Harvey's Beer Bread Cinnamon Buns

Believe it or not I came up with this recipe because I always had too much beer in my house! My father-in-law Harvey worked for a brewery so he would get several cases of free beer every month. He didn't drink so he gave it to us. We always had WAY to much beer on hand (rough life right! lol) so I came up with several recipe as a way to use up some of that beer. These are easy to make and not too sweet...give them a try.    

1/2c             beer (room temp.)

1/2c             water (warm)

3-3/4c         flour

4tsp             sugar

2 1/4tsp       dry yeast

1/4tsp          salt

Filling:

3tbsp            butter (room temp)

1/2c               brown sugar

1tbsp             cinnamon

I'm pretty unorthodox in the way I make cinnamon buns so bear with me. My way is much less fussy and substantially easier...  trust me it works.

Mix the dry ingredient together (yes even the yeast) in a large mixing bowl and give them a little whisk.

Now pour the wet ingredients over the dry and give a good stir. I use my hands for this...it's messy but it gets the job done. 

Throw some flour on your counter and put the dough on top of it. If it's super sticky you can sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough. It should be the consistency of soft play dough at this point. Start kneading the dough, if it's still sticky keep adding little bits of flour until you get it the right consistency. I usually knead for about 10 minutes. You can do this in your Kitchen-Aid if you have one but I like doing it by hand.

Pop your dough ball back into your mixing bowl (no need to wash it first) and cover with saran wrap. Place the bowl in your oven with NO HEAT but the oven light turned on for a bit of warmth. Keep it in the oven until the dough doubles in size...usually about an hour or so. It will depend on how warm your house is.

Once the dough has risen enough take it out of the oven and turn the dough out onto your counter again. Make sure there is still some flour dusted on it. 

Now roll out your dough into a thin rectangle. Brush with the room temperature butter, sprinkle the brown sugar on top of the layer of butter and then sprinkle the cinnamon on top of the brown sugar.

Starting at one end, tightly roll up the dough making sure to pinch the long seam side together with your fingers and then placing it seam side down.

Cut the dough into 12 equal sized pieces (about 2" each)  

Place the pieces into a buttered oven safe baking dish lined with parchment paper. Make sure you leave some space around each piece so it has room to rise. 

Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size...It usually takes about an hour or so. Inside the oven with the light on is a good place...just do NOT turn the oven on!

When they have almost risen enough take them out of the oven.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

When the oven is preheated put the cinnamon buns back in the oven and bake them for about 20 minutes or until they are just turning golden brown. Remove from the oven and let them cool.

If you want to have icing to drizzle on them here's a simple recipe:

1/2c     icing sugar

1tsp     vanilla

            water

Mix the icing sugar and vanilla in a bowl and add just enough water to make a runny icing. Now just drizzle this over your slightly cooled cinnamon buns. YUMMY!!!!!