Recipes

Archive for December, 2005

Cinnamon Roll Ingredients
1 1/2 pkg dry yeast
1/4 c. warm water
1/2 c. shortening
1/3 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 c. milk
1 egg, beaten
4 – 5 cups sifted self rising flour
melted butter
brown sugar
cinnamon
raisins
dried cranberries
chopped pecans
Frosting Ingredients
1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk
Add yeast to warm water. Soak 10 minutes.
Scald milk. Pour over shortening. Add suagr and salt. Cool to tepid temperature. Add the dissolved yeast and beaten egg. Add 4 cups of flour one at a time beating well after each addition. The dough should be soft yet firm enough to handle.
Knead on a floured board until elastic and smooth. Avoid using too much flour on your kneading board. Turn the dough into a well oiled bowl. Place in a warm area and allow to rise for at least 1 1/2 hours.
Punch down the dough. Divide into workable size pieces. Roll dough out into a rectangle. Brush generously with melted butter. layer with a generous thick layer of brown sugar. Sprinkle with cinnamon. sprinkle on dried fruits and nuts. Roll up jellyroll fashion.
Using kitchen scissors or a piece of string cut slices about 1 1/2 inches thick. Place slices in greased baking pan. I use a regular sheet cake pan but the original recipe that I tweaked this from called for a round cake pan. Arranging 1 in the center and the others nestled around it to fill the pan. It works just the same in a square pan, which I prefer because we make the rolls a bit larger for a good sized cinnamon roll. Press the rolls (lightly) evenly into the pan. Set aside and allow the dough to rise again and generously fill the pan, about another hour.
Bake in a 350 degree oven about 15 – 20 minutes. If the rolls begin to brown too quickly cover lightly with a piece of loose foil. Do not over bake!
Remove from the pan by inverting to a serving plate. Top generously with frosting.
Frosting: Bring the butter and cream cheese to room temp so that it is soft and you can blend them together well. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. The frosting should be smooth and spreadable. Spread it over the cinnamon rolls when they are hot out of the oven.
Normally we only make these for Christmas morning. A few months back when Steven and his developers were in a crunch and were working day and night to complete a contract we made these and sent them into work as a breakfast treat. They loved them. Since then they all have been trying to convince us to open a bakery just to make and sell these cinnamon rolls. They really are that good. Cinnabon has NOTHING that can compare to this recipe.
The more you make them and tweak the recipe for yourself the better they get. We found that we needed to use a bit more of a generous shaking of ground cinnamon after our first baking. We also added the pecans.
I have even tried preparing these in a muffin pan. Mix together some brownsugar, butter, pecans and cinnamon. Spoon in a tbsp of the mix into a muffin cup. Place on top a slice of the cinnamon roll dough. Bake until golden. Watch them and don’t let them burn. Turn out on a baking pan while hot. The topping is sticky and very hot do not burn yourself!!! Doing it this way you can omit the cream cheese icing or add it after they have cooled just a bit.

Champagne
Orange Juice
In Champagne glass fill 1/4 with orange juice. Fill rest with chilled Champagne. Garnish with an orange slice