2nd Most Favorite Thing About the State Fair of Texas: Cinnamon Roll

Ok, I know. You may have been expecting something a little more exceptional out of Number 2. Something flashy and awe-inspiring. Something with chocolate, perhaps. I get it. A cinnamon roll, to anyone who hasn’t actually tasted the Tower Building version, seems a little pedestrian for the great State Fair of Texas, and perhaps misplaced at #2 on my countdown of most favorite things. Cinnamon rolls are, after all, EASILY procurable, throughout the year, at ANY local grocery store, bakery, donut-selling establishment, or Pillsbury pop-open cylinder.

As with many things at the Fair, however, these particular cinnamon rolls are NOT what they seem.

Primarily because the actual bready-cinnamony-roll part is absolutely, positively delectable beyond compare. It is the perfect, soft, cinnamon-butter delight. Like the very best piece of warm, sweet bread you ever tasted, melting in your mouth while leaving you so hungry for more that you are literally shoving in bite after bite with absolutely NO regard for choking hazard.

And that’s not even the best part.

The best part is the melted, sugary icing that is poured on top. (Some people also add nuts — I am a purist, however.) This icing is, quite possibly, the most unadulteratedly sweet thing I have ever tasted in my entire life. A not-too-thin and not-too-thick glaze of perfection that is poured LIBERALLY over the top of the warm cinnamon goodness. The liberal pouring is really the key to this item’s beguiling deliciousness — what you want is for the cinnamon roll to stand like an island in a small lake of white, luscious icing. That, my friends, gives you the correct ratio for cinnamon roll dipping throughout. Make no mistake, the roll itself is LARGE — you absolutely require that lake of liquid sugar in order to correctly adorn each bite that goes down the hatch.

The cinnamon roll may be my favorite thing to make newcomers eat. They simply can’t understand what could be so great about it until they take the first bite and then, chewing thoughtfully, the eyes close… and sweet, sweet recognition is upon them.

My usual State Fair routine, ANY time I visit, involves a direct route to the Tower Building for one of these babies. It IS, after all, a breakfast item — should you arrive at around 10AM when the Fair opens, this is the perfect mid-morning treat.

Now I must deliver some news that is horribly bad and also unconfirmed. This may be the one time in my life that I hope the information I am about to pass along is not true.

I have heard from an inside source that THE CINNAMON ROLL MAN WILL NOT BE RETURNING TO THIS YEAR’S FAIR.

I will tell you right now that hearing this literally brought tears to my eyes. For real. Does the Cinnamon Roll Man not care that his item brings such joy to many lives each year? Does he not understand the importance and privilege of being named #2 on this particular Countdown of Favorite Things? Does he not dream about the cinnamon rolls all year the way I do? Does he not know that without its annual fix of warm cinnamon, butter, bread and lake-of-sugar, my body may experience some unforeseen (and possibly pernicious) side-effects? (Or just shut down entirely?) How can he turn a blind eye to the fact that after a long, hot summer I need an extra-potent dose of super-sweetness to keep me balanced for the rest of the year?

These are questions I cannot answer. I don’t know why we are being punished.

This is BAD NEWS. Losing money bad news. Non-injury car accident bad news. Pet dying bad news.

I hate to end any post about the Fair on a down note, but I really AM bummed out about this. I’m holding out weak hope that the fried birthday cake, fried spiral yam doo-dad, or fried peaches and cream may be worthy enough to help me deal with my sorrow, but I’m afraid that nothing will be able to fill the cinnamon roll-shaped hole in my heart.

I can promise you that I am going to walk into the Tower Building on my first Fair visit this year, scrunch my eyes closed, point myself toward the western wall, and squint out ever-so-slowly to see whether I spy a sign that says “Cinnamon Rolls.”

If it’s not there, I kind of hope they simply leave the booth dark. Maybe put up a plaque of some sort.

Because I’m just not sure anything will ever be able to ever take the place of a cinnamony-bread island in a lake of sugary bliss.

Update (9/25/09)

Dreams DO come true! When I walked into the Tower Building today, faced West and opened my scrunched-closed eyes, this was the sight that greeted me:

Sorry to scare everyone like that.

Photos by Nikki.

~ by nf1014 on September 23, 2009.