Monday, August 5, 2013

Cinnamon Roll Test #1

  Throughout my homemaker life, I've searched until I found the PERFECT recipe for a particular item. For example, the PERFECT homemade biscuits. The PERFECT pie crust. The perfect meatloaf. The perfect granola. The perfect dinner roll. You want your item to be the only item your child ever wants when they grow up. "My mom's apple pie is the BEST apple pie in the world.", etc.

I am now on the hunt for the perfect cinnamon roll. I haven't found it yet. granted, I don't make them often because they are a lot of work and for some reason they never turn out for me. Anyway, I've decided that I am now old enough to master the cinnamon roll. I have 3 recipes waiting for me that I will be attempting over the next little while.

Here is recipe #1 from my good friend L. A. from Texas. I am letting the dough rise as I type this.


2/3 C Oil 2 t salt 3/4 C sugar 2 C hot water 2 eggs Mix the above together. Then add: 3 C flour 2 T yeast Mix together and then add 3 1/2 to 3 3/4 C flour. Dough will be sticky. Let rise until double, punch down, let rise until double again. Roll dough out to large rectangle, about 16 X 24 inches.
Filling: 1/2 C butter 1 C brown sugar 1 1/2 T cinnamon Soften butter and spread onto dough. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Roll up the dough and pinch along the seam so that it stays together. Cut into slices about 1 or 1 1/2 inches thick. Place on greased cookie sheet or cake pan. Let rise until about double. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes.
Icing: 1/2 C butter 8 oz cream cheese 3 C powdered sugar 1 t vanilla 1/4 t salt Soften butter and cream cheese and beat together with sugar, vanilla and salt. Frost cinnamon rolls they're still hot.


Okay, after letting the dough rise and rolling it out and filling it and cutting it and putting it into pans to rise again (run on sentence, what?), I remembered why I hated making cinnamon rolls so much. Is it too much to ask to have a dough that is easy to work with AND tastes delicious? This dough is REALLY sticky and impossible to roll up and cut without it falling all over the place and sticking to everything. At least I know the frosting will taste good. I'm off to make that.

They didn't rise very well. Instead of rising UP, they just spread out a lot. bummer.

After cooking, they looked pretty good. The thick frosting held up against the heat but also melted just a tiny bit into the crevices.

Taste test: they were okay. the brown sugar in the middle never melted into stickiness, it just fell to the bottom and was crunchy brown sugar. The dough seemed a little spongy to me, and the frosting I wish had melted a little bit more into a glaze-type frosting.

I probably won't make these again.