Miniature Things: Homemade cinnamon rolls

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Homemade cinnamon rolls

I got inspired by the internets to make some homemade cinnamon rolls recently. The recipe I saw was for eggnog rolls, but since I think eggnog is pretty foul, I went traditional:

Super Fun Cinnamon Rolls

1 3/4 cup skim milk

1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil

1/2 cup sugar

2 pkts active dry yeast

3/4 tsp baking soda

5 cups all purpose flour

2 Tbsp butter, melted

1/4 cup sugar

LOTS of ground cinnamon

For the Icing:

5 Tbsp melted butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

~4 Tbsp hot water

1) In a large pot, combine the milk, oil and 1/2 cup sugar. Heat over low heat until the mixture is very warm, but not hot (~100-110 F). Remove from the heat. Sprinkle the yeast atop the milk mixture and let sit for ~5 minutes. Stir to combine.
2) In the same pot, stir in four cups of the flour with a rubber spatula until wet and dry ingredients are well-combined. Sprinkle the baking soda atop the dough, along with the remaining one cup of flour. Dump the contents of the bowl onto a lightly floured surface, and knead the dough by hand until it is soft, smooth and stretchy. (This is the super fun part!)
3) Transfer the dough ball to a clean, lightly-oiled bowl. Cover with a towel and let sit for an hour, or until the dough doubles in size.
4) Pre-heat oven to 350 F.
5) Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface again, and press by hand into a rectangle (about 15x6 inches).
6) Brush dough with the melted butter. Mix the remaining sugar and ground cinnamon together, and sprinkle that generously on the dough. Roll the dough into a log lengthwise, pinching the same together to hold it closed. Cut the log in 1/2, and then in 1/2 again, cutting about four 2 inch pieces out of each section. You should end up with 16 rolls total.
7) Lightly butter two 9" round cake pans. Place the pieces into the cake pans, about an inch apart. Bake for 16-20 minutes, until the rolls are light golden and puffed up. Cool just slightly on a wire rack.
8) Meanwhile, prepare the icing in a mixing bowl by beating together the butter and powdered sugar, adding the vanilla and water to combine in smooth texture. Spoon over the warm rolls and enjoy immediately!