Cinnamon Comfort

When I first moved to Nova Scotia I was in grade eleven. I was so sad. I missed everything from home. My friends, the landscape, neighbours, church, my cousin. It was a lonely time. I went to a new school and felt odd and out of place for two years until graduation. It was a lonely time in my life. A time that I felt I did not belong.

The only comfort I found in that school was in the cafeteria. A short plump older woman with a grumpy manner and kind eyes made cinnamon buns. I bought one nearly everyday with a little carton of subsidized milk for ten cents. I would sit with my milk and slowly unroll the thin layers of that warm bun from the outside and eat it slowly with my milk. Food and loneliness are great friends it seems.

I did make some good friends that lonely year of grade eleven and I remain friends with them today. It was not just me and the cinnamon buns the whole time. It is not a story as sad as that I assure you. It is just a story of cinnamon comfort.

The little old cinnamon bun is the simplest of foods. I still make them. The smell of cinnamon through the house is the smell of comfort. It is a scent that can change the way you feel about things. For me it is not the scent of loneliness. I don't associate it with a sad time in my life. I associate with the comfort it gave me. The woman in the cafeteria with the grumpy face and the kind eyes would see me when she passed me that bun and the milk. She knew she had something good to give.

Yesterday my friend texted me to say she just put cinnamon buns in the oven. I texted her back, "Coming over" and off I went. Happy to have a friend and to be witness to the buns coming out of the oven, and the scent of comfort and belonging wafting through the house.

Biscuit Dough for Cinnamon Buns

I usually make mine with a biscuit recipe, brown sugar, and butter. I roll out the biscuit dough nice and thin on a floured surface, sprinkle lots of cinnamon, melted butter, and brown sugar on it. Roll it up, cut it one inch thick. I still like them with a glass of milk.

2 cups flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 tsp baking powder, 1tbsp sugar,  1/4 cup shortening. Mix together.

Beat 1 egg in measuring cup and fill with milk to one cup. Mix with flour mixture to it holds together. Don't beat too much.

Roll out in large rectangle on floured surface. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup melted butter, two teaspoons of cinnamon, and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Roll and bake at 375 for ten to twelve minutes.