Sunday, January 27, 2008

Cinnamon Rolls

Makes 2 dozen rolls plus two small loaves of monkey bread.
Start to Finish: About three hours.
Ingredients:

Dough

1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons sea salt (you can use regular table salt but sea salt tastes better, better yet, it tastes less.)
2 large eggs
3 envelopes yeast (Or a wee bit less than three tablespoons)
7-8 cups of flour (I use 7 in Utah (drier climate) and 7 3/4 in Indiana)
2 1/4 cups of very warm water (120-130 degrees)

Filling/Topping

2 sticks (one cup) butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
6 tablespoons cinnamon

Frosting

1 stick butter
1 8 oz. package cream cheese
1 1/2 lbs. powdered sugar (about 3/4 of a 2 lb. bag)
1 teaspoon vanilla
dash salt
a couple of teaspoons of milk

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream butter, sugar and salt for 3 to 4 minutes until lightened and creamy. Mix in eggs. Scrape bowl as needed until mixed well.


In large bowl stir together 4 cups of flour with yeast and add to butter/egg mixture. Then add warm water and stir until combined. Scrape bowl as needed. Add the rest of the flour one cup at time until mixture starts to build up on paddle.
Cinnamon Roll 101

Cinnamon Roll 101
Scrape the paddle and switch to the dough hook and continue adding flour until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and is soft and not overly sticky.

Dump dough out onto floured surface and knead until smooth. (The mat I'm using is called a RoulPat, a SilPat's older brother, both are silicone baking mats that are oven safe, if you make bread all that often a RoulPat is one of THE BEST investments you can make.)
Cinnamon Roll 101
Place dough in large greased bowl to raise for half to one hour (cover with clean towel) in a warm place.
Cinnamon Roll 101
While dough is raising add all ingredients for filling/topping to the bowl of a large food processor.
Cinnamon Roll 101
Pulse to combine and until the mixture resembles moist, course crumbs. Set to the side.
Cinnamon Roll 101
When dough has doubled in size,
Cinnamon Roll 101
divide in half and roll out first half on a well floured surface to a rectangle, about 1/4 inch thick. (Stainless steel silicone rolling pin, another excellent investment)
Cinnamon Roll 101
Cover dough with 1/3 of cinnamon/butter mix
Cinnamon Roll 101
and roll up tight like a jelly roll.
Cinnamon Roll 101
Cut off first few inches with sharp serrated knife and set to the side. Cut 12 rolls and place a few inches apart on a jelly roll pan covered in parchment.
Cinnamon Roll 101
Set aside remaining end of dough. Cover with towel and allow to raise until doubled in size (30-60 minutes) Repeat for other half of dough.

With the four remaining ends of dough, cut into small pieces and loosely place in a small bread pan, add a few bits of the cinnamon mixture throughout. Cover and allow to raise.
Making Monkey Bread
When the rolls have raised, preheat oven to 325 degrees and sprinkle remaining cinnamon/butter mixture over the rolls.
Unbaked Cinnamon Rolls
Bake for 15-20 minutes (WATCH CLOSELY PLEASE. With all that butter and sugar these babies can go from gooey and delicious to burnt mess in moments. Trust me.)

While the rolls are baking, cream together one stick of butter, 8 oz. of cream cheese, a teaspoon of vanilla and a dash of salt.
Frosty Beginnings
When mixture is fluffy and creamy (2-3 minutes, with bowl scraping) add powdered sugar.
Frosting
How much? Until it looks and tastes right, trust your instincts. But it's usually about 3/4 of a bag. If it gets a little thick add milk a teaspoon at a time until it is somewhat thick and fluffy. (You'll be spreading it on the hot rolls so you want a little substance to it)
Finished Frosting
Frost while warm, eat while warm.
Finished Cinnamon Rolls

Yum right?

Bake the little monkey breads for 20-25 minutes at 325 after the rolls are done baking.

Spread a little frosting on them, oh baby.

Unbaked Monkey Bread
FInished Monkey Bread
Questions? Comments? Email me...mooshinindy*at*gmail*dot*com

17 comments:

Barb said...

Atta girl!

Amy said...

this is just mean. I am too queasy to cook these, but the bun in my oven wants me to eat them.

Im not far from Indy ... wanna come and make me some? hmmmm? pretty please?

Monds & Mayberry said...

Casey, I followed your link over here. I will be making these cinnamon rolls tomorrow! Yummy!!

Janssen said...

Holy holy crap - I could just lick my screen right now.

Charlene/crazedparent.org said...

I think I just gained ten pounds looking at those gorgeous buns (teehee). So delish and on my list for next weekend's Sunday breakfast. Yum-o!

Nanette said...

SmilingMom.com says:

You have no idea how excited I am to see you here!! I'm looking forward to trying your recipes. Thanks Casey!!

Lindy said...

yippie! A recipe that uses a food processor! I haven't used mine yet and I've had it for 7 months- it scares me a wee little bit! Also I can't seem to find any recipes that uses one, well except for pesto and there's only so much pesto a girl can eat!

Anonymous said...

YUMMY!!! Glad to see you've branched out :)

Chicky Chicky Baby said...

Holy butter, batman!

Can't I just eat a stick of butter covered in cinnamon? That would be a lot less work for lazy ol' me.

Ali said...

i am soooo making these tonight. i'm salivating just looking at them...

Michelle said...

Thanks for the photos! I want to make these but I may not get to it....

Amy said...

Oh. My. YUMMM!
I am going to have to come up with an occasions to make those. Maybe a gathering of skinny people that I would love to see get fat...
Why do all great things start and end with copious amounts of butter?
Don't worry, I will not let that stop me from making these.

Auntie Nettie said...

I'm sorry -- but 3 hours!? And a food processor?

Ladies, I admire your skills but I'll have to admire these virtually as I have no room to store a food processor in my NYC studio, nor a counter to roll these out -- and 3 hours to make them? What a luxury. You gals are really really lucky and I hope you all know that.

These buns make me miss the days when my mother was Molly Mormon and made things like this.

Justin said...

Yummy. They were DELICIOUS! Melanie did a good job :)

metalia said...

DUDE. I made these this morning, and they're baking now. I wish you lived closer so I could hug you in person. Or I may just hop a plane to come do it. MY HOME SMELLS THAT DELICIOUS.

chaffinclan said...

I was a tad skeptical, I'm not gonna lie to you. I mean, three hours? And lots of bowls and kneading and blah, blah, blah.

However,these are divine morsels sent straight from heaven. They're worth every second spent making them and every calorie spent eating them. Thanks for sharing.

Rachel said...

Num Num! There's nothing like homemade cinnamon rolls ;-)

We're making a butterscotch monkey bread.

Merry Christmas my sweet friend. I hope your day is full of family, laughter, magic and miracles.