Family Recipe Fails or Priceless Rites of Passage?

Wrecking my mother’s cinnamon rolls still felt like a poignant initiation worth celebrating.

Photo by Nadya Spetnitskaya on Unsplash

I was in my early 50s when I finally found the confidence to attempt my mother’s complicated cinnamon roll recipe.

Well, it was complicated for me. As someone who rarely bakes a homemade loaf of bread, all that kneading and rising and filling and shaping and cutting and rising — ahhhh!!

Let’s just say I've been intimidated by this recipe for decades.

Yet, it had also been calling to me. Encouraging me to preserve an heirloom simply by becoming the next person to make it.

There was never any doubt in my mind that Mom’s cinnamon rolls were part of my family’s legacy.

And important to my personal history.

So, I always thought I would become a cinnamon roll-making grownup who would pass this family recipe on to my children and grandchildren.

A gift from my mother full of handwritten family recipes. Photo by the author.

Eventually, I had to make them just for me.