A little group of friends that I can talk to

Around our town and probably around other towns there are coffee mornings. For years I saw men gather at the local convenience store before they started their day. There were about ten of them and they began their day at their friend's Quick Stop with a paper cup. Another group of women I know have met for thirty five years every Saturday for coffee at a local restaurant. They gather and they talk. It is about friendship.

Recently my friend Stephanie and I decided we needed one. Ours is once a month and there are four or five of us who just get together for coffee. Oh the freedom in that. No agenda, no meal planning, easy prep, just company. I have never been part of a coffee group before. One month they come here, one month we go to Stephs.

We talk, that's all we do. It is not a craft morning. We don't raise funds, we don't make plans. Oh yes, and we listen. It is amazing to be really heard so we do that for each other. We all know each other, but mostly we all know Steph well and that lends a certain level of trust. I really look forward to our visit each month. I am eager to hear what's happening in their lives. The conversation always goes in directions I don't quite expect. It's a bit of a salon, though we don't discuss ideas or politics or things like that. Mostly we just talk about our interior lives, our families, our love and sorrow if needed. We just talk. And that is enough for us. We are there for each other in that space and that time. 

The rain is beating down on the roof of my little attic studio and I know my coffee group is on their way here so I am off for today. I hope you too have a little group of friends to talk to. I am going to go down and make them Mary Janet MacDonald's Cinnamon buns. They are worth it. But I am running late, so I will make it when they get here.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees and have your cookie sheet ready with some parchment paper lining your pan.

Ingredients for dough:

• 4 cups flour
• 6 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. salt
• 2 heaping tbsp. white sugar
• 1/2 cup shortening or butter
• 2 cups of milk

Ingredients for filling:

• butter or becel
• brown sugar
• cinnamon

Instructions:

1. Mix the dry ingredients -- flour, baking powder, salt and white sugar -- with your hands.
2. Add ½ cup shortening (or butter – your choice – and make sure it’s at room temperature) and blend it into the flour with your hands until crumbly (mealy).
3. Make a well in centre and add 2 cups of milk. 
4. With a fork – scrape all the flour into the milk and combine until all the flour is absorbed and you have the dough nicely combined. 
5. Sprinkle a little flour onto your counter and form the dough into a ball and place on the floured surface.
6. Sprinkle a bit of flour on the dough and on your rolling pin and roll out until about ½ inch thickness.
7. You can use butter (or I use Becel because it’s nice and soft) and spread some all over the surface of the rolled out dough – just like you were spreading  peanut butter on the surface of a slice of bread.
8. Now add some brown sugar – sprinkle enough on – probably more than a cup, maybe a cup and a half - until all spread out all over the surface and right to the edges.
9. Now, sprinkle cinnamon over the complete surface – don’t be shy. 
10. Roll up the dough like a jelly roll.
11. With a serrated bread knife, cut off both ends of the roll (these pieces you can cook on your second pan) but for now – cut your slices about ¾ inch thick and place on the cookie sheet.  (I use a stoneware 9x13” pan as I find they scorch easily in a metal pan – or perhaps you might want to try a lower temperature if you are using a metal pan.)
12. Bake for 18 minutes on middle rack (18 minutes in my oven – yours might be done at 14 minutes - check often). 

This will make about 15 cinnamon rolls.  

While they’re baking – make the frosting/glaze:

• 3 tablespoons of soft butter or Becel
• 2 tsp vanilla
• About 2 cups of icing sugar
• A little bit of milk

Combine ingredients in a bowl. If too thick, add a bit more milk until you have a nice consistency – similar to peanut butter.

Spread over warm cinnamon rolls. Enjoy!