The BEST Cinnamon Buns

When I was just a li'l gal, I fell in love with the doughy ass goodness that is Cinnabon and their little buns of heaven! Along with espresso, mac 'n' cheese and spongebob, they're the love of my life. 

That being said, there's absolutely FECK ALL we Scots can do about our undying love for Cinnabon (it can't just be me right?) as the nearest store to Edinburgh is a gargantuan 305.1 miles away... in Leicester, believe me, I've checked! So, reluctantly admitting defeat, I decided it was time I learned how to make these bad boys and finally put the cravings to bed. The road to creating the perfect cinnamon bun was far from trouble free and by absolutely no means am I proclaiming to have perfected the art, but these buns, which I've baked time and time again, are my very own labour of love.

INGREDIENTS

For the rolls

• 350g Plain Flour
• 3 Tablespoons Caster Sugar
• 1 Teaspoon Salt
• 7g (packet) Fast Action Dried Yeast
• 100ml Water
• 40ml Milk 
• 40g Unsalted Butter
• 1 Large egg

For the Filling

• 50g Unsalted butter (softened)
• 2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon 
• 50g Granulated sugar 

For the Cream Cheese Glaze

• 100g Softened butter
• 300g Cream cheese
• 1tsp Vanilla extract
• 150g Icing sugar

METHOD

First of all make the dough, in a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt and yeast together and mix thoroughly until evenly dispersed, set this aside til later. Next heat up the water, milk and butter in a pan or microwave until the butter is completely melted and it feels hot to the touch. In a seperate bowl whisk the egg, then combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and knead together to form a soft, slightly sticky dough (you may have to add a little more flour if the dough feels too sticky)

Flour your work surface and knead the dough for about 5 minutes, once ready it should feel soft, springy and elastic. Place the dough in a floured bowl and leave to rest for 10 minutes while you make the filling. Once the dough has rested roll it out into a rectangle around 15x10 inches, the dough shouldn't be thicker than a pound coin. Spread the softened butter onto the dough followed by the sugar and then sprinkle the cinnamon all over, making sure not to miss out any of the edges. Be generous gurrrrrl!

The next step is to roll up your dough lengthways, try to keep it nice and tight but don't push down when rolling, you don't want any of that filling escaping!

Once rolled, using a very sharp knife, slice your dough into ten equal pieces and place them into your well oiled baking tin, the tin will look sparsely filled at this stage but fear not my little bakers, these buns are growers! Next loosely cover your baking tin with cling film and a warm dish towel and leave to rise in a warm place for at least an hour, I usually set my oven on it's lowest setting for 5 minutes, turn it off, pop the buns in and let them do their thang!

After an hour check on the progress of your cinnamon buns, they should have at least doubled in size, and already look and smell amazing!

Next put the risen buns into your preheated oven (190 degrees c) and bake for 25 minutes! I usually cover my buns with a little tin foil after about 15 minutes to avoid them being heavily browned. Once ready just set the little beauties to the side to cool and try to avoid pinching any! Meanwhile make your cream cheese glaze, in a bowl whisk together (using a hand mixer) your cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla extract and softened butter until smooth, you can add a little milk or water to thin it if it's too thick.

Now all that's left to do is smother your freshly baked cinnamon buns with oozy cream cheese glaze and watch your family and friends battle over who gets the last one!

And there we have it, badass cinnamon buns with a gorgeous glaze, go on, wash dem hands, dig out that pinny and thank me later. Lx

Breakfast at Maxis (now Cowan & Sons)

Well, here I go, poised and ready to pen not only my first ever review... but also my first ever blog post! I'm sitting here as unashamedly excited as a child in a sweetie shop, scratch that, myself in a sweetie shop (who was I kidding, right?). Admittedly, the blog is still in that freshly thought up, dreamy, honeymoon stage, the kind where I find myself itching to sit down, take pen to paper (or keyboard) and ferociously gush about all the foodie delights I'm just dying to share with you all. But lets be frank, its a rare occasion  to find me doing anything other than gushing about food so lets get this God dayuum show on the road!

Choosing the subject of my first review wasn't hard, I wanted somewhere local, dependably great and more importantly I wanted to write about somewhere I'd be more than happy to recommend again and again. Maxi's of Stockbridge is all of these things and so much more. Sitting smack bang in the middle of busy Raeburn Place, this unassuming shabby chic cafe has been serving up breakfast, brunch and lunch to the hungry locals of Stockbridge since 1997.

