Family Recipe Friday: Helen (Cooper) Lee’s Cinnamon Rolls

Cooper Family, Broida Family (Click for Family Tree)

Helen (Cooper) Lee was a wonderful cook. She loved cooking for family and big get-togethers at their beautiful contemporary home, designed by her architect husband, Bob Lee. This picture shows her in the lovely galley kitchen in their home that was in Jefferson City, Missouri.

Helen was an accomplished Chinese cook, as well as with all the popular foods of the 1950s, 60s, 70s… One of the family favorites was her cinnamon rolls. She made a yeast dough and then rolled it up with sugar, cinnamon, nuts, and raisins. Because her mother, Gertrude (Broida) Cooper, did not like raisins (a woman after my own heart!), Helen made two batches- one without raisins, and another, larger batch, with them. A powdered sugar glaze was swirled over the rolls after they had cooled a bit. Seems she always made small rolls, not like the big ones purchased at malls. The rationale was that one could control their portion size- or at least not feel as guilty eating 2 or 3 or 4, because they were small. Sometimes quantity is more satisfying than size… but the quality was always there.

The following is the recipe written in Helen’s own hand, about 1981.

The recipe starts with ‘cakes’ of yeast, which are hard to find these days as they are so perishable and few people use them. An equivalent is 4-1/2 teaspoons of dry yeast. Make sure to follow the directions on the yeast package for the temperature of the water to be used, or the yeast will not “bloom” (grow) properly. The “pinch of sugar” is added to the water with the yeast as it is food for the microorganisms.

In case it is not clear to modern cooks, the sticks of butter are put in with the milk when it is scalded. One could instead use reconstituted powdered milk rather than scalding liquid milk (and having a messy pan to clean), as the processing causes it to no longer have the enzymes that destroy yeast. Use 2/3 cups of non-fat dry milk (NFDM) plus a scant 2 cups of water to equal the milk called for in this recipe, and mix well. Make sure the water is not too cold, or it may slow (or stop!) the yeast from making the dough rise well. The butter would be melted separately and slightly cooled before adding in at the same time as the milk in the updated recipe.

Yummm- these may need to be on the menu for this weekend! Sure wish Helen could be here to share.

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. Family Treasure Chest for photo and recipe.
2. Learn more about recipe conversion and baking with yeast at the Red Star Yeast website, http://redstaryeast.com/yeast-baking-lessons/yeast-conversion-table/

 

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