When I was young, my mom was a health food nut. We’re talking a full-on carob, wheat germ, no sugar in your cereal kind of health food nut. It was the 1970s, so it wasn’t that unusual, but still it drove me crazy. I wanted white bread, Fruit Loops, and Tang—not the crunchy, wholesome food products we’d pick up at the natural foods store. Sure, she cooked that way because she loved us, but I wanted to be like everyone else.
My mom’s do-it-yourself healthy ethos extended to the bread we ate, and it was the rare occasion when there wasn’t dough rising in a bowl or a loaf baking in the oven. (Whole wheat, of course.) Though I’m not complaining—I was a big fan of her homemade bread. Who can resist a warm slice of bread slathered in creamy butter or dipped in honey?
Now, for my birthday every year she’d make me orange cinnamon rolls. They were a flaky, buttery roll laced with a creamy, citrusy frosting. Our whole family loved them. Of course, there was nothing unusual about my mom making rolls—she baked bread all the time. But here’s the strange thing—these orange cinnamon rolls, loaded with white flour and sugar, were not homemade. Instead, these cinnamon rolls came from a can. It was quite the scandalous treat.
When I grew older, I began making my own bread. Yet, despite my having no fear when it came to working with yeast, flour, and water, I continued to buy canned orange cinnamon rolls. For some reason, I was afraid to make my own. But one day, I went to pick up a can and the store was out of the orange flavor. If I wanted orange ones, I’d have to bake them myself. This wasn’t a bad thing, as I soon discovered making cinnamon rolls from scratch isn’t terribly complicated. So if you’ve never baked bread or rolls yourself, I highly recommend it. Don’t be afraid!
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