Sunday Morning Cinnamon Rolls
Last night, Aaron and I went out with his family to Town & Country Restaurant here in Wichita. It’s a family style, home cooking, walk out of there after eating three million calories kind of place. Your arteries will thank you if you only frequent the place once every six years. I’m not going to lie, the food was good. But, yeah, it’ll kill ya. Like the fact that they serve cinnamon rolls WITH EVERY MEAL.
But while the rest of the food might have been pretty tasty in that greasy spoon kind of way, the cinnamon rolls sucked. Yep. Sucked.
So I came home inspired to try and make a better batch myself. Is this normal? Probably not.
The dough has to rise for two hours, but I didn’t think I’d want to wake up and spend so much time waiting for breakfast, so I let the dough rise overnight.
As Aaron said, they’re “decadent cinnamon swirls of heaven.” He may be teasing, but I think he’s right.
Ingredients:
For the dough:
3/4 cup warm water
2 packets active dry yeast
4 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup milk (we had 1% and skim in the fridge, so I used the 1%)
2 tbsp melted butter
Tiny amount of vegetable oil to coat the bowl
For the filling:
1/2 stick softened butter
2 tbsp cinnamon
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
For the glaze:
1 cup confectioners (powdered) sugar
2 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla (though I think I might leave out the vanilla next time…)
Pour the warm water into small bowl and sprinkle yeast on top. Add a pinch of sugar to proof and let the yeast get foamy - about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, add flour, salt, sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add the water, milk and melted butter and combine thoroughly. If the dough is still sticky, add more flour by the tablespoon full until it’s managable.
Lightly flour the countertop or pastry board and place the dough on top, lightly coating with flour and kneading for about 5 minutes until smooth.
Use a teeny bit of oil to coat a large, clean bowl. Add the dough and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let rise for 2 hours in a warm place OR refrigerate overnight.
If you’re letting the dough rise overnight, take it out of the fridge and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to an hour to take the chill off.
Meanwhile, mix the cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl. Set aside.
After the dough has risen, roll it out on a floured surface into a large rectangular shape about 1/4 of an inch thick. Spread the 1/2 stick of butter to coat the dough and sprinkle a generous amount of the cinnamon and sugar mixture. Roll the dough to form a long cylinder. Slice the dough into 1 inch thick slices.
Grease 2 8x8 or 1 9 1/2 x 11 inch pans with nonstick cooking spray. Add the rolls so they fit snuggly next to each other. Set aside and allow to rise for another 45 minutes (they will rise a lot during this stage - it’s important).
Preheat the oven at 375 degrees. After the second rise, bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown on top. Before the rolls cool, drizzle the glaze on top.
Makes 15-18 cinnamon rolls.
August 30, 2009 | 3 notes | Comments
