Cinnamon Rolls
No, I’m not back to cooking or baking yet. In fact, I have been the laziest slug you’ve ever met since recovering from surgery and decided today was the day to roll out of my extremely comfortable bed to finally post on my family and food blog.
What a goal! I feel guilty stating it in writing for all you hard-working folks out there really doing something with your day. I’ll chalk it up to post-surgery and pregnancy and hope I get more ambitious as the days go on.
I made these cinnamon rolls a few weeks ago and they were delicious.
I divvied them up and took them to some neighbors who had helped us finish some concrete work in our backyard and they were a hit.
I have a tried-and-true recipe for cinnamon rolls that I have been using for years that uses vanilla pudding in the dough, but these are just as delicious and I know I will make them again and again.
Thanks to Melanie from The Sister’s Cafe for the recipe. The minute I saw them on her blog, I knew I would make them. Her pictures are much better than mine so check out the link to her site and it will really convince you to make them!
Cinnamon Rolls
*Note: as with all yeast doughs, I never use the flour amount called for in the recipe as a hard fast rule (unless a weight measure is given and then I pull out my kitchen scale). Because humidity, temperature, altitude and a multitude of other factors can impact how much flour you need in your yeast doughs, I always judge when to quit adding flour by the texture and look and feel of the dough rather than how much flour I’ve added compared to the recipe. This tutorial on yeast may help identify how a perfectly floured dough should be.
INGREDIENTS:
2 c. milk
2 cubes butter (1 cup)
2 pkg yeast (4 ½ tsp)
1/3 c. warm water
1 1/3 c. sugar
1 tsp salt
4 beaten eggs
8 c. flour
Filling: 1 cube softened butter & cinnamon(lots) & sugar
DIRECTIONS:
Heat milk and 2 squares of butter together until butter is melted. Cool and set aside. Mix yeast and warm water; let stand 5 minutes. Add cooled milk, 1 1/3 c. sugar, 1 tsp salt, 4 beaten eggs. Add 4 c. flour and mix and gradually add 4 additional cups flour. Dough should be firm but sticky. Cover with cloth and put in a warm place, and raise 1 ½ to 2 hours. Dough should nearly be doubled in size. Divide dough in half and empty onto floured surface and knead a little. Roll dough into rectangle, about ½ inch thick. To this half of dough, spread on ½ square of softened butter, completely covering dough. Then sprinkle a coating of sugar over entire piece of dough. Then a layer of cinnamon. Be generous with the cinnamon; this is what makes it tasty. Roll into long roll, pinch edges together and slice with dental floss. Place on a cookie sheet covered with a silpt or parchment paper. Do same thing to second half of dough. Cover with a clean dishtowel (or saran wrap sprayed with cooking spray) and put in warm place, free of drafts, for 2 to 5 hours to raise–just depends-but they should be double in size. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or until barely browned. Remove from oven and let set for 5 minutes. Drizzle with glaze while still warm. Makes 3-4 dozen.
Hey girl, Just wanted to let you know what a awesome recipe this was. Quick,ez,and kids just think your the best cook in the house. I tweet the recipe a little, just 1 ingredient, I used 3/4 cup of pet milk in stead of the 3/4 cup of butter milk. The rolls were light and fluffy and so good. Again thank ! !
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Love your blog , it’s awesome !!!! (first time ) I’ve been looking for a great cinnamon roll recipe , and it looks like I found one!! These are wonderful!!
Angela – no, but I think you could easily just split the dough into fourths instead of in half and make smaller rolls and slice them thinner. I’d decrease the baking time by 5 minutes or so and check frequently so they don’t overbake.
Have you ever tried a mini version of these? Any recommendations for how you’d tweak it for little bite-sized rolls?
Help! I am planning to make these for a MOPS group on Friday morning and my in-laws on Saturday morning. Does it hurt them to let them rise overnight (longer than the 2-5 hours)? Thanks, Mel! I’m sharing your site in our MOPS newsletter this week!
Candis – I make my cinnamon rolls the night before all the time…so it should work just fine with this recipe. I shape and cut them and put them on the baking sheet and immediately cover them with greased plastic wrap and put them in the refrigerator. They will probably puff up slightly over night but you’ll want to take them out 1-2 hours before baking to give them time to come to room temperature and rise fully before baking. Hope that helps!
These were AWESOME! They were pretty easy to make and tasted divine! It was the first time I ever attempted to make cinnamon rolls and being relatively knew to the baking world, I did just fine! Thanks to Mel in helping out with my questions!
