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.

Butter Cream Glaze:
1 cube softened butter (1/2 cup)
1 tsp vanilla
dash of salt
dash of cream of tarter
1 1/2 lbs powdered sugar
scalded milk or cream
Add all together, adding milk a little at a time, alternately with the powdered suagr until desired consistency is reached. For cinnamon rolls, it needs to be a little thinner than regualr icing.
Recipe Souce: From The Sister’s Cafe