There must be a hundred different cinnamon roll recipes, from the French pain aux raisin to the British Chelsea buns to Philadelphia style sticky buns to the Midwest American truck stop cinnamon rolls that are as big as your head.
Here is the recipe I grew up with and still bake most often.
Cinnamon Rolls
Makes 12 rolls
Dough:
16 oz all-purpose flour
10 oz warm milk
2 teaspoons instant yeast
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon saltFilling:
4 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup choppped walnuts or pecansGlaze
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Make the dough by combining all of the ingredients and kneading until smooth, 5 to 10 minutes. The dough should be tacky but not sticky. If it is too moist add a handful of extra flour. Place the dough in a bowl, cover the bowl, and set aside to rise until it has doubled in size (roughly an hour).
While I'm waiting for the dough to rise, I like to plump the raisins by pouring very hot water on them and letting them sit in the water for 15 minutes before draining them. This keeps them moister when you bake them, but this step isn't necessary if you are short on time.
Sometimes I prepare my filling as you'll see below: by combining the softened butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar in a bowl so they can be spread together. Again, this isn't necessary: you can simply spread the butter and sprinkle the sugar and spices as best as you can by hand. It is up to you.
When the dough is risen, roll it out on a floured surface.
Spread the filling on the risen dough.
Also sprinkle the raisins on top.
Roll the dough up, trying as best as you can to prevent the filling form spilling out. Slice the roll into 12 even pieces.
A tip from the Department of Slow Learners: I have no idea why it took me 25 years to figure out this trick, but it did. In the past, when I needed to slice something like this into 12 even pieces, I would eyeball it and then start carving one slice at a time off the end. Inevitably as I reached the final couple of slices I'd have either too much or too little left, so the final couple rolls are never the same size as the rest.
The trick I learned is to first slice the roll into two even pieces. Then slice slice each of these pieces into two even pieces, so you have four pieces total. Each of those pieces only needs to be cut twice more for you to have twelve pieces. Eyeballing how to cut a small piece of dough into three even pieces is much easier than eyeballing a twelfth of a large piece of dough.
Moving on....
Now that your roll is cut into twelve even pieces, place those pieces in a baking pan.
Cover the pan and let the buns rise for another 45 minutes to an hour until they've roughly doubled in size.
Bake them at 375 for 20 to 25 minutes. Be careful about oven positioning and overbaking: because there is quite a bit of sugar in the filling it is quite easy to burn the bottom of the rolls. I find that the second rack from the top works best in my oven, and I try to pull them out as soon as they look baked.
Let the rolls cool for 20 minutes or so before glazing them. The glaze will thicken as it cools, but if it is extremely runny feel free to add some additional powdered sugar to thicken it up.
There is it.
I'd be interested in hearing about other people's favorite Cinnamon Roll recipes/techniques. Please share your recipes, ideas, and photos.
Cinnamon Rolls
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This is my aunt’s recipe which my mother always swore was “the” best sweet bread dough recipe. She used potato and its water which makes such a tender dough, as you know. I have made her recipe and added my own twist using chocolate cream cheese icing and cinnamon chips both inside and sprinkled over the top.
I also made some with vanilla cream cheese icing.
Other photos can be seen here: http://zolablue.smugmug.com/gallery/2348537#122923980Chocolate Cinnamon Chip Rolls
Refrigerator Rolls – Makes 12 large rolls*
1 Package active dry yeast
1/2 Cup lukewarm water (add pinch of sugar) Set aside.
In large bowl:
2/3 Cup shortening
2 Teaspoon salt
1/2 Cup sugar
2 Eggs
1 Cup mashed potato
1/2 Cup milk (Aunt uses evaporated milk)
1/2 cup water potatoes cooked in
4 to 6 cups all purpose flour (this varies but the less flour the better but must be able to handle the dough)
Mix first three ingredients; shortening, salt & sugar. Add eggs one at a time and beat in. Add mashed potatoes, yeast, milk, potato water and mix.
Add flour; three to four cups, mixing well adding enough more flour until dough can be handled and turned onto floured board. Knead well using as little flour as possible. Place in large oiled bowl, cover and let rise double. Knead lightly and cover, place in fridge until ready to use or overnight.