I confess, I love the decor in Maxi's, I always have, and always will. The bench style seating, ramshackle wall tiling, and quirky crockery has you feeling like, yes you really are as urban hipster as you think you are (you go girl), and the simple counter service adds to the informal, laid back "grab yourself a seat" kinda vibe.

First things first, it's important to know that Maxi's is always busy. Not overbearingly loud, children screaming, phones ringing, elbows in your dinner busy, but the kind of busy where it reassures you that, yes, this place really must be as good as the hype, why else would there be a queue out the door right? It's best to keep this in mind, especially if you're hoping to visit for brunch at the weekend, arrive early rather than late to avoid losing out on a table and then the inevitable onset of the "I'm going to miss brunch" related tears I'm all too familiar with (just kidding... or am I?)

Once you finally get yourself a seat, a look at the small but varied menu and that unavoidable peek at the cake counter (oh, we'll get to those delights later) it's time to order yourself one of Maxi's expertly crafted, beautifully decorated artisan coffees. The unmistakable, irresistible scent of roast coffee beans greets you like a hug from an old friend as soon as you walk through the door, (I'm not quite sure there's anything else I love more than that smell) Their coffee beans hail locally, from neighbours Artisan Roast, and on their hot drinks menu you can expect to find all the usual suspects like my favourite, the small but mighty flat white. Coffee from Maxi's ranges in price from around £1.80 for a small to around £2.50 for a more substantial cupful, and if coffee just isn't your thaaang (who even are you?) you can always order one of their monstrous prized hot chocolates, complete with whipped cream, marshmallows and chocolate buttons, oh my!

But, enough about that, and on to the really good stuff. What ultimately keeps me coming back to Maxi's, over and above the top notch coffee, great chilled atmosphere, friendly staff and the ability to park outside (you can take the girl out the country) is the food. Maxi's has a small, fairly simple but extremely varied menu that truth be told, I'm completely obsessed with. Consisting of two sections, one for breakfast (served everyday til 3pm) and the other for lunch dishes, I promise you'll be very hard pushed to find anything on it you won't instantly instagram #brunchgoals #avotoast #sexyeggs (no judgement please). The menu is one of those rare finds, the kind where you're scrolling through the options thinking "Butchers Breakfast, oh that's what I'll have... no wait French Toast with Bacon! Oh but hang on the Grilled Cheese Sandwich sounds amazing" and eventually you reach the conclusion that you'll just have to order all three and be done with it! (just me? um ok). Anyway I shan't bore you by listing every item on the menu as I'm hoping this article might inspire you to try Maxi's out for yourself, but what I will do is tell all you lovely foodies about my favourite dish of the moment. The absolutely delicious, subtly warming, gloriously photogenic Spicy Eggs

Now, come Sunday morning, I always find it extremely hard when perusing a menu to see past any form of egg dish. So (to quote the late, great Cilla Black) surprise, surprise, I couldn't resist, when I saw that Maxi's were serving up spicy eggs I simply had to have it and oh boy was I glad I did! There's nothing better on a chilly, November morning than being presented with two perfectly runny eggs, poached in a gently spiced tomato, chilli and garlic sauce, topped with salty parmesan cheese, the dish comes out steaming hot, delightfully aromatic and served with a big hunk of warm sourdough bread to mop up all the delicious juices. Gorgeous and healthy it's perfect breakfast, brunch, lunch or anytime of the day nosh, needless to say my plate was shamelessly devoured in 4 seconds flat.

I'm going to finish up with a li'l special mention to Maxi's baked goods, I know, I know ... as if you need any more encouragement right? Just go already! Seriously though, if you find yourself with a little room left after your coffee, hot chocolate, french toast or delicious eggs then be 100% sure to grab yourself something from their cake counter. Especially if, by some kind of unprecedented miracle, they happen to be offering up the raspberry cheesecake chocolate brownie, because trust me lovers, this brownie CHANGES. LIVES.

L,x

You can find Maxi's at 33 Raeburn Place, Stockbridge, Edinburgh, EH4 1HX
Instagram ~ @maxiscafe
Facebook ~ @maxiscafe