WC Recipe Exchange: Rum Buns

On the What’s Cooking? board, there is a recipe exchange held every couple months or so. This is my first exchange, and the challenge was to send a recipe that reigns from your region…that basically says, hey this is my town’s specialty!

EDIT: Found out through comments that the person who submitted this recipe is Sweetie Cakes. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!!!

My first try, I forgot to add the yeast…ugh…so I had to start over at the very end…but it was worth it. This is a great bread with a tinge of sweetness from the icing.

Here is her recipe:

Washington, DC doesn’t have a lot of famous foods but the oldtime seafood restaurants served rum buns instead of regular bread. So when you go to the traditional DC seafood spots, you look forward to the rum buns. This recipe is from the Flagship Restaurant (now Phillips Flagship).

1/2 stick (1/4) c. butter
1/4 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. scalded milk
1 envelope dry yeast
1 egg, beaten
2 1/2 tbsp. rum extract
3 1/2 c. flour, sifted

For brushing the loaves:
2 tbsp. raisins, chopped
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp butter (melted)

For the icing:
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 tsp of rum extract
2 tbsp hot water

Combine butter, sugar, and salt. Add scalded milk and let mixture cool to lukewarm. Sprinkle yeast over the mixture and beat it until it is smooth. Add the egg and 1 1/2 teaspoons rum extract. Beat in 1 3/4 cups flour until smooth. Add 1 3/4 cups more flour and beat until mixture is smooth. Let the dough rise in a warm place, covered with linen tea towel, for 2 hours or until double in bulk.

Grow little bacteria grow!(yes, I realized after this, I needed to remove the saran and put the towel on instead lol)

Punch down the dough and divide it in half. Roll out each piece of dough into a rectangle 12 inches long, 4 inches wide and 1/2 inch thick.

Ready to ROLL! (after the raisins of course!)

Brush each strip with 1 tablespoon melted butter then sprinkle over each strip 2 tablespoons each of sugar and chopped raisins. Roll the dough up jelly roll fashion, stretching it so that it is 15 inches long. Cut each roll into 18 pieces, each 3/4 inch thick, and put them, cut side down in the bottom of well buttered 3 inch muffin tins.

Let buns rise in a warm place, covered with a linen towel, for 1 hour or until double in bulk. Bake in hot 400 degree oven for 15 minutes or until golden.

In a bowl combine 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, 2 tablespoons hot water, and 1 teaspoon rum extract; spread the buns with the icing as soon as they come out of the oven. Cool buns on wire rack.