Does it matter which type of yeast you use for this recipe?
n82 – I would recommend using instant yeast.
Hi Melanie,
When is a good time to freeze these rolls? After they are baked do they freeze well? Have you ever tried to freeze them?
n82 – I usually freeze them after they are shaped but before they rise on the sheet pan. Then I take them out in time for them to thaw and rise to double in size, about 6-8 hours, usually and then bake them like normal.
Wow, these were wonderful. You were right when you said not to skimp on the cinnamon. My girls loved them!! I think they would like to have these everyday for breakfast. Your recipes are always on my list of new things to try. Thanks
Angie – thank you! Glad these were a hit with you and your girls.
I made these last week. They were so yummy! I couldn’t find Cream of Tartar where we live so I made the cream cheese frosting from the other cinnamon roll recipe. But if I can ever find that ingredient I would like to try this icing recipe as well! Thanks for another fantastic recipe!
Kensi – glad you liked this recipe!
julie – that’s kind of a funny image of these rolls rising…and rising…and rising. Almost as if they had a life of their own! Humidity definitely can affect yeast doughs so it sounds like you made the right decision to add extra flour. I’m glad they turned out great for you!
I finally made a batch and found and found that the dough was very wet I added an extra approx 1 cup flour. as I live in a very humid town in a Australia, it effected the dough quite a bit. It didn’t effect the end result, in fact They just kept rising and rising and rising, I couldn’t believe it. I rolled out air bubbles(they popped) they rose as I was cutting them it was incredible, it made me laugh. Anyway they tasted beautiful, and there was no complaints.
well i am in the process of making them and as we live in mackay au it is very humid and have found that the dough is still very wet, so i have added approximatgely another cup of flour, A the moment they are in the process of rising and boy it’s sure doing that, what do you think about adding the extra flour.
julie – this recipe uses all-purpose flour. I never use self rising flour in my recipes so when you see “flour” you can be pretty safe assuming it is all-purpose. Hope that helps!
HI THERE, JUST WANTING TO CLARIFY , THE FLOUR THAT YOU USE IS IT PLAIN FLOUR, OR S.R. FLOUR.
what flour do i use sr or plain
well the addiction is spreading accross the east coast of Ausralia. I cooked them for my family and now they are spreading the word…they are also great with chopped walnuts (my eldest daughters favorite, the cinamon is my youngest)
jacki – thanks for the rave reviews…I’m so glad you liked these!
oh my GOD made these and might I say heaven in a bun…mind you the quantities were different I froze half the dough no way was i making that much!!! to good!!! I am still licking my fingers!
Oooh, I’ve never been much for yeasty doughs (I’m deathly afraid of making breads and doughs) but I might have to make an attempt at this one….maybe in honor of the first day of school in a couple of weeks! >>I’d like the recipe for the vanilla pudding version too!!
Yum!! I do love these and your picture looks awesome!! I know the recipe is confusing with the squares of butter. It was the way I got it–it was a friends great grandmothers recipe or something. You will have to post your vanilla pudding recipe–it sounds really fun!
Wow looks yummy. First time here. U have a nice blog.
cinnamon rolls–the cure for what ails ya. very nice, melanie! and i sincerely hope you’re back in tip-top form soon! 🙂
Ambitious ha! Take it easy on yourself! These look wonderful!
These look so amazing, I am going to make some for my aunts family since she is not feeling well. this should certainly brighten her day. does 2 squares = 2 tablespoons??
Kelly – thanks for commenting! I’m so glad you liked these and that they turned out for you!
Oop, the hubs walked in, saw these and said “honey why don’t you make some?” . . . They look great!
Ditto – We would love to see the vanilla pudding cinnamon roll recipe! The ones you posted here look terrific.
I am heartbroken that my husband wasn’t in your backyard helping that day. Bad husband, bad!
Hi Katie – thanks for your comment. You’ll have to let me know how these turn out. I meant to change all the units in the recipe that said “squares” because it was confusing but it looks like I missed one or two. I WISH a square was just a tablespoon bu it is actually one cube of butter. So the two squares called for is two cubes (one cup) of butter.
I made these (they were pretty easy!) and I got the best response from all of those who ate them (and ate them and ate them and ate them…)>>Thanks!
These look AMAZING!!
Just found your blog today and immediatly hit subscribe! Everything looks yummy!
Those cinnamon rolls look really good!
Oh please post the recipe for cinnamon rolls using vanilla pudding!>-Grammaduh