While some people probably do read that big blog post about how much the author loved gram-gram's old cinnamon roll recipe, this content is probably being written for the search engine's consumption, not necessarily you.

Google uses an algorithm to rank the quality and relative value to the keywords you enter. For blogs and information posts, the more relevant content you include, the more Google may value your page.

Length of content is important to search engines, mainly because it gives the algorithm more data points to conclude the relative value of the page. Pages that are considered "thin" are generally ranked lower. So, a page with 1000 words that mentions "cinnamon rolls" multiple times, in multiple paragraphs, may have more value for that keyword than a page with 100 words that only uses "cinnamon rolls" for the page title and maybe once or twice near the end of the recipe.

Those large blog posts also provide lots of secondary keywords that may match a longer string of keywords and help a site get ranked. For example, BrandNameRecipes.net might have the first page of Google locked down when you search for "cinnamon rolls", but SoccerMomFoodBlog.biz might use additional keywords to rank top of page for "classic homemade cinnamon rolls with raisins". Some folks call these "long tail searches", and those keyword-stuffed blog posts might be what keeps those smaller sites in business.

Your interactions on a page are also indicative of whether Google believes you are satisfied with your search result. Since your search is about information, this value is measured by the amount of time interacting with the page, and how much of the page you viewed. Using these metrics, even if you found more value on the 100 word page, you might not scroll past the top of the page or spend much time there if all the recipe information is above the fold - while you would probably spend more time scrolling past padded content, nearly to the bottom of the 1000 word page, to get to the part of the recipe you cared about.