Hello everyone! I'm back again with the promised Thanksgiving tradition post! Today I am sharing with you a recipe I created last year for Thanksgiving. Each year we have cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Thanksgiving morning. This is a tradition my mom started when I was a little girl and once I was old enough to bake I sort of took over the cinnamon rolls and started trying different recipes year after year. None of them were really that fantastic, however, last year I decided it was time to create one of my own. Which brings me to:
1. I love to create recipes! I am in the kitchen a lot during the week and most of the time it is not to make something from an old recipe, but to create a new one instead! I actually find a lot of my inspiration from Pinterest, and then recreate something similar and sometimes healthier than the original food. I love cooking and baking but would rather bake than cook any day!
I call this the Double Cinnamon Roll recipe because not only is the cinnamon in the rolled part, but it's in the dough as well! So double the cinnamon! :) I think it's really tasty this way and gives it a wonderful and much better flavor! I usually make this up the day before Thanksgiving so that all I have to do the next morning is preheat the oven, pop them in until they are warm (usually less than 20 minutes, sometimes 30 minutes) and then drizzle the icing over the top!
What We Are Making Today:
Ingredients For Rolls
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, sliced
1 cup sugar
2 cups warm water
2 Tablespoons active dry yeast
9 cups white flour
1 egg
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon almond flavor
2 Tablespoons cinnamon
Flour for surface
Ingredients For Sugary Inside
1 cup brown sugar
2 Tablespoons cinnamon
1 stick butter
1/2 cup whipping cream
Ingredients For Icing
1 stick butter
2-3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Directions
1. In a microwave safe bowl put the milk, sliced butter, and 1 cup of white sugar. Microwave for 2 minutes.
2. In a liquid measuring cup pour the 2 cups warm water and yeast. Stir and set aside.
3. In the milk/butter/sugar bowl stir in 2 cups of flour, the egg, vanilla and almond flavors, and the cinnamon. Once this is mixed together add two more cups of flour and stir it together well. Now pour the yeast/water mix in and stir it in. Add the remaining cups of flour 2 at a time until all 9 cups of flour have been added.
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| This dough is not quite done, but it's getting close. You can see all the cinnamon streaks in it already! |
4. Cover the bowl with a towel and set in a warm place to rise for 30 minutes to an hour. The dough should rise to the top edge of the bowl when it is ready. (When I've made this recipe in the summer it only takes 30 minutes, but in the fall/winter it takes longer because of the cooler weather.)
5. As the dough gets closer to being ready to roll out go ahead and mix together all the ingredients for the Sugary Inside. I usually melt the butter in a microwave safe bowl and then stir in the remaining ingredients. I don't suggest switching out whipping cream for anything else, but if you must then go ahead. It just tastes best with it.
6. Once the dough has risen, divide it into 4 fairly even sections. If you plan to bake your rolls ahead of time, which is what I almost always do, go ahead and preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
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| This dough is actually from my Sweet White Bread recipe, which is basically the same thing but doesn't have cinnamon and some other things in the dough itself...as you can tell from the photo there are no cinnamon streaks in this dough...yours will have it though so don't worry! :) |
7. On a floured surface roll out one part of the dough at a time. I usually roll it into a long rectangle shape and the thickness of the dough varies but I usually keep it about as thick as a handle on a regular dinner knife.
8. Spoon about three big spoonful's of the Sugary Inside mix onto the dough. Roll the dough up. Spread the mix around really well, add a little more if you need to or want to, but leave enough to divide between the other three sections of dough!
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| This photo is actually from my Sweet White Bread recipe, but you roll up the cinnamon rolls the same way as you see it here in this pic. |
9. Roll the dough up. I like big rolls so I usually roll up the dough from the shorter side of the rectangle, but if you want really small rolls you can roll the dough from the longest side. In the pic I show the shortest side being rolled up which is how I do them.
10. Use a 12 inch piece of floss to 'cut' the dough once it's been rolled up. Just slip it under the bottom of the roll, pull the string up straight on each side of the roll, cross them and pull. I usually make the rolls about 1 inch thick. Place the cut rolls onto a greased baking sheet or baking pan. Leave only one finger width of a gap between each roll since they will expand a little more before they bake.
11. Repeat steps 7-10 for the remaining 3 sections of dough. Let the rolls sit on the pan for about 30 minutes. The first pan you finish should be about ready to go in the oven by the time you finish up slicing the last of the dough.
12. Bake only one pan at a time for 20-30 minutes. Bigger rolls take a lot longer to cook thus the 30 minute time, but if you're doing smaller rolls they may be done in 15-20 minutes.
13. While the rolls are baking you can mix together the icing, or if you're serving them the next morning for breakfast you can do this then...but either way: melt the butter, add in the vanilla, and add 2 cups of powdered sugar. Stir together. Now add 1/2 cup of powdered sugar. You want a semi-thick mix, but not something that'll be heard to drizzle over the rolls once they're done baking. Add more powdered sugar if needed.
Reheating
If you make these ahead of time like me all you have to do once they are finished baking is let them cool and then cover them with something like plastic wrap and leave them out on the counter. You can put them in the fridge, but usually we never have room and for one night they'll be fine. The next morning just reheat the oven to 350 degrees and pop those pans in there. I'd say check the center of a cinnamon roll after about 15 minutes and if they're not ready check every five minutes after that. Make sure you don't drizzle with icing until they are ready though because baked icing is nasty!
Closing
Method: Place 2 cups of beans in a pressure cooker with 5 cups of water. Bring pressure cooker valve to a slow rocking. Cook for 25 minutes. Allow to cool on its own. Follow steps above for freezing. 