For cinnamon rolls:
If refrigerated, let bowl sit at room temperature for 30 – 40 minutes. Then roll out dough on lightly floured counter to roughly 12 x 18 inches for large sized rolls. If dough has been divided for smaller sized rolls; roll out dough to approximately 1/2 inch thick. Brush on melted butter, then sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon mixture and chopped cinnamon chips. Leave about 1/2" border.
Starting at edge tightly roll up dough. Cut into 1 1/2" pieces and place in buttered baking pan. Let rise until double.
Bake in 375 degree oven for 25 - 30 minutes or until lightly browned.
Drizzle with icing and sprinkle chopped cinnamon chips.
Filling:
3/4 Cup brown sugar
1 1/2 Teaspoon cinnamon
4 Tablespoons butter, melted
3/4 - 1 Cup cinnamon chips (chopped) - more to sprinkle over top
Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing
4 Tablespoons butter, softened
8 Ounces cream cheese, softened
3 Ounces** Ghirardelli 62% bittersweet unsweetened chocolate morsels, melted (or chocolate; your choice)
Dash of salt
3 Cups confectioners sugar
1/3 Whole Milk (approx – use enough to get desired consistency)
1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
Cream together the butter and cream cheese. Add melted chocolate, salt, confectioners sugar, milk, and vanilla. Beat until smooth and spreadable.
*Or divide dough twice or into thirds for desired size rolls.
**Adjust chocolate amount if you are making part of the icing vanilla only.
omgjhdgfjhdsgh gaaah! Floyd, if you love me, you will try this recipe for me soon!!!
Wow. Um... I mean... wow.
That blows my chocolate cherry bread totally out of the water in terms of sheer decadence.
I guess I know what my wife is going to have for dessert when she gets back from her DC conference trip on Sunday ....
Ah man... you're gonna make me look bad if I don't bake these next weekend.
"Well, JMonkey found the time to bake that chocolate cinnamon recipe. Surely you can too!"
Well, you can comfort Dorota with the thought that I'll make them with 100% whole wheat flour and will probably substitute ground cinnamon for the cinnamon chips -- I've never been a fan of cinnamon chips.
But the whole cinnamon - chocolate thing ... mmmm ... Mexican chocolate.
Well...thankfully, I don't think Floyd would do whole wheat on me, since he has generally not been a purist with the stuff even when it comes to "whole wheat bread"... and honestly I don't know that I've ever even tried cinnamon chips so I'd be fine with the ground cinnamon. :D
So I guess that means that Floyd is NOT off the hook with me on this one!!
On my account, anyway. We had sourdough pizza tonight, but no chocolate-cinnamon rolls. My 3-year-old and I were just too pooped to get them together.
Next weekend, however ....
I couldn't get it together either. But I did make a raspberry coffee cake for breakfast, which was quite good.
Zolablue, I tried your recipe twice this weekend - the first time for my family (came over for breakfast), the 2nd time for the inlaws. I received RAVE reviews from many, many people. This dough is sooooo soft - I've never baked a bread with potato in it before, but it seems to make all the difference. I'd be interested to find out what cinnamon chips are - I made mine with the traditional raisins, brown sugar and cinnamon, and made the vanilla cream cheese icing. This recipe is definitely a keeper!
Thanks!
The cinnamon chips are Hershey's. You can find them in the grocery with the chocolate chips and other types of chips in the baking section. They are really a nice addition to cinnamon rolls for an intense, creamy cinnamon burst. I'll bet you can find them in your local grocery, if I can, I know you can.
Pseudobaker, I'm so happy you tried the rolls and liked them. I do agree that is the most tender dough and because of the potato. My aunt also has a recipe using this dough for a Swedish Tea Ring and another aunt uses this same dough recipe to make delicious orange rolls. So just make it for anything you would like, even dinner rolls.
I hope you guys find the cinnamon chips to at least try them. Really, though, cinnamon rolls are good with or without them.
Floyd, Zolablue,
I'd have to say both those recipes look really good, but my wife and kids haven't caught me looking at them yet.
