Sunday, May 30, 2010

Cinnamon Success

I’ve been making cinnamon rolls for a long time, but never took them very seriously. I love the yeasted variety, but have never been patient enough to go through all the rising steps, especially considering I’m not a morning person and just will NOT get up early enough to make it happen.

Over the past year I’ve been keeping my eye out for recipes that allowed an overnight rising. I tried a few different recipes, but none were worth repeating. Finally last week when I was looking for something else (isn’t that always the case?) I found this one. The instructions are so detailed and the comments so many and so positive, I had to try them.


Basically dump everything in the mixer, knead, roll out, fill, roll up, rise, bake. They can be refrigerated overnight and even frozen before baking. Perfect for this night owl that isn’t keen on getting up hours before breakfast just for a cinnamon roll, no matter how good it might be.


I wasn't that particular about evening up the ends, so I ended up with a couple misshapen rolls. I loooove raw cinnamon rolls, and those are the ones I usually eat. But this time I refrained. (Probably the first time EVER I've done that.)

This week’s house guest isn’t a fan of raisins, and I was out of nuts, so I went with a simple brown sugar and cinnamon filling.

One of the tips in the recipe was to avoid crowding the rolls in the pan. I’ve always packed them pretty tightly. Maybe that was one reason (of many) they didn’t impress? Another step I've never done before is sift the brown sugar with the cinnamon. It takes a while because the sugar is dense, but it's worth the consistency you get in the end.


They went directly into the refrigerator – absolutely no counter top rising.


The next morning…


They didn’t look that much fatter, but they were almost touching. I put them in the oven for 20 minutes and proceeded to make a cream cheese frosting.

I was so excited to pour on the frosting that I forgot to photograph the beauty of them when they first came out of the oven. There were only three of us this weekend, so I should have made a half batch (a full recipe made 16 large rolls). But I didn't.

I’ve got lots of leftovers, and even four that didn’t fit in the pan that I have put in the freezer for another time.


This recipe is definitely going in my recipe box. One alteration I did make was the amount of butter I used on the rolled-out dough. The recipe called for ½ cup – I used ¼ cup, and it was plenty.

As usual, I would like to tweak the fillings to make it a little more my recipe. I’m thinking chai flavors with hazelnuts, for starters. But I’m going to have to wait for the next round of house guests before I’ll allow myself this carbfest again. We’ve got a nice guest room if anyone is interested.

7 comments:

  1. Wait... where's the recipe? I NEEEEEEEED it!

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  2. Okay, I see the link to the recipe now. I can calm down now.

    And go shopping for ingredients.

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  3. Well I made this over the weekend, and I have to say, they're every bit as good as you said they were. I actually cut the recipe by 1/4 (A standard yeast packet is exactly 3/4 of what the recipe required, so it seemed a good idea). Instead of having enough dough for 15 rolls, I fit the whole thing as a dozen rolls in one 9x13 pan.

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  4. Oh, I'm glad your results were as good as mine. Good thinking re quantities. Though I still have four cinnamon rolls in the freezer that are just waiting for me ;).

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  5. Question, Juline... when you pull these out of the freezer, are you thawing them before baking? Stuff 'em in the refrigerator overnight? Other?

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  6. If they're in the freezer, I pull them out the night before and let them thaw/rise overnight on the stove with a tea towel draped over the top. (The stove is turned off, but the warmth from the pilot light probably doesn't hurt.)

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