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This Wednesday, January 6, is Epiphany, which in Louisiana marks the beginning of Mardi Gras season or "king cake season." Calling this traditional treat "cake" is somewhat of a misnomer, as king cake is really just a sweet dough that is formed into a ring, filled with a praline mixture, and topped with a thin icing. I tailored a cinnamon roll recipe and made both cinnamon rolls and individual king cakes, which was a great way to kill two birds with one stone. If you're going to the trouble to make a sweet dough from scratch, it's always nice to have multiple uses for it, especially one that involves freshly baked breakfast treats.

1 cup warm milk
¼ cup butter, melted
5 tsp yeast, dissolved in 2/3 cup warm water
2 eggs
½ cup sugar
1 tsp salt
5 cups flour

Combine the warm milk, butter, yeast, and water. Whish in eggs, sugar, and salt, then add flour 1 cup at a time to form a slightly sticky dough. Knead with additional flour and transfer to a buttered bowl, cover, and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 ½ hours. Turn out the dough, roll and fill as desired, and allow to rise for 1 hour before baking at 375 degrees until golden brown; about 30 minutes for a large king cake, or 15 minutes for small cakes or cinnamon rolls.

For praline filled king cake: Combine ½ cup chopped pecans, ½ cup brown sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon, ¼ cup melted butter, and 2 tbsp flour. Roll dough into ropes, flatten into long rectangles, and sprinkle with praline mixture. Fold the dough over lengthwise and pinch the ropes shut, sealing the filling inside. Twist two ropes together and round them into a ring shape.

For cinnamon rolls: Roll dough into a ¼ inch thick rectangle. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Roll up dough, pinch together to seal, and cut into inch thick slices.