Musings from Mt. Vernon St: Did I tell you about my bread machine?

Okay, so I have maintained a traditionalist's attitude for making bread for ohhhh...at least ten years now. My Ma taught me to make it the old fashioned way and I poo-pooed my sister for succombing to the bread machine fad when she bought hers. I was convinced that homemade the traditional way was soooooo much better. Well, I'm here today to tell you...I was wrong. There, I said it (and yes, I apologized to my sister). I don't think I've ever been so wrong about something in all my life.

What made me get a bread machine in the first place? Uh...I don't know. For some weird reason I got it into my head one day that I needed a bread machine, like a little voice saying, "Trust me on this one, you need a bread machine" and being someone who is beginning to really follow her gut instincts (and apparently the voices in her head), I mentioned to my uncle in Maryland (who is terribly addicted to auctions) that if he ever found a new bread machine in his auction travels, and it was reasonably priced, to pick it up and I would pay him for it. Within a week, he found one - FOR $5!!! Can you believe it? Oh, I was so psyched! I was hooked after the first loaf; never again would I take that über-long traditional route again (...unless something happened to the world and we were left completely without power, plunging us back into the dark ages).

Saturday morning, I made cinnamon roll dough (recipe below - try it, you'll love it!) at 5:30 and in an hour and 30 minutes, I had the best looking dough, ready to be rolled out and spread w/ cinnamon roll topping goodness (otherwise known as butter, cinnamon and brown sugar). By 8:00, I had ooey, gooey, warm and tasty cinnamon rolls. It's the fact that the machine does all the work and I don't get super messy that makes me the happiest!

BREAD MACHINE CINNAMON ROLLS

INGREDIENTS
• 1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 cup margarine, melted
• 4 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast
* * * * * * * *
(to spread inside before the dough is rolled)
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
* * * * * * * *
(for frosting)
• 1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS
1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle; press Start.
2. After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
3. Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture (Side-note: make sure you really coat the ends of the dough with the brown sugar/butter/cinnamon mixture, as I kinda overlooked that and ended up with two rolls that didn't have a lot of cinnamon roll flavor, so I coated them with extra frosting). Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
4. Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes (side-note: depending on your oven...if it's old like mine, it may be more like 20 or 25 minutes). While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.