Bill
Stop making things that look so yummy! I don't have time to bake right now! This isn't fair! Sigh. Off to the store for more raisins and walnuts...
Gary and I are both making Homer Simpson noises, then I showed my sister this page and she must have passed out, because she hasn't answered me. They're both gorgeous! The tomatillo sauce I just made doesn't compare. Grrrrr. Where did you two say you live?
Susan
OMG, my MIL makes the best cinnamon buns, but those sure look like they could give her a run for her money. I am sooooo making these.
Those both look like winners and the photography looks professional. Very nice job.
Eric
All these goodies that require dairy to really make them "right". Wow, those all look great! I tried the BBA cinnamon roll recipe substituting soy products for the dairy (due to dairy allergy) and they just did not taste that great that I'd bother again..I think cinnamon rolls and sweet doughs like this really need the real milk and butter, not to mention ZolaBlue's delicious looking cream cheese icing! Boy, I miss dairy...
Mountaindog,
I was just torturing myself by rereading this thread (just ate breakfast and I'm hungry again), and saw your lament about dairy free stuff. I'm in the same boat; if it came from a cow, goat or sheep, I can't have it. Heartbreak for a former cheese fanatic, but I'm learning to cope (sort of).
I've given up completely on cheese replacements; I'd rather do without than eat what's out there. Too much like plastic for my taste.
On the baking front, however, I've almost completely made up for the lack. Soy works for some stuff, but I agree that the taste can interfere. I've found that coconut milk works wonders. If you find you can taste the coconut, you can also mix it 1:1 with soy. The tastes seem to sort of cancel each other out, and the coconut has enough fat to make it act like milk in the bread. For butter replacement I've found that a product called Earth Balance works pretty well, though it's a little bit salty. It's all natural, no hydrogenated nasties etc. The same company makes a shortening that works very well for cakes (I just used it in qahtan's rich stout cake -- yum!)
I usually make cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning, and they worked fine this way. of course, next year I'm going to have to try Floyd or zolablue's recipe!
You have my sympathy; dairy free is a stinker,
edh
edh - thanks for dairy alternative tips.
I had never thought of using coconut milk, that sounds like it's worth a try, do you use the canned variety sold in supermarkets? I do use Earthbalance products, I like their version sold under the "Organic Smartbalance" label best, and I have had good success using it as a butter replacement in most recipes like sourdough waffles and saffron buns (last item in blog at bottom). You may want to try Floyd's saffron bun recipe here sometime, they were great, I made them for Christmas morning by substituting Earthbalance's "Soy Garden" spread for the butter and Silk soy creamer for the milk. I find the Soy Garden to not be too salty, give it a try if you can find it, usually sold in health food stores (is there still a health food market in Machias?).
The other things I really miss are really good butter croissants and brioche. I used the make very good brioche, I have not in a long time because I know I will want to eat some!
The canned stuff (not the sweetened stuff for pina coladas, though that has it's place, I'm sure!), in the grocery is the one I use. Thai Kitchen and Native are both good brands. Some of the others have thickeners that really don't need to be there. I avoid the light versions, as they're basically watered down regular; I can do that myself for less!
I haven't seen Soy Garden here; I don't get down to Machias very often, the natural food store in Calais is closer. I'll have to ask her if she can get that one in. I think the one I've been getting from my co-op is the same as the Organic Smartbalance that you mentioned.
I'm with you on the croissant thing; for a while there was a little bakery in Pembroke (they've moved to Grand Manan, though not to run a bakery), that made the best croissants I'd ever tasted. I guess I'm glad they moved before I discovered my allergy... I've been meaning to try making a puff pastry with earthbalance shortening so that I can try qahtan's apple turnovers.
edh
Thanks for the comments on my recipe and I hope if you try it you like it. I wanted to add cinnamon to the icing but thought it might be overkill. Naw, I think it would be good. This dough recipe was also used to make my aunt's famous Swedish tea ring and orange rolls. I haven't made those yet but I plan to. I had a lot of working with the recipe to get it right since this was never a written recipe and my aunt was emailing me to help me get things right.
