Absolutely Sinful Cinnamon Rolls

On Sunday January 29, I started writing a blog post, which started like this:

"David, Opa & Oma and the boys are at soccer practice. While Kai shows Opa and Oma that he lives up to his Dutch heritage of World Class soccer, David entertains Ryder (who soon will add “Monkey” to his "Moose" nickname) at the playground adjacent to the soccer field. The house is quiet. I just finished packing our bags for our trip to Big Bear. For the next 5 days we will be in the mountains; soaking up fresh air frolicking in the snow (that came down more than a week ago, but hopefully has been maintained on the slopes) and enjoying the lack of sirens, traffic and our overall daily busy-ness. Beautiful. Add to that a jaccuzi on the deck and a divine bottle of red and, well…

So, I took this morning to make the “Absolutely Sinful Cinnamon Rolls”, created and perfected by the Pioneer Woman.  I made the dough last night and finished the rolls off this morning. At this moment, the cinnamon rolls are baking away in the oven and I just finished the Coffee Maple frosting that is supposed to cover these delicious rolls as soon as they get out of the oven. “Supposed to” is the right word as this frosting is so incredibly delicious, that it is hard to resist the temptation to take a bowl, fill it with frosting and eat it with a spoon on the sofa.  No matter how the rolls come out, the frosting is a keeper. I am going to come up with a cupcake that will gladly take this as its topping.

COFFEE MAPLE FROSTING

Ingredients:

1 lb. powdered sugar

1 tsp. maple flavoring (I used vanilla)

1/4 cup milk

1/8 cup melted butter

1/8 cup brewed coffee

Pinch of salt

Directions:

With the mixer (use paddle attachment), mix together all ingredients, and mix until smooth. It should be thick but pourable. Taste (though not too much) and adjust as needed.

..."

That was as far as I got.  The family returned home, just as I pulled a 2nd batch of rolls out of the oven.  The rolls turned out heavenly divine addicting ... scrumptious to the point that all of us had seconds and some of us had thirds.

CINNAMON ROLLS

The cool thing about this recipe is, that you can make the dough the night before.  Then, all you need to do the next morning, is take it out, let it come to room temp, assemble the rolls and pop them in the oven. 

Ingredients (Dough):

2 cups whole milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup sugar

1 pkg. active dry yeast (equals 2 1/4 teaspoon)

4 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 table spoon salt

Ingredients (Filling):

1/2 cup melted butter, plus more as needed

1/8 cup ground cinnamon

1/2 cup sugar, plus more as needed

Directions:

Mix milk, vegetable oil, and 1/2 cup of sugar in a pan. Scald the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point - do NOT let it boil.) Remove from heat and let it cool 45 minutes to 1 hour.  (I let it cool longer as it was still too warm for the next step.)

When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but NOT hot, sprinkle in package Active Dry Yeast. Let this sit for a minute and then add 4 cups of flour. Stir mixture together. Cover and let rise for at least an hour.

Next, add 1/2 cup flour, the baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir mixture together. From here, you have three options:

* Cover the dough and put in fridge overnight.

* Assemble the rolls and put in the fridge overnight.

* Go the whole 9 yard and assemble, bake, frost and EAT the rolls.

FYI - my dough never rose much, but despite that, the final result was still awesomeness in its purest form.

If you leave the dough (or the rolls) in the fridge overnight, take it out the next morning and let it come to room temp for an hour or so.

To assemble the rolls:

Sprinkle surface generously with flour and roll the dough into a thin rectangular shape. Brush 1/2 cup melted butter on top (use more if you need to), then sprinkle 1/2 cup sugar over the butter (use more if you need to), and finish with a generous sprinkling of cinnamon.  (I didn't say this was a healthy recipe.  But did I say it was delicious?!?!)

Starting with the long/wide end, roll the dough tightly towards you in a neat line. Next, pinch the seam to the roll to seal it. (Wet your fingers with a bit of water, which makes sealing the dough easier.)  Spread 1 tbsp of melted butter in each pan/dish. With a sharp SHARP knife, begin cutting the dough into 1 inch slices, and laying them in the pans. Let rest for 20-30 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees for 13 - 17 minutes, or until golden.

Pour the frosting over the hot rolls as they come out of the oven.  Try to let them cool just a little bit so the frosting sets over and in between the rolls, but hey, hot and gooey, sticky and drippy is delicious too, so if you can't resist, go ahead and dive right in.

Enjoy!

My most important testers give them a big thumbs up.  Well, Kai does.  Ryder just stuffs his face.