Biscuits…that one word brings back many happy childhood memories of Saturday mornings, eating biscuits and sausage gravy around our small kitchen table. In fact, as a little girl, Cinnamon Roll Biscuits  were my ‘calendar’, letting me know the weekend had come.

As early as 3 years old, Mom would stand me up in a chair at the kitchen counter of the small trailer we called home, and let me make ‘snake’ biscuits next to her.

Mom’s biscuits were more of the drop or hand- formed variety, always cooked on well-oiled cast iron griddles. And of course, buttermilk was involved, an essential ingredient here in the Mountain South.

While my kids love biscuits and sausage gravy, they prefer their biscuits with jam. They also love my homemade yeast cinnamon rolls, the best being made with brioche dough, a process that takes two days to complete.

Cinnamon Roll Biscuits are a quick and easy way to capture the essence of traditional cinnamon rolls, without all the fuss.

The best family traditions are the ones you not only pass on, but are built upon by the next generation. My cinnamon roll biscuits, built upon the biscuits of my mother, are a perfect example.

Cinnamon Roll Biscuits

• 3 cups of plain biscuit flour (a soft wheat variety)
• 1 ½ tablespoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
• 1¼ cup buttermilk
• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• ½ cup sugar with 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon mixed together

Vanilla Glaze

• 1 1/3 cup powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• 2 teaspoons corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons cream or milk

1. Grease well a 10 inch round pan and preheat oven to 425°F.
2. Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together.
3. Using a large grater, shave the cold butter into the dry ingredients and use a pastry blender to cut the butter into the flour.

4. Add buttermilk, reserving some of it and stirring in just enough with a fork so that the dough forms a ball when mixed. Do NOT over mix the dough.

5. Turn out onto a well-floured surface (silicon mat works great!) and gently roll out into a rectangle about 10 X 15 inches, with the long side facing you.

6. Brush surface with melted butter and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar, all the way to the edges. Roll up like a jelly roll and seal the edge where it comes together. I roll out the dough on a silicon mat, and lift up the back edge of the mat to help form the roll. The dough will be a bit fragile. Make sure your dough is floured well underneath. A bench scraper can help you free it if it sticks in places, as you roll it up.

7. Using a very sharp serrated knife or dental floss, cut 1½ slices and place cut side down into the pan.
8. Bake in oven for about 25 minutes, or until golden brown on top. Cool for five minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a plate, top side up.

9. While rolls are baking, combine ingredients for vanilla glaze, adding as much cream or milk as needed for desired consistency. Drizzle glaze over warm rolls and serve immediately. Makes 10 rolls.

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