Floyd, my husband is a total raisin freak. He just loves them and as much as he liked my cinnamon rolls he told me next time he would really love cinnamon rolls with raisins. No, he said, cinnamon rolls HAVE to include raisins!
I actually just got done playing with cinnamon rolls myself. I started with the recipe in the BBA and was disappointed with the results. For a second batch I modified it, changing a few things and incorporating some of Alton Brown's "overnight cinnamon roll" recipe. The end result was, in my mind, superior to either of the contributing recipes. Since it is a mix of AB's work and the dough from the BBA, I guess that makes these ABBA (Alton Brown's/Baking Apprentice) rolls...
Dough: (this is very similar to Reinhart's dough, with the addition of the cinnamon and a move away from using all bread flour)
6 ½ tbsp (3.25 ounces) granulated sugar
1 tsp. salt
5 ½ tbsp (2.75 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg, slightly beaten
1 tsp fresh lemon zest
1 tsp cinnamon
6 ounces bread flour
10 ounces AP flour
2 tsp instant yeast
1 1/8 C. (9 ounces) buttermilk at room temperature
Filling: (from Alton Brown's recipe)
8 ounces light brown sugar, approximately 1 cup packed
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Pinch salt
3/4-ounce unsalted butter, melted, approximately 1 1/2 tablespoons
Icing: (based loosely on AB's recipe, but drastically changed as I prefer a thicker icing that has more cream cheese flavor)
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3s cup confectioners sugar
[Similar to the dough-making process from the BBA]
Combine the flour, yeast and 1 tsp. cinnamon and whisk to mix ingredients. Set aside.
Combine the brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl. Mix until well incorporated. Set aside until ready to use.
Cream together the sugar, salt and butter on medium-high speed in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment.
Add the egg and lemon zest and continue mixing until smooth.
Then add the flour mixture and buttermilk. Mix on low speed until the dough forms a rough ball. Switch to the dough hook and increase the speed to medium, mixing for approximately 10 minutes or until the dough is silky and supple, tacky but not sticky. You may have to add more flour or water to achieve this texture. The dough should pass the windowpane test.
Transfer dough to a large, lightly oiled bowl, mist the top of the dough with spray oil and then cover the dough with plastic wrap.
Ferment at room temperature for 2 hours or until the dough roughly doubles in size.
[Now switch to AB's process with "*"s denoting changes from his recipe]
Butter a 9 by 13-inch glass baking dish. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Gently shape the dough into a rectangle with the long side nearest you. Roll into an 18 by 12-inch rectangle. Brush the dough with the 3/4-ounce of melted butter, leaving 1/2-inch border along the top edge. Sprinkle the filling mixture over the dough, leaving a 3/4-inch border along the top edge; gently press the filling into the dough...[side note: This will seem like too much filling but you can use all of it on that one piece of dough, and the results are worth it.]
Beginning with the long edge nearest you, roll the dough into a tight cylinder. Firmly pinch the seam to seal and roll the cylinder seam side down. Very gently squeeze the cylinder to create even thickness. Using a serrated knife, slice the cylinder into 1 1/2-inch rolls; yielding 12 rolls. Arrange rolls cut side down in the baking dish; cover tightly with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator overnight or up to 16 hours.
* Remove the rolls from the refrigerator one and a half hours before baking.
* Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
* When the oven is ready, place the rolls on the middle rack and bake for 5 minutes. Turn down the oven to 350 and continue baking until golden brown, or until the internal temperature reaches 190 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, approximately 20-25 minutes.
While the rolls are cooling slightly, make the icing by whisking the cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer until creamy. Add the milk and vanilla and whisk until combined. Sift in the powdered sugar, and whisk until smooth. Spread over the rolls and serve immediately.
Floyd's recipe in particular resembles a long "loaf" of Cinnamon Rasin bread. Just cut to length to fill your loaf pans and you'd have bread instead. I'd wager it would work pretty well too just be carful not to overproof with all the sugar in the recipie. (filling included)
I JUST baked bread too.....my wife will have kittens if I try this tonight......DARN! Too bad I'm allergic to cats!
Actually any of these recipes could probably make good cinnamon bread. Floyd's picutres of the process made me jump to that conclusion.
