Princess Leia Cinnamon Roll Recipe

May 04, 2017

Happy Star Wars Day! May the fourth be with you.

Baked some Princess Leia Cinnamon Rolls in tribute to the inspiring, witty, and humorous Carrie Fisher... because it is often said that her Leia hairstyle looks like cinnamon rolls. It takes a while to get used to, but the cinnamon roll hairstyle does start to grow on you. Now, I find it quite cute haha.

“Stay afraid, but do it anyway.

What’s important is the action.

You don’t have to wait to be confident.

Just do it and eventually the confidence will follow.”

― Carrie Fisher

While these cinnamon rolls take some time to make, the mixing of ingredients are simple and the process is therapeutically calming. As Jon is a huge fan of cinnamon, I added extra cinnamon powder. Cinnamon rolls wouldn't be complete without cream cheese frosting, so be sure to make the frosting for the final part of the recipe.

The smell of cinnamon rolls in the oven is one of the most tantalizing things ever. I don't bake bread very often, but I should start doing so because freshly baked bread beats store-bought bread, hands down. Can't be a Jedi, but I can use the force to knead bread!

Because my brain cannot seem to think linearly today, my writing is jumping all over the place today. Apologies in advance if this post is making you feel like you're being thrown about. Anyway, I only discovered Carrie Fisher is an author of numerous books after watching the Star Wars series. Her books and one-woman live show "Wishful Drinking" celebrates her wittiness and amazing spirit... the one thing that really surfaced is her ability to laugh at herself. That in itself teaches such an important lesson. Thus, even if you are not a fan of Carrie Fisher/Star Wars, I recommend reading her book, The Princess Diarist (2016).

Before sharing the cinnamon roll recipe, I shall end my ramblings with two quotes from her books where she's as honest as can be (we all need more of that, don't we?)

“It was the first time I actually lived on my own. I was finally away from my mother (whom I’d happily live off of but not with), in an apartment I was subletting from a friend, where no one could be disappointed in me—and if someone oddly should be, I didn’t care, because they weren’t related to me.”

“He was much more on the good side of the bad/good human graph. He was bad and good, like most people. A good person who does bad things or a bad person who does good things—as long as people are involved, people will do bad or good things to them.”

PRINCESS LEIA CINNAMON ROLL RECIPE

Recipe adapted from:

Add a Pinch

Servings

1 Princess Leia Bun

8 - 10 Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients

[For Cinnamon Roll Dough]

120ml of Warm milk

4g of Instant yeast

56g of Caster sugar

57g of Unsalted melted butter

1 teaspoon salt

1 egg

281g of All-purpose flour/Plain flour (and a little extra for handling)

Black food colouring

[For Cinnamon Roll Filling]

110g of Packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons Cinnamon powder

56g of Unsalted butter

[For Cream Cheese Frosting]

56g of Unsalted butter, softened

94g of Icing sugar

23g of Cream cheese, softened

Directions

[For Cinnamon Roll Dough]

1. Add yeast to warm milk. Stir gently to combine and allow the yeast to foam to proof.

2. Once the yeast has proofed, combine the flour, melted butter, sugar, salt, eggs and yeast mixture. Gently mix until well-combined.

3. Transfer to a mixer with a dough hook and knead for 8 - 10 minutes. Alternatively, turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 - 12 minutes.

4. Form the dough into a large ball and place into a large buttered glass bowl. Cover lightly with plastic or with a tea towel and place in a warm location free of any drafts. Allow to rise until the dough is doubled in size.

[For Cinnamon Roll Filling]

1. In a bowl, mix the brown sugar and cinnamon powder.

2. Place dough on a large lightly floured surface and roll to a ¼ inch (0.6cm) thickness. Trim 2 edges, and form a ball using the trimmed edges. This will be Princess Leia's face. Set it aside on a tray lined with parchment paper. (If you want to make more Princess Leia Cinnamon Rolls, then form more balls)

3. Spread softened butter over the top of the rolled-out dough. Sprinkle the brown sugar cinnamon mixture generously over the dough.

4. Tightly roll the dough (like rolling sushi), until a log of dough has been formed.

5. For Princess Leia's hair, cut two slices from the dough (2cm thick). Slightly unwind the roll and peel a small strip of the dough (enough to form the fringe). Place the two rolls on each side of her face, and the small strips of dough on her face for the fringe. Cover the outside of her hair with more butter and brown sugar cinnamon mix. Take some dough and add black food colouring to make her eyes and mouth. Please refer to my video for step-by-step demonstration.

6. Slice the remaining dough and place on the same tray lined with parchment paper. Make sure to leave space in between because the rolls will expand and rise.

7. Preheat oven to 200ºC (400ºF) and allow rolls to rise for 30 minutes.

8. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, until lightly browned and cooked through.

[For Cream Cheese Frosting]

1. While cinnamon rolls are baking, prepare cream cheese frosting by creaming together butter, icing sugar and cream cheese.

2. Remove cinnamon rolls from the oven and allow to cool slightly.

3. Spread frosting generously over rolls while they are warm. (Except for Princess Leia!)

4. Enjoy!