It's Just Justin Scott

Back when I was a kid Cinnabon was the king. They were hot, fluffy, flavor-rich and delicious. But the last few times I’ve had them (probably three in the last ten years) they’ve been super disappointing.

So when I embarked on making the ultimate cinnamon roll, perhaps still a little tipsy from the night before, I did my best to avoid the “Cinnabon Clones” and instead decided to try something a little more original.

What I ended up with was a fluffy, gooey and delicious roll. I’ve made these now four times, each time a little different, but this recipe is the latest and best so far. 

Lots of cinnamon roll recipes require preparation a day ahead. One of the great aspects of these cinnamon rolls is that you can make them the same day you want to enjoy them. All told, it takes around two hours from start to finish to have hot and delicious cinnamon rolls. Plus you probably have everything you need for this recipe in your pantry, unless it’s weird that I keep a supply of yeast around at all times…

Cinnamon Rolls

3 tbsp butter

1 cup 2% milk

2 tbsp instant yeast

1 tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp Kosher salt

1 large egg at room temperature

3 1/4 cups all purpose flour

Filling

1/2 cup melted butter

1 tbsp cinnamon

3/4 cup brown sugar

Frosting

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup cream cheese

1/2 tsp Kosher salt

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp lemon juice

1/2 pound powdered sugar

Warm milk and butter to 115°F degrees. Pour into a large mixing bowl and sprinkle in yeast. Whisk lightly with fork to froth and let sit for 10 minutes.

Lightly whisk in egg, sugar and Kosher salt then stir in flour 1/2 cup at a time. Knead in stand mixer or on floured surface until it forms a loose ball. Spray mixing bowl with oil before setting the dough ball in the center and covering with a moist towel. Let sit in a warm space for one hour to rise.

Once dough has doubled in size roll out onto a floured surface into a rectangle that is twice as wide as it is tall and 1/8-1/4” thick.

Heat the butter and spread across the dough evenly. Whisk together brown sugar and cinnamon (the cinnamon will help dry out the sugar and remove lumps) then sprinkle across the buttered dough (I use a sifter to help keep it even).

Slice lengthwise down the dough in even 1 1/2 inch ribbons. Carefully roll each ribbon into a roll and place into a greased 9” round baking dish (makes around 6-7 rolls).

Set aside to rise a second time as the oven heats to 350°F. Bake for 25 minutes or just until the tops of the rolls are golden brown. Remove from the oven and prepare the frosting.

Beat room temperature butter, cream cheese, Kosher salt, vanilla and lemon juice in a stand mixer with paddle attachment until creamed. Slowly add in powdered sugar and mix until smooth.

Spread frosting over hot rolls and enjoy!

I have the most banal obsessions. Like this one about water filtration. Enjoy fellow weirdos!

I’m the type of person that can become totally obsessed with the weirdest things. Sometimes they stick, like my obsession with high end audio equipment, and other times the obsession is fleeting, like my obsession with sherry wine which lasted a solid season of Frasier and then disappeared.

The obsession I’m about to share could very well be the lamest though and it all started from working at St…

New Year New Gym - Why I chose Planet Fitness over the rest

It’s a new year and of course one of my resolutions is to get back into shape. The very thought of putting something like this at the top of your resolutions is stressful. 80% of people who put going to the gym as their New Years resolution abandon it by the second week of February.

But I’m determined to not be part of that 80% dropout rate which means I not only need a gym but I need one that’s…

To be honest I’ve never really been someone that relied on New Years resolutions in order to make good changes in my life. In my mind it’s really just an opportunity to set yourself up for failure that’s so expected, when it happens there is no consequence. With a failure rate of 92%, it should come as no surprise that I don’t put much credence in them.

That being said, I am making a conscious effort to do a few things different in 2016 that I failed miserably in accomplishing in 2015.