The variations of this recipe absolutely enthuses me to make them again. I first met these years ago (1960) when taking part in a cooking course. A bread dough with egg enriches the texture and flavour and was my favourite. Since then I have discovered how one or two drops of cinnamon bark oil intensifies the flavour when added to butter in the filling and it beats even the freshest of ground cinnamon bark.
granniero This morning my family was treated to a pretty darn good batch of rolls,my first try at this particular recipe. I have been exploring local libraries and seen many good books including most of the main ones discussed here and plan to buy some but enjoy the free previews first. Now to the rolls. I don't have pictures but methods and outcomes I see here are very similar. I used the dental floss for cutting,works great. This is from a book called "The Doughmakers Cookbook",by Bette Laplante and Diane Cuvelier, interesting story and good recipes.
These are called overnight Cinnamon Rolls and makes 32.
Ingred:
one 18oz French Vanilla cake mix;
5 and 1/4c all purp. flour;
2 pkts yeast;
1 t salt;
2 and 1/2c warm water;
Filling:
1/2c sugar;
2t cinnamon;
1/2c melted butter;
1/2c raisins;
3/4c chopped nuts.
Icing:
1c powdered sugar;
3T milk;
1/2t vanilla.
Stir together.
Stir together in lg bowl cake mix,flour,yeast,salt and water.Cover and let rise about 1 hr or till doubled. Combine sugar and cinnamon and set aside. When ready,turn dough out on floured surface,cut in half,roll each piece to about 12x18" rectangle.Spread each piece with half of the butter,cinn. sugar,nuts and raisins. Roll into log,press seam with wet fingers. Cut each log into 16 one inch pieces and place in lightly greased 9"x13" pans.(Makes 2 pans).Cover and place in refrig. overnight. In a.m. take out and let stand about 30 min. Bake in preheated 350 oven for 25 min or until tops golden brown,I went about 30 or 35. Drizzle with icing and can add more chopped nuts if desired.
These directions aren't word for word from the book since I took the liberty of condensing them but if you have any questions let me know. The reason I like these better than any I have done before is that they have a softer texture than the plain dough ones,I guess it is the cake mix. The dough isn't overly sweet. They cooked well all the way through,I have had gummy centers sometimes before.It made enough for 8 people,my kids and grandkids were thrilled,and they weren't too messy to make. I even rolled my dough out on a large floured cookie sheet to get the correct size log and it helped contain the mess and everything was quick including the clean-up. Could not have asked for more. Daughters suggestion was next time make a cream cheese icing and here I see there is one also that has chocolate icing so there we have the best of all worlds!
I hope someone tries these and enjoys them as much as we did,I will definitely be making them again. Rosemary in warm NE Florida
Zola, that is a beautiful cinnamon delicacy there :)
I am at a loss as to what your cinnamon chips are. The only cinnamon chips I know of are cinnamon baked tortilla chip wedges for fruit salsa.
Hot drinking chocolate would go well with your rolls.
Has anyone tried using a couple of drops of cinnamon bark oil added to the butter in the filling yet? I can vouch that the flavour of your cinnamon rolls will amazingly improve. Trust me!
It's cinnamon roll mania! Here's a batch from a slightly adapted version of Alton Brown's recipe (I don't have the patience to wait for an overnight rise).
The only problem I'm having is that the bottoms still get too burned from the excess sugar, even with a glass baking dish. They were located in the top half of the oven but I don't know what else to do to avoid this, it seems like the bottoms burn before the tops are fully browned. This was at 375, I could go down to 350 but don't know if that will create other problems...any thoughts?
I want to make your cinnamon buns, but I'd like to know what the dough should look like in the mixer bowl. Should it mix into a ball or should it be sticky on the bottom of the bowl, but clear the sides?
Funny enough, my first bread baking endevours have been artisan breads so I'm used to high hydration doughs.
I'm so sorry I don't remember what this was like in the bowl. I was trying so hard to pay attention to my aunt's details on her notes and this was before I actually wrote her recipe up so it could be followed easily by others. I have only made this one time, if you can believe it, and I put my own twist on it with the cinnamon chips and the icings I used. Since my husband has just requested these again I will be making them again soon so I'll try and pay attention but, of course, that won't help you now.
