Monday, December 17, 2012

Making Cinnamon Rolls This Week

It's been a while since I've played in my kitchen so I decided to make cinnamon rolls this week and try a new recipe to make them.

A while back I did a blog post about the Easiest Bread I've Ever Made and I decided to see if I could adapt it for a sweet roll.  For my first trial, I halved the recipe and doubled the amount of sugar it called for in  the dough.

The recipe performed great.  The rolls were good, but the dough was definitely more for bread than a sweet roll.  I was hesitant to add any additional sugar to the dough thinking it would affect the yeast's rise, but, I should have added more sugar inside when I rolled them up to cut.  We liked them and thought they were just sweet enough.

For my second trial, I used the Pioneer Woman's cinnamon roll recipe that she showed on her TV show a couple of weeks ago.  Either I misunderstood the amount of butter and sugar she calls for, or she's got a trade secret on how to keep that much inside the dough when you begin to roll it up jelly-roll style.  

The dough portion was wonderful, but the full cup of sugar inside makes the rolls much too sweet for us.  This recipe makes a LOT of  rolls if you cut them 1/2" thick as she recommends.  I did half the dough per her instructions and half with less sugar and butter and I cut them about 1 1/4" thick.  These turned out more to our liking, but still too sweet after adding a simple powdered sugar glaze.

I wound up with SIX eight inch round cake pans of rolls.  Thank goodness three of our neighbors were home and Fred showed up just in time to deliver them!  Then I gave the fourth pan to my great-nephews to enjoy, leaving us with just two!

Pioneer Woman’s Cinnamon Rolls   

Heat to just below the boiling point:
1 quart milk
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar

Cool to lukewarm and sprinkle 2 packages yeast over the top. Let stand 1-2 minutes.

Stir in 8 cups all purpose flour.  Mix well and let rise 1 hour.

Add 1 more cup of flour combined with 1 heaping teaspoon of baking powder, 1 scant teaspoon of soda, and 1 tablespoon salt.  Mix well.

Divide dough in half.  Roll out each piece about 30” long.

Spread each half of the dough with 1 cup melted butter, 1 cup sugar and 1/8 cup cinnamon.

Roll tightly and pinch to seal the seam.  Cut in ½” slices. Let rise for 20 minutes. Bake at 375°  for 15 minutes.   You can fit 7-9 rolls into an 8” round cake pan.  This recipe makes 6 pans full of rolls.



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As soon as we recover from our sugar coma, I'm going to cut the PW recipe in half and try this again!  So, look out neighbors, there are more rolls heading your way soon!


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I tried this recipe, but reduced it by half. It turned out great even though I missed the "let it rise for 20" before baking. Still worked well. I am going to make this again. Thanks for the recipe. Pat