Friday, November 18, 2011

Food on Friday: cinnamon rolls


Happy Friday everyone!  I can't believe the weekend is here yet again.  It always comes as a pleasant surprise.  I am looking forward to having some downtime and my love home for the first weekend in a long time.  He will be gone for 6 days starting on Thursday (Thanksgiving :-( ).  So we plan on overdosing on togetherness so next weekend won't be so hard.

Today's recipe is seriously a treat--and the PERFECT post-Thanksgiving breakfast for any visitors.  They contain a ton of butter so that you can come down gradually from your butter/fat/calorie high of the night before.  Plus, they are super cozy and give you a happy, homey feeling.


I had heard about these cinnamon rolls before.  My friend Rachel made them sometime around the holidays last year and posted them on her wonderful little food blog.  Then, I started reading about them on just about every blog out there in the cyber world.  That's when I knew they must be seriously good and decided I would have to try them some day.

Flash forward about 9 months and there I am with a serious cinnamon roll deficiency.  I am craving them day in and day out for a month.  And finally, I grow a pair and decide that, although I have never made dough from scratch before, I will give these a shot.  Now, I don't think that my first attempt ever at making a dough (or my attempt to quarter the recipe, bad idea) quit reached the pinnacle that these cinnamon rolls are capable of.  Nonetheless, they were seriously scrumptious (and had Peter jumping up and down like a little kid).  With a little skill and expertise, they could be life-changing. 

So, get baking and give these bad boys a spin.  Then, please go for a jog.  You may seriously shorten your life span if you don't!
***

Starting the whole thing: flour and sugar.

The milk and oil mixture with yeast. 
 The dough.
 All rolled up...there is a LOT of butter and sugar in there.

Getting ready for the oven...

...and just out of the oven.

Yumm...with frosting. 
 

 Enjoying my cinnamon rolls with a cup of coffee!

 And a newspaper...that I can't really read. 

Hello delicious!

*This recipe makes a huge amount.  I don't suggest quartering the recipe (like I did) but you could try doing half.  I used plain frosting since I didn't have maple anything and it was still great. 

The Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls
from The Pioneer Woman

"Ingredients

1 quart Whole Milk 
1 cup Vegetable Oil 
1 cup Sugar 
2 packages Active Dry Yeast, 0.25 Ounce Packets 
8 cups (Plus 1 Cup Extra, Separated) All-purpose Flour 
1 teaspoon (heaping) Baking Powder 
1 teaspoon (scant) Baking Soda 
1 Tablespoon (heaping) Salt
Plenty Of Melted Butter 
2 cups Sugar 
Generous Sprinkling Of Cinnamon



MAPLE FROSTING: 

1 bag Powdered Sugar 
2 teaspoons Maple Flavoring 
1/2 cup Milk 
1/4 cup Melted Butter 
1/4 cup Brewed Coffee 
1/8 teaspoon Salt

Preparation Instructions

Mix the milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a pan. Scald the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point). Turn off heat and leave to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour. When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but NOT hot, sprinkle in both packages of Active Dry Yeast. Let this sit for a minute. Then add 8 cups of all-purpose flour. Stir mixture together. Cover and let rise for at least an hour.

After rising for at least an hour, add 1 more cup of flour, the 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 overflow out of the pan, just punch it down).

When ready to prepare rolls: Sprinkle rolling surface generously with flour. Take half the dough and form a rough rectangle. Then roll the dough thin, maintaining a general rectangular shape. Drizzle 1/2 to 1 cup melted butter over the dough. Now sprinkle 1 cup of sugar over the butter followed by a generous sprinkling of cinnamon.

Now, starting at the opposite end, begin rolling the dough in a neat line toward you. Keep the roll relatively tight as you go. Next, pinch the seam of the roll to seal it.

Spread 1 tablespoon of melted butter in a seven inch round foil cake or pie pan. Then begin cutting the rolls approximately ¾ to 1 inch thick and laying them in the buttered pans.

Repeat this process with the other half of the dough. Let the rolls rise for 20 to 30 minutes, then bake at 375 degrees until light golden brown, about 15 to 18 minutes.

For the frosting, mix together all ingredients listed and stir well until smooth. It should be thick but pourable. Taste and adjust as needed. Generously drizzle over the warm rolls. Go crazy and don't skimp on the frosting."


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