Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Cinnamon Roll Saturday

My hometown is filled with amazing women. Incredible cooks, crafty geniuses, decorating and organizational wizards. Lucky for me, many of them are friends with my mom...and I benefit by getting their recipes handed down to me. This cinnamon roll recipe has made the rounds in town for quite some time, and I'm not really sure which fabulous woman deserves the credit.

These cinnamon rolls are worth waking up early on a Saturday morning! They're a light, fluffy version. Here's the recipe and a little step-by-step photo guide. (Just remember, these photos aren't pretty; my aesthetic juices aren't flowing in the morning.) But hopefully it will help you get the basics down.

Now for the recipe:

10 tsp. yeast + 1 C warm water (mix and set aside)
4 C scalded milk (warming it for 2 min in microwave works great)
1 C sugar
1 C butter (melted)
4 tsp. salt
4 eggs
12-13 C flour

Mix milk, butter, sugar, salt, eggs and add half of the flour. Mix well. Add yeast mixture, and stir well. Add remaining flour to make sticky dough. (I usually add all 13 cups). Let rise until double. (Usually 1.5 - 2 hours, depending on the temperature of your kitchen.) Punch down. Divide into thirds. On floured surface, roll out 1/3 of dough into a rectangle, about 3/4" - 1" thick.

Spread with softened butter and a mixture of cinnamon sugar.



Roll up on long side.




Cut 1" thick slices.




Place in large, buttered baking sheets. (barely, or not even touching)
3 across and 4 down is perfect.
Let rise for 20-25 minutes in pan.
Bake at 375 for 15-18 min, until golden brown.



Glaze with a mixture of powdered sugar/milk while warm.

*I don't have the exact measurements for the cinnamon sugar mixture or the
powdered sugar glaze. But I do try to keep the glaze pretty thick because it melts on top of the rolls.

***This is the only photo I got of the finished product. While I stepped away from the kitchen, a small boy assisted by his father couldn't resist helping themselves to a sample.***

Oh, and one more thing: this recipe makes a HUGE batch. 36 cinnamon rolls, to be exact. So I typically make it for holidays or family gatherings. I've never tried scaling back the recipe; but if you want to make it for a normal-sized family, I think a quarter recipe would still give you 9 rolls. Good luck. Let me know what you think if you try it!

6 comments:

Waxy said...

those look absolutely divine!!!

Lauren said...

are these the ones you made in May? Those were amazing! You are one of those crafty organized women! Remember how you were pregnant, chasing down Hudson and making a ton of food in may.. yeah amazing! My jeans that are a size bigger than normal thank you!

Iva Messy said...

ohhh these look amazingly delicious!

Christina said...

we used to have cinnamon roll sunday but mine were out of that premade can thing. these look way better.

jeanine said...

Oh my goodness... Cinnamon rolls are my biggest weakness! I'm going to have to try these!

Emily said...

Cheryl saw this and said "we have got to make these!" So when she gets back next week that is what we are doing!