very last crumb. And wait, there's more! As the name hints, these can be prepped the night before, left to rise slowly in the fridge, and then baked in the morning, meaning no early wake-up time for you and the guarantee that your whole kitchen, your whole house, and if you're in an apartment like me, the whole floor of your building will smell downright divine as these bake. If making cinnamon rolls from scratch seems intimidating, I beg you to not be deterred; this dough is easy to work with, the filling comes together in a second, and the ingredients are simple, ones you should have on hand. Wherever you live, access to a good brunch or not -- you'll want to give these a try.




Looking for other homemade bread recipes? I've got this pizza bianca, this rosemary focaccia, and these maritozzi, plus this challah bread and these bagels, and these tigelle. Looking for other breakfast that toe the line between dessert and first meal of the day? I've got these raspberry and ricotta scones, this ricotta pound cake, this peanut butter banana bread, these banana pecan waffles, this chocolate loaf cake, and this white chocolate blueberry cake.
(recipe adapted from Alton Brown's recipe on Food Network)
Ingredients for dough:
1 cup (240 mL) whole milk
6 tablespoons (84 grams) unsalted butter
2 1/4 teaspoons (.25 ounce or 7 grams) yeast
1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar
3 eggs
4 1/2 cups (585 grams) flour
1 teaspoon salt
Ingredients for the ingredients:
1 cup (220 grams) dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons (28 grams) butter, melted
Ingredients for the icing:
1 cup (125 grams) powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
A dash or two of cinnamon
Directions:
In a medium saucepan heat the milk over low heat until bubbles form; add the butter and whisk until the butter is melted. Pour the milk and butter mixture in to a bowl and let the milk cool slightly. Stir in the yeast and let it dissolve. Let sit for 5 minutes.






















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