Now these are fairly tricky, rather time consuming little suckers to make, but boy are they worth it. They are light, fluffy and very, very moreish, you have been warned!

They would be a great complement to a nice morning coffee and ideal for sharing, so invite the girls round, pull up a chair around the kitchen table and you are set for a good natter with friends. Time to relax, share baking tips and generally set the World to rights.

As I said they are rather time consuming to make, but if you have the time and energy, why not make two batches and freeze one ready for when you need it next. You can bake the rolls right up to the end of the recipe, just leave off the melted butter and icing sugar, allow them to cool completely, wrap well in cling film, then foil (or put them in an airtight container) and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost at room temperature, then warm through in a hot oven for about 5 minutes and brush with the melted butter, icing sugar and cinnamon.

If like me you have a sweet tooth, how about instead of sprinkling the baked cinnamon rolls with more cinnamon and icing sugar, make a lemon icing instead. Just mix a squeeze of lemon juice with some icing sugar until it forms a paste and then drizzle generously over the warm cinnamon rolls, sounds rather heavenly to me.

What ever you decide, I am pretty sure you are going to love them and they would be just perfect to bake at Easter.

Buon appetito

5g fresh yeast or 1tsp fast-action dried yeast
20g unrefined caster sugar, plus 3 tbsp extra for sprinkling
70ml warm water
200g strong white flour, plus extra for dusting
1/4 tsp fine salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon, plus 2 tsp extra for sprinkling
1 medium egg, lightly beaten (plus another, lightly beaten with a pinch of salt, for the egg wash)
40g softened unsalted butter, plus extra, melted, for brushing
Icing sugar for dusting

23cm round cake tin, greased with vegetable oil and lightly dusted with flour

Makes 12 – 14

Put the yeast in a large mixing bowl. Add the 20g sugar and the water, then stir until the yeast and the sugar have dissolved. If you are using fresh yeast, leave the mixture to stand for 10 minutes until it begins to froth. Add 100g of the flour and mix well with a wooden spoon to a soft dough. This is the pre-ferment. Cover and leave the pre-ferment in a warm place for 1 hour until it has doubled in size.

While the pre-ferment rises, in another (smaller) mixing bowl, mix the remaining 100g of flour with the fine salt and 1 tsp of cinnamon. This is the dry mixture.

When the pre-ferment is ready, add the dry mixture and the egg, then mix until it comes together. Mix in the butter with your hands or a wooden spoon until well combined (don’t worry if the dough seems ver sticky at this stage).  Cover and leave to stand for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, leaving the dough in the bowl, pull a portion of it up fro the side and press it into the middle. Turn the bowl slightly and repeat the process with another portion of the dough. Repeat another 8 times. The whole process should only take about 10 seconds and the dough should start to resist. Cover the bowl again and leave to stand again for 10 minutes.

Repeat the above step three more times.

Cover the bowl and leave to rise for 1 hour. When the dough has doubled in volume, punch it down with your fist to release the air.

Lightly dust a clean work surface with flour. Put the dough on the work surface. Push the dough out with your fingertips to flatten it and widened it into a rectangle 3mm thick (it should be about 25cm x 30cm).

Brush the rectangle of dough all over with the egg wash, then sprinkle over two tablespoons of caster sugar and most of the extra cinnamon. Now roll up the dough from one of the longer sides to make a long log.

Cut the log of dough into roughly 2cm slices. You should get about 12 – 14 slices. Arrange them, cut-side up, inside the prepared tin. Cover and leave to rise in a warm place for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until slightly less than twice the size.

About 20 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 200c/Fan 180c/Gas 6. Put a roasting tin at the bottom of the oven to preheat. Fill a cup with water and set aside. Put the cake tin with the rolls inside into the preheated oven oven, pour the reserved cupful of water into the hot roasting tin and lower the oven temperature to 180c/Fan 160c/Gas 4.

Bake the cinnamon rolls for 15 – 20 minutes until golden brown. Turn the rolls out onto a wire rack to cool a little.

Brush melted butter over the still warm cinnamon rolls, then dust them generously with icing sugar and a little more cinnamon.