Buttery and sweet, these Cinnamon Twists are a fun alternative to cinnamon buns.
This is a family staple that my mother has been preparing for close to 40 years. When I was growing up, my friends would wait for me to bring them to school just so they could taste a piece.
And the tradition continues, as I make them for my family and my girls share them with their friends.
Aside from preparing these Cinnamon Twists a few times a year, we don’t miss baking them during the 9 Days or on Tisha B’Av itself. It’s perfect activity and everyone enjoys eating them after the fast.
You can make them milichig or pareve, either way. We do something in between, keeping the dough pareve and them using butter in the coating. That’s the combination that’s our favorite…not too heavy and just the right buttery flavor.
If you aren’t enjoying these the same day you prepare them, store them in the freezer in smaller portions and take out as needed.
The dough comes together very quickly–simply add all the ingredients to the mixer and go. A note on the yeast! When I told the BCP team that I use fresh yeast in the dough, they promptly told me, “Absolutely not! There is no reason why we can’t use dry yeast!” Technically 2 oz of fresh yeast is 6 and ¾ tsp of dry yeast , but it works fine with 2 tablespoons of dry (which is pretty close). So, if you want to prepare it the original way, go ahead, but you can also trust the BCP team that dry works just as well.
After 1 ½ – 2 hours, your dough will be doubled in size. If you feel like the dough is sticky, don’t worry–this is supposed to be a sticky dough.
Divide dough into 5 parts.
Roll each part into a rectangle that’s 3-4” wide.
Then, cut each rectangle into 1” strips.
Now comes the fun (or messy) part. Bowl 1 gets sugar, vanilla sugar, and cinnamon. Bowl 2 gets the melted butter.
Dip each strip into melted butter individually, then dip the strip into the cinnamon sugar mixture, while twisting.
Place twists close together onto a lined baking sheet.
The full recipe should yield approximately 1 ½ baking sheets of twists.
Bake for 350°F for 25 minutes and voila.
We know what you’re baking today.
Cinnamon Twists
Ingredients
Dough:
- 6 cups flour
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 tsp salt (we used fine sea salt)
- 2 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine
- 1 ½ cups water
- 2 tbsp dry yeast or 2 oz fresh yeast
Topping for Bowl 1
- 4 cups sugar
- 4 Tbsp vanilla sugar
- 2 ½ Tbsp cinnamon
Topping for Bowl 2
- 1 ¼ cups (2 ½ sticks) butter or margarine, melted
Instructions
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine all dough ingredients. Knead until fully combined (the dough will be sticky). Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 ½ – 2 hours, until approximately doubled in size.
- In a large bowl, combine all “Bowl 1” topping ingredients. Add melted butter to a second bowl.
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Divide dough into 5 parts. Roll each part into a rectangle 3-4” wide. Cut each rectangle into 1” strips.
- Dip each strip into melted butter individually, then dip the strip into the cinnamon sugar mixture, while twisting.
- Place twists close together onto a lined baking sheet. The full recipe should yield approximately 1 ½ baking sheets of twists. Bake for 25 minutes.
