I was actually stuck on this recipe, because I wanted the gooey Cinnabon and the Pioneer Woman's melt in your mouth feeling from her Cinnamon Rolls. I also had my trusty Alton Brown - back-up recipe, his recipes are always fool-proof and successful. But as you know, I was aiming for extra credit, and wanted a slam-dunk with my dish. So I chose Pioneer Woman's recipe, but I altered her maple frosting - because I'm a purist that loves cream cheese frosting on my cinnamon rolls versus the maple frosting. I bet the maple frosting was just amazing, but cream cheese frosting is luscious and perfect for this recipe. This is one of those life-altering moments that after you had a bite of this cinnamon roll, you'll be in Cinnamon Roll heaven - happily floating on cloud 9! I kidd you not, this recipe is A-MAZZZZ-ING!!! The entire house was flooded with the sweet smell of fresh baked cinnamon-ness, and you would have been drooling just sitting in my kitchen. Just try it once, and you'll see - Cinnamon Roll heaven awaits you.
Ingredients:
Dough:
1 quart Whole Milk
1 cup Vegetable Oil
1 cup Sugar
2 packages Active Dry Yeast
8 cups (Plus 1 Cup Extra, Separated) All-purpose Flour
1 teaspoon (heaping) Baking Powder
1 teaspoon (scant) Baking Soda
1 Tablespoon (heaping) Salt
Plenty Of Melted Butter
1 1/2 cups Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Sugar
Generous Sprinkling Of Cinnamon
Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 bar of cream cheese, room temperature
2 pounds of Powdered Sugar
½ cups Milk
¼ cups Melted Butter
¼ cups Brewed Coffee
⅛ teaspoons Salt
Preparation:
1. Mix the milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a pan. “Scald” the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point). Turn off heat and leave to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour. When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but NOT hot, sprinkle in both packages of Active Dry Yeast. Let this sit for a minute. Then add 8 cups of all-purpose flour. Stir mixture together. Cover and let rise for at least an hour in a warm area (like on top of your warm stove).
2. After rising for at least an hour, add 1 more cup of flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir mixture together. (At this point, you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it – overnight or even a day or two, if necessary. Just keep your eye on it and if it starts to overflow out of the pan, just punch it down).
3. When ready to prepare rolls: Sprinkle rolling surface generously with flour. Take half the dough and form a rough rectangle. Then roll the dough thin, maintaining a general rectangular shape. Drizzle 1/2 to 1 cup melted butter over the dough. Now sprinkle 1 cup of sugar over the butter followed by a generous sprinkling of cinnamon.
4. Now, starting at the opposite end, begin rolling the dough in a neat line toward you. Keep the roll relatively tight as you go. Next, pinch the seam of the roll to seal it.
5. Spread 1 tablespoon of melted butter in a seven inch round foil cake or pie pan. Then begin cutting the rolls approximately ¾ to 1 inch thick and laying them in the buttered pans.
6. Repeat this process with the other half of the dough. Let the rolls rise for 20 to 30 minutes, then bake at 375 degrees until light golden brown, about 18 to 20 minutes.
7. For the frosting, mix together all ingredients listed and stir well until smooth. It should be thick but pourable. Taste and adjust as needed. Generously drizzle over the warm rolls. Go crazy and don’t skimp on the frosting.
Review: OMG...this is heaven on a plate, and it's way better than Cinnabon! This was such a messy recipe, like my kitchen threw up flour all over my counter and all over my clothes. Luckily, my wonderful husband rolled out the dough for me, because as you can see - it was gigantic! Everyone fell in love with the Cinnamon Rolls and I absolutely loved the addition of coffee in the cream cheese frosting. It adds another layer to the dish, and it is simply out of this world. ENJOY!!!