I can tell you that I believe I ended up using all 6 cups of flour and the dough was still very soft. It is supposed to be soft and, of course, the potato adds to that. I know I did end up kneading in the last cup or so of flour with the dough on the counter trying to copy how my aunt has done this for so many years.
I feel I've probably not helped you much. Please do let me know how yours turn out. They are so delicious, really this dough is wonderful. And, as I may have mentioned above, I have a recipe for making this dough into my aunt's famous Swedish tea ring and her sister, my other aunt, famously made this into delicious orange rolls. It works so well for so many things because it is such a tasty sweet bread dough. Good luck!
I'm not sure when exactly I'll be making these. I just received my cinnamon chips from the US so I at least have the ingredients now.
If you make your buns before I do, I'd appreciate knowing. Thanks for the offer. Otherwise, I'll try to go by your suggestions.
Hi,
i would love to know what cinnamon chips are. Could someone let me know please? I think all we have here are ground cinnamon,cinnamon quills and cinnamon bark oil.
Hi Maggie664:
You can find cinnamon chips at King Arthur Flour's website - search for item # 1604. They're just like chocolate chips, but cinnamon flavored.
I believe Hershey's also makes them.
Squid gave you a source but also please check your local grocery.
The cinnamon chips are made by Hershey's. They are placed with the chocolate chips and other types of chips in the baking section. I never noticed them before until I found a wonderful little holiday cookie I wanted to make that used them. That's where I got the idea to use them in my cinnamon rolls.
Hi Squid and Zolablue,
Thank you for your help. i had never heard of them before and am pretty sure they are not in NZ even though there are some Hersheys products available. But I will keep a look out for them - maybe find who imports them and ask whether they can be made available. In the meantime, to get a similar result, I will use dark chocolate melts mixed with a few drops of cinnamon bark oil.
Thanks again, M
They're not available here in Canada either, Maggie. It can be frustrating when simple items aren't available. Just like high gluten flour.
Excellent presentation and very inspirational!
To take up this new one. Bridgestone, one question as I drool over the pictures, the egg wash ...one egg & one teaspoon salt plus 2 Tbs water? Isn't that a lot of salt? Is it correct? Just want to be sure...
Mini O
WOW! As soon as I've lost the 10 lbs I've gained from eating an awful lotta bread I'm going to try these cinnamon cardamon buns, rolls etc! Thanks for sharing.
I have been craving cinnamon rolls for months - why I'm not making them again, I don't know. Just too many things on the list to try. You have done an excellent job of showing us your process. Your dough recipe sounds so good and I am also in the camp of loving cardamom. Thanks!
I hope to have pictures to post tomorrow. Right now they are in the first rise, getting ready for their cool nighty night! I can't wait till morning. I'm glad I was just browsing around one day last week and found the whole thread. Everyone did a fantastic job on the photos! It was such a coincidence that I found it, my friend and I had been one the phone that morning talking about making some, but wanted to do better then ours! She doesn't have Internet, and the thread looked so good I got her to get in her car and come over just to see every ones work. I really liked the look of your recipe. The potato should make a world of difference in the ones I had been making. Their were several things in fact, like the shortening. I have do a Parker house roll that has Crisco in it, and they turn out very soft, and the Crisco makes them freeze well. I may have to freeze some of yours NEXT TIME! I see myself eating all of this batch! Well I must go now and tend the dough. Then its off to bed to have sweet cinnamon roll dreams! (Well a girl can dream can't she! It sounds better than dragging in bed only to be awaken by my 2 year old every 45 minutes!)
Audra - You have humbled me with my own recipe! Wow! Those are absolutely beautiful rolls and just look at that beautifully flaky dough! They look simply delectable, I'm not kidding you.
You know how special the recipe is to me for the sweet dough, being my dear aunt's, so it is always so nice to hear when others appreciate its wonderful flavor. So far it is my favorite sweet dough and I do think the potato makes it special.
