Yesterday morning I baked these cinnamon snails. It’s a lightly sweetened bread with a little cinnamon sugar and butter rolled up inside but it’s not heavy with fat and sugar.

Cinnamon Snails

1/2 cup warm water
4 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
7 tablespoons butter, divided, at room temperature
2/3 cup milk
2 large eggs
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons salt
1/4 cup cinnamon sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Combine the warm water and yeast in a large bowl with a pinch of sugar and let stand 5 minutes or until foamy. Warm the milk and 3 tablespoons butter just until bubbles begin to form along the edge. Lightly beat the eggs and combine with the milk mixture. Whisk together 4 cups of the flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 3 tablespoons sugar and add to the yeast mixture in the large bowl. Add the milk mixture and with your hands begin to bring the dough together. Knead the dough in the bowl, adding flour as needed until smooth. Cover tightly with saran wrap and allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about an hour.

Punch the dough down and divide into quarters with a knife. Roll each quarter out into a rectangle about 1/4-inch thick on a lightly floured surface. Spread each quarter with 1 tablespoon softened butter, sprinkle with sugar and roll up lengthwise, sealing edges tightly. Turn this tube vertically and roll up again, forming a snail shape. Place on a baking sheet coated with cornmeal, covered with a floured towel and allow to rise about 30 minutes. Repeat with other 3 quarters.

Bake 20 minutes at 350 F.

It didn’t take long to finish up Amanda’s Sophie yesterday morning and after that I felted her and let her dry in the sun for a few hours. Now I’m considering how to embellish.