Friday, December 21, 2007

Cinnamon Rolls

I love the smell of cinnamon rolls baking!
We have cinnamon rolls Christmas morning. I will make them the night before and put them in the fridge, then bake them Christmas morning.
I put craisins in these.
I use this roll recipe for alot of things- dinner rolls, pizza dough, etc. It's a good basic recipe. I've used it so many times, I have it memorized. I normally only put in one cup of wheat flour in this recipe-

Quick Rolls

1 1/2 c. warm water
3 T and 1 tsp. sugar
2 T yeast
1 egg
1/2 c. dry milk
2 T butter
1 tsp. salt
4 to 5 c. flour

Mix all together in a mixer with a dough hook, adding enough flour so that the dough no longer sticks to the sides of bowl. Let knead for 5 to 10 min. Roll out into desired shape.

For cinnamon rolls:
Roll dough into large rectangle on a floured surface
Put on in even layers:

Butter
Sugar
Molasses (I think this makes them more caramelized on the bottoms, but you could skip molasses by just using brown sugar)
Cinnamon
Raisins (craisins or diced apples work nice as well)

Roll dough up like a snake (Jelly roll style) and cut in 1 1/2" sections. Place in greased glass baking dish (9"x13" or similar) let rise for about 30 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 30 min- tops should be lightly browned.

Frosting-
2 c. powdered sugar
3 to 5 T. milk (use enough milk to get the consistency of honey)
Dribble over cinnamon rolls, after they have cooled for at least 30 min. If you put the frosting on while the rolls are still really hot it will just melt into the cracks and not be very noticeable.
These are good without frosting as well.

5 comments:

The Pace Posse said...

Questions, questions, questions :)

If I make them the night before do I let them rise in the pan the 30 minutes before I put them in the fridge for the night?

Do I bake them longer if they have been in the fridge overnight?

When you say add butter in an even layer, do you mean just butter the whole thing of dough?

I am so excited to try these for Christmas!

The Pace Posse said...

Another question, can I subsitute anything for the dry milk?

Rachel said...

You don't have to let them rise- they will rise enough slowly over the night and in the oven in the morning.
I put them in a cold oven and then turn it on, you might need to add on about 5 minutes to account for preheating. (I tend to go by color to know when it's done- lightly brown on top, if you press on them a little there is still give, but you can't make a fingerprint)
When I put butter on, I put dabs of butter across the whole rectangle of rolled out dough, then take a spatula or knife and spread it out. You want it to look similar to how you would put mayo on a sandwich.
Sugar needs a thicker layer- you don't want to be able to see the glossiness of the butter under it. (if that makes sense.)
Molasses just needs to be drizzled over the sugar, maybe 1/4 cc to 1/2 c. and cinnamon is a matter of preference. My mom hardly uses any-- cinnabon would probably use 1/4 c.
Hope that helps!
Let me know how they turn out!
One of my friends started making cinnamon rolls as a tradition for Christmas morning and now her kids (23 and 25) say it doesn't seem like Christmas unless there are warm cinnamon rolls. And one of her boys doesn't even really like cinnamon rolls!

Rachel said...

Dry milk--
It's used so that you don't have to heat the milk, basically.
In all you need 2 cups of liquid-- so you can use 2 c. of water or 2 cups of milk. With plain water it is ok, though I think it's a little drier- so I would probably do all milk (that's basically what 1 1/2 c. water plus 1/2 c. powdered milk is). You can heat the milk in the microwave-- just don't make it too hot-- you want warm water, like what your kids would wash their hands it (my kids can't handle mytype of warm) if it's too hot it will kill the yeast.

The Pace Posse said...

Rachel: Thank you so much for sharing all your expertise and being so patient with my ignorance! ;)

We always have cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning, but how much more special to make them from scratch - and to smell them baking your home.

I can't wait to try this!

Merry Christmas.

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