Beginner's luck is great for beginners.

- Robert Fripp

The Recipe

Was the first attempt just some beginner's luck? What are the odds I could replicate my success? I decided to make the same cinnamon roll recipe that I made in Attempt 1 to find out if I just got lucky. Besides, you know what they say, "The difference between good and great is consistency." I don't actually know if that's a saying, but I'd believe it.

I tried something new with the frosting and made Browned Butter Frosting. Sounded interesting, and I'd made a lot of frostings heavy in the powdered sugar recently and wanted to experiment with something else.

Cinnamon Roll Recipe: Better Homes & Garden Cinnamon Rolls

Filling: Cinnamon Sugar

Frosting Recipe: Browned Butter Frosting

The Attempt

This attempt was a lesson in time management. I broke up the attempt into two days. I whipped up the frosting the evening before needing cinnamon rolls and then made the rolls on the following day over lunch, plus some miscellaneous afternoon breaks. What's the point of working from home if you're not taking the occasional break to check on the dough? I call it "Making dough while making dough." Although it was a bit sad to miss the team's weekly board game lunch that occurs every Wednesday.

The Rolls

Day two of this cinnamon roll doubleheader was making the rolls. The same cinnamon potato rolls from the first attempt, but seeing if I could make them quicker and better.

I still have a nervousness with using yeast because you can't recover from that if it fails. If the temperature of the potato/milk/sugar mixture is too hot or too cold and the yeast doesn't activate, then I'll have some very sad, flat, cinnamon roll pancakes. So, triple-checked the mixture's temperature before putting it into the flour and yeast, and had to let it sit for a few minutes to get the temperature down a little.

My nerves weren't aided during the mixing stage since this attempt had a different consistency than the first batch. This attempt appeared thicker than I remembered, and the mixer seemed to require more force to knead the dough. It didn't help that I was adding flour in 1/2 cup increments and I may have lost count of the number increments I'd added to the dough. But I was like 80% confident I remembered the correct number. I couldn't turn back now. The only way was forward and to see if the dough would rise.

I rushed rolling up the dough last attempt and I was a bit disappointed with some of the resulting gaps in the rolls. Not mad, just disappointed. So I focused up and tried to get a tight roll going from the start. Not to pat myself on the back too much, but I think I nailed it. The cuts of cinnamon roll were tightly rolled and much fewer gaps than round one. Maybe I'm starting to get the hang of this.

I finished making the cinnamon rolls in the afternoon, stuck rolls into the fridge, and took the pan over to share with some friends.

The Review

Overall, I was pleased with my second attempt. Even though it was the same cinnamon roll recipe as the first attempt, I think it was helpful to repeat it to tinker with it and to identify potential hiccups. For example, I think tossing in a pinch of nutmeg and ground cloves into the interior of the rolls was effective. But I also need to be very careful to not overdo it, which is a tendency of mine.

Things I appreciated about this attempt:

• The frosting turned out well despite my struggles. It was light and airy, so you weren't getting "lost in the sauce," as the saying goes. I think adding the extra powdered sugar, milk, cinnamon, and nutmeg helped add a flavor to compliment the roll without being overly sweet or buttery. The frosting is worth trying again sometime.

• Adding some more brown sugar and cinnamon to the interior mixture was definitely the right call.

• Taking breaks from work to complete all the steps following letting the dough raise were very welcome on a slow Thursday afternoon.

• Turns out beginner's luck wasn't so lucky since this recipe turned out well too.

• The rolls sliced from the cinnamon roll log were very aesthetically pleasing. Most of them started with a clean point in the center and were in tightly spiraled. I'm still trying to find the trick for pinching the outside edge into the dough to smooth it out and seal it, but some of the rolls had this and others didn't.

Things I learned from this attempt:

• Refrigerating the frosting overnight was the correct decision for food safety reasons, but it took a long time for it to thaw. Like it took most of the afternoon. You can't stick it in the microwave otherwise the frosting will melt. So, if I refrigerate the browned butter frosting in the future, then I need to plan ahead and provide myself ample time to get it back to room temperature.

• Be careful with the potato. I noticed some bits of potato in the dough when I began rolling out the kneaded ball. I picked out the worst ones, but I know that I didn't get them all. So, it's a reminder to make sure the mashed potatoes are fully mashed. For these first two attempts, I followed the recommended strategy of microwaving a pierced potato for five minutes, scooping out the pulp, and mashing it up. But obviously I didn't mash it up enough if some potato bits where still making the dough lumpy.

• Cut the cinnamon slices into thick pieces. Maybe not "thiccc", but "thicc". More than two c's in this spelling because otherwise the rolls might get doughy. But these rolls were quite a bit flatter than the first attempt, and I think it's largely due to me cutting slimmer rolls. I'll try cutting ultra thick rolls one of these times just to see what happens.

• Speaking of cutting, Kellon recommended using floss or string to cut the rolls. I've been using a knife to slice into the cinnamon roll log, but it doesn't always cut cleanly and became progressively more difficult as I got closer to finishing the log.

• Start with less time on the oven while baking and then add more time until the edges begin to golden. These rolls cooked a little too long and were fairly firm on the outside ridge. However, the inside was perfect.