I don't think you need the cinnamon chips at all - they're just for an added extra touch but not necessary. Listen, I just ate some incredible French toast made with sourdough challah so I am definately not hungry but you are making me drool with these photos. Thank you so much for trying the recipe.
(The dough makes a fabulous Swedish tea ring and also orange rolls that my other aunt makes but as you know the possibilities are endless.)
They were over the top, really! I saved a few for breakfast in the morning, and we went to my father in laws tonight and I took him 4 for their breakfast in the morning. If I know Pop they won't make it that long! He was already peeking under the plastic when he thought we out the door! With the ingredients of the recipe, I am convinced that they freeze well. The crisco usually keeps soft a yeast dough that has been frozen. Have you tried to freeze them? I'm not much on freezing stuff and ruining the texture when I can have fresh, but since Emily loved them so much I would love to have the ability of just pulling out 2 or 3 and thawing them out a few at the time for just us when its not weekend. I freeze Ina Gartin's Orange Cranberry Scones in singles and pull them out for me during the week and their not bad at all, but I don't leave them in the freezer long. The Swedish Tea Ring sounds wonderful too. That would be so lovely at a get together or for church functions or what have you. Have you ever tried a fruit type pastry filling instead of the cinnamon mixture? I am a fool over cinnamon, and Emily is too, but if I ever wanted to throw them a curve....but that may be a while away. It will be hard to get away from the original. Thank you and your aunt for such a wonderful recipe. I assure you it will become a tradition at our house too.
Has anyone tried these using soy or rice milk? I have company coming in a week, and really don't want to make them and not be able to have a taste. I can make them with water, as mentioned above, but the milk does add a richness.
Would coconut milk be an alternative to cow's milk? I haven't used it for these but use it in other baking items. I would imagine that the cinnamon. brown sugar and coconut milk flavours would all be compatible.
Zolablue and Audra, thank you, thank you. My mom was the best bread maker but this recipe is astounding! It tastes like your pictures look.
I will confess that I added raisins to the dough itself while it was rising. More of a raisin bread, I guess. I'm gonna try a few drops of cinnamon bark oil in some of my frosting. I've frozen most of the rolls so the two of us can have fresh when we're in the mood. As good as these are, I'm afraid we'll be in the mood A LOT!
Just a quick note about oil in the icing - I won't do it again. Maggie's idea for a couple drops in the dough intrigued me but I was scared to 'mess up' an entire batch of dough. I'd just try it out on a wee bit of the icing. Honest! It was only 3 drops in 4 TBSP of icing. My tongue still has a sting and I've scraped off as much as I could from that end of the loaf. (Darkstar, I did cut the roll off to fit a loaf pan with a portion of the dough. Had to cover with foil after 20 minutes and baked at 350 a total of 40 minutes. Great cinnamon/raisin bread.) Those 3 drops were likely way too much for that amount of icing, but still . . . I can say I've tried. Not sure why that bottle was in the cupboard anyway. Just thought I'd report back on that part. Micki
Hi Micki,
Sorry, I should have been more specific about the strength of cinnamon oil. I use about 2 drops (plus vanilla essence) in about 1-1/2 cups icing. I use about 3 drops (with 2Tb ground cinnamon and vanilla essence in a blueberry muffin mixture which makes about 24 muffins. I hope your tongue has recovered - the oil, as you have discovered, is pretty powerful. I do apologise. But please don't give up on it - any product I sell in my cafe with cinnamon oil included, sell very quickly
Maggie, your directions were fine the first time around. I did realize that a little goes a long way when it comes to cinnamon oil and that was a very small amount of icing to try it on. The tingle has worn off my tongue and I am still intrigued by the idea of oil (just a couple drops) in the dough. Maybe next batch. Micki
I made zolablue's cinnamon rolls last night and discovered how little I know about enriched doughs. I was also reminded how nice it is to have ingredient measures in weights rather than volumes.
My dough was way too soft and sticky. I could handle it to roll it up, but when I tried to cut it, it stuck to the knife badly and lost all "rollness."
Has anyone converted her recipe to weights?
BTW, I used Floyd's sugar-lemon juice frosting. Very nice and simple. And the rolls are delicious. They are just hardly "rolls."
