Panini Dolci alla Cannella e Mandorla

Almond-Scented Cinnamon Rolls- I know more cinnamon rolls..but these are a little different and a delicious Italian version!  My husband has been begging for cinnamon rolls and it has been a while...so I thought I would make some with an bit of an Italian flare..this is my adaptation from a recipe on the http://www.rusticocooking.com.  The dough is easy and comes together so fast in the food processor.  This is the first time I have made dough in a food processor..I have to say I was amazed.  I also liked the fact that they added the butter before the liquid ingredients because I think this does make a difference! You get a more tender crumb by discouraging the onset of the gluten formation.  I think this definately makes a difference even with little bit of butter that goes into this dough!  No eggs are in the recipe!  I used King Arthur All-Purpose flour.  I mixed the dough the night before and without shaping the rolls, placed the dough in a lightly buttered bowl.  Placed in the refrigerator overnight and the next morning let it warm up to room temperature and then rolled out the dough and formed the rolls.   I doubled the filling replacing half of the flour with Almond Meal and adding a little brown with the granulated sugar.  I used only buttermilk in this recipe.  When the rolls were glazed I kept the glaze thin...not a thick glaze like my cinnamon rolls usually have and just before baking I added a very light sprinkling of King Arthurs expresso powder on the proofed rolls.  When the rolls where finished baking I removed them right away from the pan...I would suggest parchment lined pans instead of just buttering the pans.  I glazed the rolls and made double the recipe and used it all...topping the glaze with slivered almonds.

These rolls definately had a very tender, delicious crumb and the overall almond flavor the light sprinkling of expresso powder was only noticable if you knew it was there... topped off with a cup of espresso was absolutely wonderful! 

Sylvia