I ♥ Cinnamon Rolls.

Today we ate cinnamon rolls.

I went to Story , a lovely little Prairie Village restaurant, this morning with Britt for an event dedicated to cinnamon rolls. 

How excited do you think I was???

The answer is "very".

Judith Fertig is a writer {and blogger!} who lives in Overland Park and has published several cookbooks.  Her latest is titled i love cinnamon rolls.  The event included the book, lunch, and a demo by Judith! 

We arrived to the sold out event and were immediately seated and served coffee and a warm cinnamon roll to enjoy while we poured over the book.  Oh my word...  I don't even know where to begin to think about choosing a recipe to make.

 

Do I start with the simple and lovely Traditional?  Or do I choose a more exotic selection such as Mexican Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls, Cinnamon Bear Claws, or Szechuan Pepper Rolls with Ginger Glaze???

 

Did I mention she includes several vegan recipes???  I'm going to write a book called I ♥ Judith Fertig.

 

Then I'll probably make the Whole Wheat Pumpkin-Pecan Cinnamon Crowns.  Because, ya know.

Judith prepared her traditional cinnamon rolls while we all oohed and ahhhed and I took notes. 

Mine never rolls out that nicely.

 

She was super funny and had lots of great tips.  I was very jealous of the fact that she could demo, uninterrupted, and how everyone laughed at her jokes.  Demonstrating for adults, happily sipping their wine, seems much more fun than demonstrating for 12-year-olds.  Not once did she have to ask anyone to stop talking or touching each other.  And she didn't have to ask anyone to move or send anyone out of the room.  Lucky.

Cinnamon Confetti.

Judith addressed lots of questions about ingredients, baking times, and how to test for doneness.  Besides being very informative, she really conveyed the love that goes along with baking, especially baking bread.  There's something wonderful about working with dough.  I think she nailed it when she called it therapeutic.

After the demonstration was over, we moved on to lunch.  I've been wanting to try Story for quite some time now.  It's a small place, and the chef/owner was present and working away on our made-from-scratch meal.  They had no problem adjusting the pre-fix meal to vegetarian.

Drool-worthy menu.

The first course was a Butternut Squash Bisque.  Yum!

Delicious!

Judith sat down at the table next to us and was so sweet to chat with us while we ate.  She told us a bit about her career and how she came to love food, cooking, and writing.  I felt a little bit star-struck.

The chef prepared me an out of this world ravioli with spinach and mushrooms instead of the fish that came with the meal.  I wanted to lick my plate it was so good.  I refrained.

And dessert was an interesting mix.  It was a lemon cake with grape sorbet and cinnamon walnuts.  Very yummy, but not a combination I would have ever thought to put together.

And then, as if we hadn't received enough goodness, we were sent home with a couple of tiny cinnamon rolls.  I probably should have saved them for Drew, but I couldn't help myself.  They were too cute not to eat immediately!

 

Hey little cuties!



What a fun event!  I'm so thrilled to have met such a lovely, successful woman and shared some cinnamon roll love!  I have a feeling you will be seeing a few cinnamon-roll posts this winter.  Get excited!

 

 

Check out Judith's blog if you are interested in her work.  She has posted several of the recipes from the book, including those insanely-amazing-sounding pumpkin crowns!!!