What an incredible week! For some reason, and I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I’ve felt much lighter and less burdened, and a bit more hopeful and optimistic. Feels like it started Wednesday or so, but honestly who knows why.
Let’s get right into it, because this week’s edition is 🌶 spicy 🌶.
Step Off My Corner, Alison Roman
My absolutely incredible real estate agent, Michaela, made me aware of Alison Roman’s latest edition of her “Newsletter” (in quotes because that’s what it’s called, not for sarcasm reasons) where she “at long last” shares a recipe for sticky cinnamon rolls . Take a minute to go read at least the lead-up to the recipe otherwise this next part wont’t make sense. Or don’t read it, IDFC, we’re a year into a pandemic and we’ve already made our decisions for how we’re dealing with life.
First off, Alison, why you gotta get into my shit? I’m over here just trying to carve a little niche with my hot takes on pastries that I deliver for free to a surprisingly devoted audience and now you’re bringing your NYTimes published, bestselling cookbook writing, top Substack subscribed swagger into the fucking cinnamon roll game and you DON’T EVEN LIKE FROSTING?
Now, I generally respect people’s preferences if they can at least acknowledge the possibility that it might make something better. The “it’s not for me, but I can respect what it does” attitude. But Alison, what kind of sad rolls have you been eating that are topped with a “flavorless, milky-white substance”???? Frosting is just another brush with which you can add more delight, more texture to the beautiful Pollack of flavors that goes into a pastry. You’re a chef! It’s your job to add flavor!!!
Second, the recipe sounds hella good and she had me at “an energy that can only be described as Cinnamon Toast Crunch.” As you can imagine, CTC is my #1 all time favorite breakfast cereal (I have eaten an entire box in one sitting and that fact should surprise no one), and coating the whole damn roll in maple syrup I can absolutely get into (and was the best part of a roll I wrote about from Cinnamon Girl back in September).
Third, it sounds like Alison and I could have a very long discussion about the difference between a bun and a roll, or a sticky bun and a cinnamon roll, a topic that I have thought about at length and have yet to come to a conclusion about.
Honestly I have no quarrel with Alison Roman and didn’t know who she was until the whole situation with Chrissy Teigen and Marie Kondo went down. BUT! Her writing style is a bit too close to mine and if her recipe didn’t look so damn good I’d be a lot more upset about this situation. Alison, if you’re reading this, let’s make a podcast about the benefits of frosting and #3. HMU.
Petee’s Pie Company
To prove a point about frosting, I checked my spreadsheet, which specifically has a column labeled “frosting”, to see which of the 79 cinnamon rolls I’ve ranked had the highest score. There were several contenders tied for first, including our favorite from MZD, but my #2 favorite cinnamon roll overall in the city is from Petee’s Pie Company (yes they mostly make pies).
At their main cafe in Clinton Hill, the cinnamon rolls sit quietly by the side of the register, looking quite tempting with their loose construction and thick coating of frosting. Order one to stay, and they give you a cute little saucer with a small fork that isn't strong enough to cut through the robust roll. But once you do manage to get a bite, it's sheer bliss. The dough is thick and flakey, likely made from the pot pie dough, which does a great job soaking up the filling. The cinnamon flavor is perfectly balanced, not overpowering and not too quiet, and when you combine all that with the cream cheese frosting that's made with a hint of orange it's all the perfect combination. This milky-white substance is anything but flavorless (TWSS). The cinnamon filling was formerly gooey and hardens a bit on the bottom, creating a lovely texture to balance the dough and frosting.
Unfortunately, this review was written pre-COVID and the #2 cinnamon rolls in NYC are no longer on the menu (are they still #2 then 🤔), but just stare at that image and pretend.
Partybus Bakeshop
Continuing with the frosting theme, it’s the first thing you notice about Partybus Bakeshop's cinnamon roll other than it's near picture-perfect appearance which I had the pleasure of admiring this past weekend. Specifically about the frosting, you notice that it tastes like butter. A lot like butter. And there's a lot of it. This isn't explicitly a bad thing, however. I'm a fan of a nice butter cream frosting, and butter can be a great way to mellow out the bitterness of a strong cinnamon filling (butter is a flavor, Alison, and this is a milky-yellow substance, so there). Unfortunately, the cinnamon filling isn't that strong. It's visible, as a dusting, but it's not the gooeyness you would hope for. The dough has a good texture and consistency, leaning towards the bready side, and is a little sweet but just barely. The combination of all this is that you end up with an overall decent roll that just tastes a bit too buttery.
I also got the chai spice cookie, which was as delicious and delightful as you can imagine just from the picture. A nice mild frosting that doesn’t overpower the chai, all in all a nice little treat.
Can you imagine if they combined the two? A chai spice cinnamon roll?
It would be the end of me.