Family Recipes

We’ve been talking about a cookbook of Mai family recipes for the past 72 years. A couple of years ago Jan and Pam and Carolyn turned the rumblings into a seismic tremor. They have drafted other family members to help recover, restore, rescue bits of paper and file cards filled with recipes.
There is talk of a book. Also talk of photos. And even talk of talk….recordings of family members telling stories about their favorite family recipes.
And I guess it’s going to start here.

Grandma Elfriede’s Cinnamon Rolls

1 cup milk
¼ cup unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup sugar 
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3 ¼ cup flour
1 tablespoon Fleischman’s Bread Machine Yeast
¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup chopped walnuts
1 ¾ cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon 

Note: A few years ago Jessica (an awesome family photographer, wife, mother, daughter-in-law, sister-in-law, niece) decided it was time to get Grandma Elfriede’s cinnamon roll recipe recorded. And not just the ingredients. As usual Jessica got photos to go with cinnamon roll ‘how-tos’. 
This story is taken
            almost verbatim
from Jessica’s monograph. 

Cinnamon Rolls During Wheat Harvest, June 2009

‘I walked into Elfriede’s kitchen this morning after a cup of Starbucks, a tradition at the Mai Farm.’ 
           (There’s always a bag of Starbuck’s beans in the kitchen cabinet.) 
‘I was ready to try to master the art of making her cinnamon rolls. These are a family favorite and i was eager to learn from her while i still had the chance. 
Well, should we get started, i ask?’
“I’ve already got it going, here!”
‘I laugh because it wasn’t five minutes ago that she said, “I don’t have no desire to do nothing anymore. I’m old you know!”
I quickly scramble to catch up with what i’ve already missed. Ok, i said, what’s in the pot?’

Step 1: Liquid Ingredients
1)  “One cup of milk, you scald that milk then add a titch less than ¼ cup of butter. The hot milk will melt your butter in there.” 
2)  “Now the vanilla. It’s the good stuff you know. Do you know the difference between the good stuff? Be sure to use the good stuff.” 
3)  “Next add a titch less than ½ cup of sugar.”
4)  “Now here is some salt, put it in there too. Not too much, about 1 teaspoon.”
5)  “Now cool that down before adding the egg to it. If you don’t cool it down that egg might cook in there!” 
6)  “Then beat that egg and add it in.”
‘Ok, i’ve got it, i said. What comes next?’ 
“Did we put the vanilla in already?”
‘Yes, it’s in there i reply’
“Then grab your flour!”          

Step 2: Dry Ingredients 
‘How much flour do we need?’
“Oh, i don’t know i just go by guess and by golly!”
1)  “Sift about 3 ½ cups, that will make it light and fluffy!”
2)  “Then we’ll put in all the liquid and flour together in the bread maker.”
3)  “You’ve got to put it all in there. i don’t throw nothing away. Put it all in!”
4)  “Did we put the yeast in yet?”
            I shook my head.
“Make a hole in the mixture with your finger. Then get that tablespoon over there and level it off. On, now put it down in that hole there. You’ve got to get the yeast that says Fleishmann’s Bread Machine Yeast. That’s what i always use.”
5)  “Now, i push number 7 on the bread machine. It says dough.” 

Step 3: Nuts and Rest 

1)  “Now why we’ve got the dough going we are going to get our nuts ready. Chop these up. Don’t chop them too terrible fine. What you’re doing looks good.” 
2)  “Now we rest!”
20 minutes later
“Well, i’d better get up and see what damage i can do. Are the rolls coming up in the machine?”
We take a look at the bread machine and Elfriede pokes her finger into the dough. 
            “Looks good.”
I follow suit and poke my finger into the dough as well. The feels fine to me!

Step 4: Cinnamon and Sugar

1)  “I’ll give you the cooking spray and you spray these sheets down.”
2)  “Next i mix in my cinnamon with my brown sugar. i just guess at how much i need. Each one can do as they wish.  If they like cinnamon they can add more in, if not add less.”
‘How much do you use? i ask.’
“A titch less than one cup of brown sugar and one level teaspoon of ground cinnamon.”
3)  “Now we will melt our butter.”
            ‘How much?’
            ‘I feel as if i have asked that question more than a few times today! The pad of butter she slices looks to be about an inch or two thick. Grandma puts the butter in the microwave to melt it. As we are waiting for it to melt Grandma tells me that she has never given her recipe away but since i’m family it’s Ok. Still, i think she is still a little hesitant to let me in on her secret, even though i am married to her grandson!

Step 5: Roll it up

1)  We take the dough from the bread machine and spread it out on a rectangle about the size of a 9-inch by 11-inch pan. 
            “Always use an old cloth to roll the dough out on, that’s the best way to roll it up.”
2)  I watched her spread the butter over the dough and then spread her cinnamon and brown sugar mixture over the dough.
3)  “Then we sprinkle on some of our chopped walnuts. I know you’re gonna ask me how much, so i’ll measure this out. A ½ cup!”   
4) She then rolled the dough up and said. “I’ll get some cold water and wet the edges of the dough so it will stick when i pinch the rolled-up dough together.” 
5)  “Now we’ll cut them up!” 
            ‘How thick i ask?’
            “Oh about up to the second joint of your finger. That’s about what i do.”

Step 6: Rise and Bake
1)  “Now they’ve got to raise for an hour. I’ll turn the oven up to 350 and let them sit on top of it.” 
2)  “Time for us to rest again.”
About an hour later…. 
“Oh dear. i’ve got to bake my rolls!”
3)  “Now we only do one pan at a time. I’ve never done more than one pan. I’d better set my timer.” 
            ‘I notice she sets the timer for 15 minutes.’ 

Step 7:  Frost 

1)  “Now we’re going to make frosting. You can frost them any way you want you know. I’m going to use powdered sugar. There now, i think that 1 ¾ cups of powdered sugar is enough.” 
2)  “I use hot water with my powdered sugar, but you can use cream. Whatever you want!”
            Elfriede then adds a pad of butter. Then….
3)  “Oh give me some of that real cream. I’m going to dribble in just a little. I usually just use hot water, but i’ll make it a little richer today!” 
4)  “I just dribble the frosting on with a spoon, that’s the easiest for me. You can put it on with a knife if you want.”
“There we are done!  Well, do you think you know how to make cinnamon rolls yet?”
I smile to myself.  Somehow, i don’t think anyone will ever be able to make cinnamon rolls just the way Grandma Elfriede did….but we sure will try!

‘This recipe was transcribed as i spent a June morning learning how to make rolls with Grandma Elfriede in 2009. 
Elfriede has left us now but her legacy as the “Roll Lady” still lives. I hope this remembrance will help our family remember her and her cinnamon rolls.’

“Only be careful and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.” Deuteronomy 4:9 

With Love
Jessica Mai