Cinnamon Roll Murder (Hannah Swensen, #15)(10)

Now comes the fun. Clear a space on your counter for the bread board. If you don’t have a bread board, just clear a nice clean space on your counter.



Dust your work space with flour, spreading it out in a circle with your impeccably clean palms. Then upend your work bowl and plop the dough down on your floured circle. Sprinkle more flour over the top of your dough. Then grab it and flip it over so the bottom is now the top.



Think about that old boyfriend who broke up with you in high school, or anyone else in your past you’d really like to slap or punch. Visualize that person’s face in the center of your mound of dough, pick up one edge and punch it down hard in the center of the dough. Fun, wasn’t it?



Turn your dough clockwise and do it all over again. Keep turning and punching and pummeling that dough for the whole 5 minutes, flipping it over every minute or so to make sure you’re also kneading the bottom.



When 5 minutes are up, gather the dough into a ball on the board or counter.



Wash and dry your hands.



If you haven’t already done so, take ? cup of salted butter out of the refrigerator so that it will be softened by the time you need to make the filling for your rolls.



Spray the inside of a much larger bowl with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray. Pick up the dough and nestle it right down in the bowl you prepared.



Wash and dry your bread board (or your counter if you didn’t use a bread board). Tear off a sheet of plastic wrap that’s larger than the surface of your dough, and stretch it out on the space you washed. Spray it with nonstick cooking spray, lift it up, and cover the dough in your bowl, sprayed side down, so it’s touching the surface of the dough. Tuck it in around the dough so that the dough will stay nice and warm.



Set the bowl in a warm, draft-free place and let it rise for 1 to 1 and ? hours or until it’s doubled in size.



Sprinkle your bread board or counter again with a light coating of flour.



Turn the work bowl upside down on the floured board so that the dough will come out. (If it sticks, just scoop it out with your hands.)



Sprinkle the mound of dough lightly with flour, punch it down with your palms, and roll it out with a rolling pin into a 9-inch by 13-inch rectangle. (That’s the size of the cake pan you’ll be using to bake your Special Cinnamon Rolls.)



Spread the surface of the rectangle with the softened butter. (If you forgot to soften it, give it 30 second in the microwave on HIGH to half-melt it and then spread it out on your dough.) Let your dough sit there in all its buttery goodness while you make the rest of the topping.



Mix ? cup white (granulated) sugar with the Tablespoon of cinnamon. (I do this with a fork.) Sprinkle this sugar and cinnamon mixture over the top of the rectangle of dough.



Sprinkle the cup of chocolate chips on top of the sugar and cinnamon mixture as evenly as you can.



Starting from one of the long sides of the rectangle, roll it up tightly like a jelly roll. Since you don’t have 8 hands, you’ll have to work from side to side, rolling a little bit up at a time in order to get it nice and even. Pinch the edge to the surface of the roll so that it will stay closed.



Spread the bottom of a 9-inch by 13-inch rectangular cake pan with the 2 Tablespoons of softened butter. Sprinkle in the 2 Tablespoons of sugar and tip the pan so it’s evenly distributed. Sprinkle in the teaspoon of cinnamon as evenly as possible.



Use your sharpest knife to cut the roll of dough into 12 slices. Arrange the slices in the cake pan 3 rows across and 4 rows down.



Spray another sheet of plastic wrap with nonstick cooking spray and use that, sprayed side down, touching the surface of the rolls. Tuck it in and set your Special Cinnamon Rolls in a warm, draft-free place for 45 minutes or until they’re doubled in bulk.



When your rolls are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position. Leave the plastic wrap on your rolls until your oven comes up to temperature.



Remove the plastic wrap and bake your rolls at 350 degrees F., for 30 minutes or until nicely browned. Then take them out of the oven and place them on a cold stove burner or a wire rack to cool while you make the icing. You’ll want to frost your rolls while they’re still warm so that the icing can run down into the crevices.



Put the cup of powdered sugar into a small mixing bowl. Using a fork, mix in the melted butter, milk, and vanilla. Whisk it with your fork until it’s smooth and creamy, and has the consistency of icing.



If the resulting mixture is too thick, whisk in a little more milk. If the resulting mixture is too thin, whisk in a bit more powdered sugar.



Hannah’s 2nd Note: Mother thinks I should frost these with Neverfail Fudge Frosting. I’m convinced that Mother would eat a dill pickle and insist that it was delicious if I frosted it with fudge frosting.





Chapter Four


When Hannah got back to the waiting room, she found Michelle sitting between Lonnie Murphy and his cousin Devin. Devin was a tall, lanky young man with an endearing grin, the bluest eyes Hannah had ever seen, and a shock of black hair that that fell in waves over his forehead. Kevin had the chair next to Buddy Neiman, and there was a big smile on Buddy’s face. Hannah figured that Devin must be regaling the Cinnamon Roll Six’s keyboard player with compliments. Perhaps it would sweeten him up a bit.