David
look incredible! I measured and compiled notes with weights, however, I haven't had time to give my weights a test run. I will post when I can give it a shot. At the beginning of the dough, I thought, eekkk, (my mashed potatoes had water on top and I mixed it in not thinking about the excess water) anyway, I did have to add a couple teaspoons of flour and I think I started with 700 grams. I will post as soon as I have tried it again.
Those look really tasty! I want to try the cinnamon chips next time.
Eli
Hi, Eli.
If you could dig up your notes and share them, I would be most appreciative. No rush. After testing would be even better, of course.
My rolls/buns ... whatever they are ... are yummy. I couldn't find cinnamon chips. I did add raisins and pecans. Those are keepers. The dough was actually very nice. It just needed more flour, I think.
I'm not sure my arteries could stand the amount of testing I'd have to do to master this recipe.
David
I will get those posted soon. Also, I must think that someone needs to experiment on the recipe and make certain that this is a versatile dough. I see many variations. I will take one for the team and make a couple more batches using weights as measure and try to "master" the recipe. Someone has to do it, I guess. (I hate having to take this on (sigh). I will report back! My keys are sticking from confection sugar already!
Eli
Your selfless sacrifice for the common good is an inspiration to us all!
I trust that your personal physician has cleared you for this mission.
David
If it has to be, it has to be (sigh). As for the physician clearence, I shall take them a basket of them on my visit. He will see my dilemma.
E
David
David,
I finally made it around to testing the weights and notes I took while making the cinnamon rolls. I posted them on my new blog and was just going to post the link here (being lazy and didn't want to retype). I think I am pretty close. As I did make one change and I didn't mention in my previous post here is I used Hi Glutten flour and not AP. I didn't use it tonight either.
http://elisfoods.wordpress.com/2008/11/20/cinnamon-rolls/
Let me know how you do if you give this version a shot.
Eli
that they are cinnamon rolls. Let them think they are some fantastic very yummy creatation you have made! If they ask, you can look all intelligent and tell how you came up with this new recipe idea....Who's gonna know :) It is a sticky dough, so just add a little bit of flour. Just enough to make it handle-able. You want them to be as light and fluffy as possible. I have no doubt you will master it if you choose. You are such a master with dough already. Your work is wonderful! You give the rest of us someone to look up to and say "my bread is gonna look like that someday"
Audra
The problem is, I'd know!
They were certainly "light and fluffy." My wife, who had declared in advance she didn't like cinnamon rolls, liked them.
Thanks for your kind words.
David
The dough for the cinnamon buns that I make is ridiculously slack. But it does make the best cinnamon buns! (Or at least, we think so.)
Our Cinnamon Buns recipe is based on the recipe for University of Alberta Tuck Shop buns You could try knotting Zolablue's cinnamon buns the way we do for the Tuck Shop buns.
Excerpt from the shaping directions in our recipe:
-Elizabeth
(going to look at Zolablue's recipe...)
edit: wow, Zolablue's look quite different from ours! The dough looks closer to the consistency of challah dough. Which gives me another idea. Maybe try using stronger flour when making Zolablue's cinnamon rolls. Perhaps the higher gluten would make the dough slightly less slack and sticky.
David:
Next time you make these, put the dough in the freezer for a short time before you cut them. Should help.
Made this today, and LOVED it! The bread was really light, which is always nice for a cinnamon roll. I only did one thing different, I used honey instead of sugar.. turned out perfect! (oh and did not add rasins)
Next time though I will make a cream cheese icing.. Not that with this icing it was not good(it was!) I just like cream cheese icing better :P
I learned from a friend of mine that owns a bakery to take dental floss and use it to cut the roll. I use that method every time I make cinnamon rolls and they come out perfect with out being squashed!
I wish I'd never seen this page. I'm in BIG trouble. Today I made Floyd's dough, Firepit's filling and both of their toppings (to see which I liked best). Very simple process, and a truly sinfully delicious result.
I haven't tried the lemon glaze yet on the rolls, but when I tasted the two toppings, I wanted to combine them to make lemon-creamcheese frosting. Maybe next time.
Glenn