I was quite young when my grandma used to visit us from across the country and so some of the memories I have are a little blurry.  Funny enough, however, the food memories have stuck and the one that pops out to both my mind and my taste buds are my grandma’s yeast rolls dusted with cinnamon.

I only recently rediscovered this recipe buried in my mother’s recipe files after she passed away.  The challenge with this recipe is that my grandmother didn’t measure anything; she just knew intuitively how much of each ingredient was needed.  So this recipe is my interpretation of my Grandmother’s delicious cinnamon and raisin-speckled rolls.

Ingredients

• ½ cup active yeast
• 2 pounds all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• ¼ pound (1 stick) butter, slightly melted
• 2 tablespoons sour cream
• 1 tablespoon shortening
• 2 cups milk
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Let yeast bloom with one-tablespoon warm water (about 100°F). Let rest for about five minutes.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour and sugar. Make a well in the flour.  Add butter, sour cream, shortening, milk, and 3 of the eggs.  Mix until well combined.  Knead for 1 minute.
3. Let rise covered with a dishtowel in a warm dry place for 2 hours.
4. Knead down for 5 minutes.
5. Take ½-cup pieces of dough, fill with some of the nuts and raisins.
6. Place on a parchment paper line-baking sheet and let rise to double in size.
7. Combine 1 egg with 1 tablespoon warm water and whisk with fork to combine. Brush tops of rolls and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.