Cinnamon Rolls

Honestly, who hasn’t woken up on a lazy morning and wished some magic, little fairy had snuck into their house and made a big, batch of cinnamon rolls during the night?  You know, you roll out of bed, throw on your robe, make your way down the hall and into the kitchen where a hot cup of coffee is ready for you. All you have to do is saddle up to the table where a plateful of soft, gooey, cinnamon rolls just pulled out of the oven, are placed in front of you……….anyone………anyone?  Okay, it’s just me!

These Cinnamon Rolls are so soft and flavorful, they are destined to become your family favorite!

This recipe for Cinnamon Rolls has been in my rotation for over 20 years.  You’ll find that many of the recipes I share on my blog are things I have been making for a very, long time. One of the benefits of being my age is having lots of good stuff in my recipe arsenal.

A fellow nurse used to bring these Cinnamon Rolls to the hospital where we worked.  She lived close by, so they were still warm when my coworkers and I dug into them. We used to negotiate her bed assignment for the next day to what we called “The Easy Front 4” (referring to the easiest beds in the ER) if and only if, she brought us her cinnamon rolls.  It sounds like blackmail, but it wasn’t. We all had to rotate the bed assignments in the ER and she preferred to avoid the trauma beds and resuscitation rooms, which were notorious for being very busy, extremely stressful and physically demanding rooms. So, she often volunteered to bring us our favorite baked goods, what we called “the good stuff” to get out of those room assignments. To be brutally honest though, if you had brought ANY food or anything that even remotely resembled food, into the employee lounge of our Emergency Department, we’d have eaten it! It could have been a week old and walked in on its own, and still, we’d have eaten it! That doesn’t sound like a compliment to these Cinnamon Rolls, but trust me when I say, this is “the good stuff!”

When you can bake Cinnamon Rolls this good, store bought becomes out of the question!

I know a lot of people fear making anything that involves yeast.  I get that fear, I had my concerns for a minute or two as well.  My personality, as you will come to find out, has a lot of “Oh what the heck” in it.  I don’t really mind messing up, or looking the fool and I am the first one to laugh at my ridiculous self (okay, maybe my sister would laugh first, but I’d be a close second).  Listen to me, try this Cinnamon Roll recipe.  It is easy enough that it almost makes itself!  If however, you do mess up and it doesn’t come together as planned, just take the bowl over to the trash and dump it.  No harm, no foul. It is just a bowl of flour, milk and yeast! You don’t even have to tell anyone, but you do have to try again.  Do not let dough or your fear of dough defeat you!

Cinnamon Rolls

Oma Darling

These tender, sweet, Cinnamon Rolls are perfect for breakfast or brunch, but also for a wonderful dessert.

5 from 2 votes

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 17 minutes mins

Rise Time is approximate 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Ingredients

  

• 1-1/8 cup milk (warmed to 110 degrees)
• 2 tsp yeast
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 2 Tablespoon melted butter, cooled
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 4 cup bread flour

Filling

• 3/4 cup granulated, white sugar
• 1 Tablespoon cinnamon

Sauce

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup packed, brown sugar
• 1 cup chopped nuts walnuts or pecans

Instructions

 

• Mix together the warmed milk, yeast and sugar. Let sit until it foams ("blooms").
• In stand mixer with dough hook on, place bread flour, salt, melted butter and beaten eggs.  Add to this the milk/yeast/sugar mixture.  Mix dough ingredients until all flour is incorporated and the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl into a ball. If you find the dough is too wet or tacky, add 1 tsp of flour.
• Remove dough from mixer and place in a greased glass bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a clean, dry, towel until doubled in size.
• Lightly dust counter with flour and roll dough into a rectangle.  **Baste dough with 1 additional Tablespoon of melted butter (helps cinnamon stick) and then sprinkle cinnamon mixture all over dough up to the edges.  Roll up dough until you have a long, roll or log of dough, then cut into 1 inch slices.
• Grease a 9 x 13 pan and sprinkle the chopped nuts into the bottom.
• In a small sauce pan, over medium heat mix the the butter and brown sugar until butter is fully incorporated and bubbling. Pour this sauce into the greased pan over the chopped nuts and place the sliced dough onto this sauce on their sides.  Again, cover with clean towel or plastic wrap to rise for a second time.
  
• Once dough is doubled in size, place into a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 15-17 minutes.  When rolls are done, carefully invert the baking dish onto a cookie sheet.
• Enjoy!!!
• **Optional, don't make a sauce, instead place rolls into a greased baking dish and when cooked, spread with a powdered sugar glaze.
  

Notes

You can add any nut you choose or omit them altogether.  You can also add raisins or other dried fruit.

Keyword Cinnamon Rolls

There is something special about this slightly sweet, yeasty dough.  It reliably makes the best, most tender, Cinnamon Rolls. Typically, I make these with pecans or walnuts, but you can make these without any nuts at all if you prefer.  You can add raisins to the rolling out step or some other favorite dried fruit. When they are done baking, you invert the pan onto another tray of equal size and the sweet, buttery, brown sugar syrup that these rolls have been sitting on, just bathes the rolls with sticky goodness.  If you prefer you can make a quick batch of white, powdered sugar glaze instead and just frost them right out of the oven. However you make them, make them your own!  Enjoy friends!

Does your family have an old recipe that stands the test of time, like these Cinnamon Rolls?