So I saw these cinnamon rolls that got rave reviews from some cooking blogs that I check out on a regular basis. I was looking for something special to make for breakfast on New Year's day so I thought I would give them a try.
THEY ARE FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So delicious and sinful! I would eat the whole damn pan if my calorie counting brain didn't get in the way (dang brain). Hubby thought they were wonderful and stood by the pan guarding them from my attempt to eat more....I got stabbed a few times by his fork but my hand will be fine in a few days I'm sure. I made mine much smaller than the normal size cinnamon rolls so that we would only have one pan to deal with. They came from the Pioneer Woman blog (which is great and should be checked out for other wonderful things). Her recipe is for a very LARGE batch of these rolls, so I only used 1/4 of what she called for. The recipe below is for the large batch.
SERVES 28 , 56 rolls
Ingredients
4 cups whole milk
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
4 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
8 cups all-purpose flour (i used whole wheat flour)
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon salt
1 1/2-2 cups melted butter
1 cup sugar
generous sprinkling cinnamon
7 tablespoons melted butter
2 lbs powdered sugar
2 teaspoons maple flavoring
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup brewed coffee
1/8 teaspoon salt
Directions
1Mix milk, vegetable oil, and sugar in a pan (large soup-pot type). "Scald" the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point.) Turn off heat and leave to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour.
2When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but NOT hot, sprinkle in yeast. Let this sit for a minute so the yeast gets all warm and moist and happy. Then add 8 cups of all-purpose flour. Stir mixture together. Cover and let sit for at least an hour.
3Now add 1 more cup of flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir mixture together. At this point, you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it—overnight or even a day or two, if necessary. Just keep your eye on it and if it starts to splurge out of the pan, just punch it down. Or, of course, you can just go ahead and make the rolls.
4Sprinkle surface generously with flour. Take half the dough and form a rough rectangle. Then roll the dough thin, maintaining a general rectangular shape. Rectangle should increase in both width and length as you roll it out.
5Now drizzle melted butter over the dough. Sprinkle sugar over the butter, followed by a generous sprinkling of cinnamon.
6Starting at the opposite end, begin rolling the dough in a neat line toward you. Keep the roll relatively tight as you go. Some of the butter / sugar / cinnamon mixture may ooze out toward the end, but that’s no big deal. Next, pinch the seam to the roll to seal it.
7Spread 1 tablespoon of melted butter in seven round, foil cake or pie pans. Then begin cutting rolls approximately 3/4 to 1 inch thick and laying them in the buttered pans. Repeat this process with the other half of the dough. This recipe makes approximately seven pans of rolls (56 rolls).
8Let the rolls sit for 20 to 30 minutes to rise, then bake at 400 degrees until light golden brown, about 15 to 18 minutes.
9While the rolls are in the oven, make the deliciously sinful maple frosting. To a mixing bowl, add powdered sugar, maple flavoring, 1/2 cup milk, 1/4 cup melted butter, brewed coffee, and salt. Stir until mixture is thick but pourable. Taste and adjust as needed.
10Generously drizzle frosting over warm rolls after you pull them out of the oven.
Once again I took the picture AFTER we had already dug in to them.