Go to the Gym & Eat Better

This is basically everyone’s resolution. Lose weight, get healthier, etc etc. It’s also one of the hardest to succeed at. Temptation is everywhere and unless you become a militant Crossfiter, chances are those Pumpkin Spice Caramel Cronuts are going to beat your Paleo Diet.

Pumpkin Spice Caramel Cronut from Foodnessgracious

That being said, I have had no issue going to the gym in the past. It’s all mental. If I can get myself up in the morning and drive to the gym, I will workout and I will enjoy it. Joining a spinning, yoga or other group exercise only improves the chances of success for me.

The trick is to just go. And maybe on the way home I can treat myself to a cronut… Just kidding, I find that the more I workout the healthier I eat. In 2016 I have two friends, Huy and Zach, who have offered themselves are gym buddies and I plan to more or less force Cody and Gabe to do the same.

How will I make this reasonable? I won’t beat myself up if I miss a day at the gym. I will document my workouts and progress in great detail as I have in the past. I plan on picking up the Four Hour Body diet again, not a difficult diet to do once you get past the first week and wow, does it work!

Write in my Blog

Writing here used to be the highlight of my day. Don’t tell my old professors, or my parents, but I used to spend a good part of my time in class writing here instead of pay attention to my lectures. If you’re a previous professor of mine I promise I didn’t do this in your class…

MacBook Air Faded and Stuff — Alejandro Escamilla

All through high school, college and my time in San Francisco I took to my blog to share what was going on in my life, review products I purchased and generally connect with the world. There was a time that I was writing tomes everyday getting tens of thousands of views every day.

Traffic got so big at times that my hosting provider, go riddance, would message me about not abusing their “unlimited bandwidth” policy.

Something happened when I moved to San Diego. It broke me of this outlet and habit. Now that I have Cody here writing in his blog on the regular and a proper office/slice of heaven to do my writing in, I hope to get back in the groove.

I’ve asked Cody to keep me on task here and have purchased a handful of a really cool things to review which should help keep me inspired! Right now I’m listening to Philips Fidelio X2 headphones on a Fiio Olympus E10K 2 digital audio converter/amplifier. Sounds pretty bomb.

I don’t want to give away the review before I get a chance to share it, or the other photos I took, but I will say this. These headphones make me question everything I thought I knew about audiophile headphones, namely that it begins and ends with the likes of Sennheiser, Grado, Stax, Beyerdynamic, etc.

These headphones are killer.

Don’t Be Such a Homebody

I bought a house, then I became a homebody. Why would I ever want to leave? I basically have everything I could ever want. A home theater system that truly rivals the movie theater, a 7-person hot tub in my beautiful back yard, hundreds of bottles of wine, beer and liquor and a bed that seems to always call my name…

Having Netflix, HBO, Showtime, Amazon Prime and Hulu at my fingertips doesn’t make it any easier! And while I love hosting people over to my house for dinners, brunches and wine nights, it isn’t a bad idea to actually go out from time to time. In fact, as soon as I hit publish on this post I’m planning to go out to Hillcrest for drinks.

Really the only thing I have against being a homebody is that it isn’t conducive to making new friends. For the first 18 months out here I wasn’t sure I’d be staying much longer so I didn’t make a huge effort to make a ton of friends out here like I had in San Francisco. I’ve made a few great friends but almost all of them are from the office.

Diversity is great. So instead of chatting with people I meet online and never actually meeting up, I’m making 2016 the year I step out of my house and into new experiences.

Making it Happen

So what do I expect in 2016? I expect to get back into the gym and to love it. To lose weight, get back the strength I worked so hard to gain in 2012 and from that be more energized, optimistic and confident.

I will write here more often and to make those efforts carry over to my photo blog. I might actually start that podcast I spent all that time and money researching and building out! I’ve actually recorded a handful of episodes but the perfectionist (…) in my head won’t let me publish. Gonna make 2016 the year that I don’t let hangups keep me from doing what I love to do which is create content.

I promise to say “Yes” more to invitations to go out and meet new people. I’m a social person, it’s about that I start exercising that muscle again!