Cinnamon Rolls

Cinnamon rolls are delicious, gooey, wonderful morsels that taste perfect just about any time of day. I found a recipe for homemade rolls on The Pioneer Woman's blog and tried them out. Much to the delight of friends and family (this recipe yields more than enough to share with a friend or four or even more), I made this recipe over several times until I had tinkered with the measurements and found what I liked. These rolls are perfect on a cold winter day, but I recently made them as a thank you gift, and they were much appreciated in July too. The recipe yields 5-7 pans of deliciousness. Enjoy!

Here's the recipe:

• 4 sticks unsalted butter
• 1 quart milk
• 2  3/4 cups sugar
• 1 packet (1/4 oz.) active dry yeast
• 9 cups all-purpose flour + additional for sprinkling
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• plenty of cinnamon

1. Heat one quart of milk in a pan on low heat. Once warm, add in 2 sticks of melted butter and 3/4 cup of sugar. Stir until scalded (just before the boiling point) and then set aside.

2. Once the milk mixture has cooled to a lukewarm temperature, add 1 packet of active-dry yeast. Meanwhile, whisk together 8 cups of all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl.

3. Pour the yeast and milk mixture in and knead the dough until combined. Cover the dough and let it sit for about an hour.

4. While the dough is sitting, whisk up some cinnamon sugar. Combine 1 cup of sugar and as much cinnamon as you like. Don't be afraid to go a little crazy with the cinnamon!

This could use a little more cinnamon - so your mixture should be darker.

5. Add one more cup of flour to the dough and knead until completely combined. Split the dough into two roughly equal halves. Also, preheat oven to 375 degrees.

6. Take one half of the dough and roll it out onto a well floured surface. The dough should be rectangular and about a quarter inch thick, with a width of 9-10 inches.

Took my pictures a bit out of order, so here's my assembly station!

7. Melt one stick of butter.

8. Pour it onto your rectangle of dough, and brush over the entire surface until it gleams.You can use a pastry brush or a spoon or anything handy. 

9. Next, sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture evenly over the entire rectangle.

10. Start to roll the dough from the longer end, working carefully until you have a cinnamon log, and pinch the seam slightly when finished.

11. Chop slices off the log, roughly half an inch in thickness.

12. Grease 9 inch circular baking pans. Arrange cinnamon rolls in the pans, cover, and allow to rise for 20 minutes. Repeat steps 6-12 for remaining dough

13. Bake the rolls for about 20 minutes (time will vary by oven). Let it cool for about 20 minutes on a plate, and serve warm!

Part of my batch - they get eaten pretty quickly!