Sunday, December 16, 2007

Cinnamon Rolls

Now if you have gotten one of my recipes you know I don't always have exact measurements for everything! I just taste it until it taste good or it looks right. Sorry if this is scary for you. At least the roll recipe is pretty exact. If you have any questions just ask me.

Ingredients:
1 packet of active dry yeast
1/3 c. very warm water (105*-115*)
1/2 c. warm milk (scalded then cooled)
1/3 c. of sugar
Sugar for filling (brown or regular)
1/3 c. unsalted butter for dough, softened
at least a stick of butter for filling, softened
butter for icing
1 tsp. salt
1 egg
3 1/2-4 cups of flour

Icing:
Soft butter (again don't know exactly how much, at least a tbls. per roll) if unsalted add a pinch of salt. You've seen how I slather the tops with the icing so depending on how naughty you want to be determines the amount of gooey butter. You can always add more if it doesn't seem like enough.
Powdered sugar (add until it taste good and sweet enough)
teaspoonish of vanilla
a little milk just to loosen up the icing - like a tbls. at a time, you don't want it runny
If you like the orange flavor- add a tsp. or so of orange zest, depending on how strong you want the orange flavor

Instructions:
In a large bowl dissolve yeast in warm water. Then stir in milk, sugar, butter, salt, egg, 2 cups of the flour. Mix with a spoon until smooth. Mix in enough flour to be able to handle the dough and it's not to sticky. Kneed the dough on a floured surface until smooth and elastic (like a few min.) Place in a greased bowl and then flip it over in the bowl so that the greased side is up. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm spot until it doubles in size. Mine doesn't always double so let it rise for about an hour and if it stops rising then it's probably done. If you poke it an indent should stay. Punch down the dough and divide it in half. Roll out half the dough on a floured surface into a rectangle shape. It should be about 1/4-1/2 an inch thick. Smother with softened butter (I don't know exactly how much but it should cover the whole surface) Then sprinkle with white sugar or brown sugar, nuts, raisins, any dried fruit, and cinnamon. Again, I don't have a measurement for all of this, just cover it with sugar and a light dusting of cinnamon and it will be good I promise! Then roll it into a log and slice it, about 2 inch slices. Place them on a buttered pan leaving room for rising. Cover them and let them rise again for about 40 min. I've skipped the second rising and they rise a lot when they cook so I don't know if it's necessary but that's what the recipe says. Heat oven to 375* and bake for about 25-30 min. or until the tops are browned. If they seem like they're browning to quickly before the inner dough has a chance to cook, cover with foil until the last few min. Glaze while still hot. I make a bunch of these, put 6-7 of them in a disposable foil pie pan (3 for a dollar at dollar tree) cover with foil and give them to my neighbors on Christmas Eve. I put the glaze in a ziplock and a little note on top with cooking instructions. My neighbors love them. It's not very expensive but a very yummy gift. Oh, you can keep these in the fridge covered and raw for a few days and cook them right before you want them. You can even freeze them raw. I'll e-mail the little note I use for gifts.