Cinnamon Roll Perfection!

These were the cinnamon rolls of my dreams and I almost gave up on the recipe before I really gave it a try. 

If you’ve read this post or this one then you know I’ve wanted to master yeast so I could whip up a batch of cinnamon rolls for my children on Christmas morning.  During my initial foray into yeast and cinnamon roll baking I received lots of encouragement and offers of recipes.  This was one of those recipes. 

Lori from Lori’s Lipsmacking Goodness sent me an email telling me of a recipe that was both easy and good.  I suggested we bake them together and post them at the same time.  Lori, the sweetie agreed. For the record this was back in November. 

The first time I made this recipe I made some changes….bad move.  My first mistake was thinking I was proficient enough to make changes. :(  The second was using all purpose flour instead of the bread flour.  I do think my biggest mistake was not baking the cinnamon rolls after their second rise.  After cutting the dough into rolls I placed them into my pans and then placed the pans into the fridge so I could bake them in the morning.  When I pulled them out to bake the next morning I didn’t realize things anything was wrong until we tasted them.

While the cinnamon rolls were good, they weren’t great. For the amount of time and effort I put into them they needed to be more than just good.  In my (& the Twins’) opinion they weren’t as good as the no yeast cottage cheese ones that I blogged about here.   I have to say I was pretty disappointed but felt the recipe deserved another try as I did change some things.  It wouldn’t have been fair to give it a thumbs down when in all likelihood it was me not recipe. My other thought was perhaps I’m just a weirdo who doesn’t like homemade cinnamon rolls made with yeast.  

After making the cinnamon roll recipe again this past weekend I realize that the dough does not keep well overnight.  This time around I followed Lori’s recipe exactly (I didn’t frost mine with cream cheese) and my cinnamon rolls baked up beautifully.  Better yet they tasted exactly how I thought a homemade cinnamon roll should. The twins and I loved them.  (One of the twins thinks we should do a side by side comparison of this recipe and the cottage cheese one but it ain’t happening!)  We’re not weirdoes and my Pillsbury cinnamon roll preferring daughter had one last night and one today which says a lot as she has claimed not to like homemade cinnamon rolls.  YAY! 

Frosted Cinnamon Rolls, printable recipe & tips

adapted from a Taste of Home Recipe & Lori's Lipsmacking Goodness

1 cup milk

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 egg

1 teaspoon salt

4 cups bread flour

1/4 cup instant vanilla pudding mix

1 T sugar

1 T active dry yeast

Filling:

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Frosting*:

(you can put the remainder of the pudding in the frosting if you like.)

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

1 1/2 t milk

1/2 t vanilla extract

In a bowl or in a mixer, combine flour, vanilla pudding mix, salt, sugar and yeast.  In another bowl combine milk and water.  Make a well in the center of the flour or beat in with a KA- the milk and water. Add the egg and the softened butter to that well or the KA.  Stir the mixture together in the center, pulling the flour into the mix, until all the flour is incorporated. Add more flour or water, depending on what is needed. If the dough feels dry add a tablespoon of water.  If the dough is too sticky add a tablespoon of flour.  Knead the dough on a surface or continue to knead in a mixer, whichever you are using.  When it is a soft and smooth, place in a bowl, cover and let rise until it had doubled in size- about an hour.  (I put my bowl in the oven with the light on.  It took just over an hour.)

After the rise, roll out the dough to a 17x10 inch square.  Spread with butter; sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.  Roll, jelly roll style, starting from long end.  Pinch sides and seam to seal.  Cut into 20 or 21 pieces.  Place 12 slices in a 13x9x2 inch pan.  Place the remaining 9 rolls in a 9 inch pan. Cover and let rise until doubled- about 45 minutes.  Bake at 350F for 20 to 25 (mine were done in 18 mins) minutes until golden brown.  Frost warm rolls.

Please hop over to check out Lori’s cinnamon rolls.  Not only does she make terrific cinnamon rolls, she is also fearless in the kitchen and leaves me in awe of all that  she whips up. Thanks Lori for the recipe and for your patience with me!  I’d also like to thank Katy, Coleen, and Monica who went out of their way to send me encouraging emails and “held” my hand.