All I can smell is freaking almond

I mentioned yesterday that my pregnancy cravings are ridiculous and I think I hit a new low today. Around lunch time today, after my stroller run outside but before my treadmill run, I decided that I NEEDED a cinnamon bun. Once that idea wormed into my head, I couldn't shake it.

It wasn't like a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch was going to do it because I had a specific idea of exactly what kind of cinnamon bun I wanted, and even a Pillsbury one from a can wasn't going to cut it. I considered going out to get one, but Faith was napping and I was deeply concerned that if I drove all the way to Panera that they would be out of buns or worse, have icky crunchy buns. There was only one solution here: make my own.

I've made cinnamon buns tons of times, but it's still quite the undertaking because they have to rise twice. Also, I have shit for brains lately, so that also created some difficulties. Let's run down the list of things I messed up (that I normally never do):

I accidentally turned the mixer on high after putting flour in there...while wearing a black shirt. Yeah, that was super fun to clean up.

I only have two bottles of extracts in my spice cabinet, yet somehow I grabbed the wrong one and didn't realize that I grabbed the almond extract instead of the vanilla and splashed a little in the mixer before I corrected myself. I was so sad that I ruined everything, but I decided to just go with it because I didn't have enough eggs to start again.

I forgot to add salt. Such a rookie mistake! I had to pull the dough out of the rising bowl and re-knead it while sprinkling salt like fairy dust.

I left half a stick of butter on the island to soften (for the filling) and forgot to hide it before going grocery shopping. So yeah, the dog really enjoyed her afternoon snack.

So the theme here is that I shouldn't be allowed to make my own food and I really need to crave easy things like McDonald's milkshakes again.

The dough came out fine, but all I can smell is almond. I must have only added half a teaspoon, but that stuff is strong! I added vanilla too (I thought it might fight the almond?) but I still just smell almond. My husband says he can't smell it, but I think he's lying to me because he thinks I've lost my mind.

See, they LOOK normal.

I have so many skills

Time is yeast bread Viagra

My buns always pop up in the middle. I have issues.

It seems like the more I progress in pregnancy, the more I'm going to talk about food on this blog. Sure, I ran 8 miles today but aren't my buns more important? They are cooling right now, so I'll have to report back on the almond stank issue. Let's hope the cinnamon and butter cover it up enough.

Don't worry, I'm not ignoring Faith or Peanut while I quest after my latest craving. Just this morning:

They see me riding dirty...

It's not all baby thug life around here, she busted out her inner diva while I was making the cinnamon bun dough:

Mommy, can you pull the car around? I need to go shopping. 

And the dog? She got half a stick of butter for a snack (and I can't find the wax paper anywhere) so I'm pretty sure she and I will be bonding a lot either tonight or tomorrow. Pet ownership is just such a gift.


What's the dumbest mistake you've ever made baking? 


Edited to update: The buns taste great! I had 3 just to make sure, but I can't even taste almond.