How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth! Psalm 119:103
“Cinnamon rolls! We want cinnamon rolls!”
It was 7AM and three eager faces agreed that Grandma needed to produce cinnamon rolls for breakfast. After assuring me that they would be fine waiting, with the help of Life and Rice Krispies, they returned to their dance party and left me searching the cupboards of my daughter’s new kitchen for ingredients.
Everything was new–the house, the school, the fact that I was watching my three little loves alone while my husband had taken their parents to a Buffalo Bills game multiple states away. I opened and closed cupboards breathing a sigh of relief when I found the yeast. The last thing I wanted to do was load them into the car for a grocery run. I found everything but the recipe.
The recipe. I could look one up online; you can find anything you need there, AI could all but make the rolls for me if I asked, but I knew what the kids wanted. They wanted our rolls, our traditional, cardamom rolls from the recipe that my mom taught me. I had made them hundreds of times, and so I began, sans recipe.
By 8AM the dough was rising on the oven and I called the troops together to begin school. Hybrid school, the one where they attend at an actual school building two days a week and do the other three days at home. Looking over the list, I decided to start easy, with reading aloud. This wasn’t just school, this was our traditional morning start to the day. The oldest needed to hear chapter three of The Wind in the Willows but by the time we were a page in all three of them crowded around to see the beautiful illustrations and find out what would become of Mole in the Wild Wood.
“Read one more chapter!” They all pleaded, but we needed to move on with math and writing and the rolls. I would love to report that math and the other disciplines went as well as reading, but I am a lover of truth.
The cardamom rolls, however, turned out scrumptiously. It reminded me that while reading is essential, memorizing is equally important. The day would not have been the same without the smell of cinnamon and cardamom scenting our schoolwork and promising a sweet morning snack. As the psalmist reminds us, sweeter than honey to my mouth are the words of God; an even more important word to memorize.
Cardamom Rolls from my mom, Mary Alice Boller
- 8 cups Gold Medal Flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp active dry yeast
- 1 tsp cardamom
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 cup butter
- 2 eggs
Combine 2 cups flour, sugar, salt, yeast and cardamom in large stand mixer bowl*. Heat milk, water and butter until warm, butter will not be completely melted. Gradually add liquids to dry ingredients, beating on low speed until combined. Switch to kneading attachment and add remainder of the flour a little at a time until dough is a firm ball. Knead until dough feels elastic, either manually or in the mixer. When you push into the dough and it bounces back it is ready.
Let rise in a warm place, covered with a towel until dough doubles in size. Punch down and shape rolls. This part is fun to do with children. Using half the dough, roll into a rectangle about 20″ x 6″. Spread with softened butter, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. I am not giving amounts here, but don’t skimp on the filling, if you want moist, fragrant delicious rolls. Roll the dough into a 20″ log, sealing the ends. Using a serrated knife, cut the log into 1″ rolls, placing each roll into a greased pan. I like to use pie plates and make 10 rolls per pan. I get 4 pie plates out of each recipe.
Allow the rolls to rise again, in a warm place covered with a towel for 30-60 minutes. Bake at 375* for 12-18 minutes, checking to make sure they do not over brown.
Cool and glaze with a loose confectionary sugar glaze. Serve warm.
*We used to make this recipe entirely by hand, mixing and kneading the old fashioned way. It can be done! but it is far easier with a stand mixer.