I decided I wanted to make these. Well, Brent decided it would be a great idea to make homemade cinnamon rolls. At first I was really nervous because I had never made anything like that before, but I figured, what the heck.
Let me start off by saying: Read the directions first.. Then act. That's one of my biggest short comings. I NEVER fully read and then I end up messing some things up, but it always works out in the end.
Ingredients for the dough:
- 24 ounces all-purpose flour
- 2.5 ounces sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 teaspoon rapid rise yeast
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon buttermilk
- 2.5 ounces butter
- ---Combine flour, sugar, salt, yeast and baking soda in a large bowl. Mix until combined.
- ---Beat the eggs in a separate bowl. Whisk in water and buttermilk. Combine this wet mixture with the flour mixture, then add the butter and beat with a paddle until all dry ingredients are moist. Use a kneading hook to knead the dough for 15 minutes. Wrap dough in plastic and place in your refrigerator for 5 to 6 hours or until dough doubles in size.
---Remove the plastic and press dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Flatten dough with your hands for a bit, then use a rolling pin to shape the dough into a 20-inch-high by 17-inch-wide rectangle. Use your hands to stretch the dough as necessary to the proper dimensions.
I found that it's REALLY important to get the correct amount of flour. One would think, oh, 24 oz of flour.. 3 cups! Wrong... You need to be careful with how you scoop your flour. Too heavy of a hand = too much flour; too light of a hand = not enough flour. It would probably be best if you had a kitchen scale, however, I don't have one.. I don't have room for one.. And on top of it all... I am too cheap to buy one.
I ran into the not enough flour issue. After letting the dough rise over night in the fridge it was SO sticky. Brent and I started preparing to go out for breakfast since this is what we had planned on having for breakfast. I floured the counter top and put the dough on top. It was SERIOUSLY such a mess I was getting nervous (and frustrated). I worked more flour into the dough and it ended up turning out perfectly (thank goodness... I did NOT want to figure out something else). I think it was a fluke and I got lucky.
I put a bit more flour down on the counter top and rolled out the dough as directed.
Ingredients for filling (schmear)
- 4 ounces (1 stick) butter, softened
- 14 ounces dark brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons Makara (Indonesian Korintje) cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon xantham gum or guar gum
---Spread 1 stick of softened butter over the top of the dough, but leave the bottom 1 inch of dough uncoated with butter.
---Combine the brown sugar, cinnamon and xantham gum (or guar gum) in a medium bowl. Pour the cinnamon/sugar on the butter and use your hands to spread it to the edges, except leave the bottom 1 inch uncovered with cinnamon. Run a rolling pin over the filling to flatten it in the butter.
It is VERY important that you get the xantham gum. The one packet is enough for the recipe. If you do not get the xantham gum and mix it in, the cinnamon, sugar and butter will just run out of your rolls. Brent and I scoured the baking isle trying to find this stuff and we were about to give up and just not make the cinnamon rolls when I found it in the 'gluten free' section.
I didn't follow the instructions and flatten down the cinnamon and sugar with the rolling pin. Whoops. But I made it work.
I'd also like to throw out there: I take all of my pictures from my cellphone. As I was sending a group of five pictures to my email I accidentally deleted them. I'm beyond pissed that I did that and I apologize.
Basically you will spread the butter evenly to the sides of the dough (except for the lower 1 - 1-1/2 inch on the bottom) - Spread the schmear mixture all the way to the edges over the butter.
---Roll the dough tightly starting at the top. Stretch the dough a little as you roll it down, so that you have 5 1/2 to 6 rotations by the time you get to the bottom. Brush a little water over the bottom 1 inch uncoated strip of dough and complete the rolling. Mark the approximate middle of the dough roll, then use a ruler to make 3 marks every 2 1/2 inches to the left of the middle mark and 3 marks every 2 1/2 inches to the right of the middle mark. Use a serrated knife to cut at each mark to make 6 rolls (the ends can be tossed).
I didn't use a ruler to mark off measurements. I just cut it in half and then cut those halves into threes. It worked. I also didn't toss the ends... I just put those as the "bottom" part when I baked those rolls.
Also, I'm sorry, I don't have pictures of the rolled dough and the cut products... As I said, I'm a ding dong and I deleted them on accident.
---Place rolls evenly spaced out on parchment paper in a 9 x 13-inch baking pan. Place the pan in your oven along with a large bowl or pan full of boiling water. Rolls should proof for about 1 hour or until nearly full size in the pan.
Placing the parchment paper in the pan will keep you from having to spray it with cooking spray. They turned out perfectly like this.
Since this was taking so long, and I'm not sure if I am supposed to do this with dough or not (but I do it when I make my pull apart caramel monkey bread), I put my oven at the lowest temperature it'll go to (which is 170˚F) and put the pan in there to proof. It seems like it makes it go faster :)
---When rolls have proofed to almost full size, preheat a convection oven to 325° (350° if not convection). Bake for 16 to 20 minutes or until light brown and rolls register around 170° to 175° in the middle. Spin the pan around 180° approximately halfway through the baking.
I baked mine at 350˚F and baked them for about 18 minutes. I didn't put a thermometer in them to figure out what the temp inside was... :)
Frosting
- 6 ounces unsalted butter
- 4 ounces cream cheese
- 6 ounces powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 2 drops lemon extract
---While dough bakes, whip butter, cream cheese, salt, vanilla extract and lemon extract for 10 minutes on high speed with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add powdered sugar, then mix again (slowly at first, then on high speed), for 30 seconds.
I put the icing in a small sandwich bag and snipped the corner to put it on.
They're not the prettiest things ever, but...
---When the rolls come out of the oven, immediately cover each with the frosting.
Brent: chewing
Me: How are they
Brent: still chewing, face expressionless
Me: Would you rather have these or the ones from the can?
Brent: Oh. My. God. THESE.
He was right. These are by far THE BEST cinnamon rolls I've ever eaten in my entire life. F'reals, yo.
I don't know if you guys counted, but there are three (yes, THREE) sticks of butter in this recipe. I don't care what you say or think: You NEED to make these at least once.
I'm definitely not going to make a habit of making these, but my goodness I'm glad I did!!
Complete Recipe:
Cinnabon STYLE cinnamon rolls
INGREDIENTS
Rolls
- 24 ounces all-purpose flour
- 2.5 ounces sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 teaspoon rapid rise yeast
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon buttermilk
- 2.5 ounces margarine
Filling (Schmear)
- 4 ounces (1 stick) margarine, softened
- 14 ounces dark brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons Makara (Indonesian Korintje) cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon xantham gum or guar gum
Frosting
- 6 ounces unsalted butter
- 4 ounces cream cheese
- 6 ounces powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 2 drops lemon extract
INSTRUCTIONS
- Combine flour, sugar, salt, yeast and baking soda in a large bowl. Mix until combined.
- Beat the eggs in a separate bowl. Whisk in water and buttermilk. Combine this wet mixture with the flour mixture, then add the margarine and beat with a paddle until all dry ingredients are moist. Use a kneading hook to knead the dough for 15 minutes. Wrap dough in plastic and place in your refrigerator for 5 to 6 hours or until dough doubles in size.
- Remove the plastic and press dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Flatten dough with your hands for a bit, then use a rolling pin to shape the dough into a 20-inch-high by 17-inch-wide rectangle. Use your hands to stretch the dough as necessary to the proper dimensions.
- Spread 1 stick of softened margarine over the top of the dough, but leave the bottom 1 inch of dough uncoated with margarine.
- Combine the brown sugar, cinnamon and xantham gum (or guar gum) in a medium bowl. Pour the cinnamon/sugar on the margarine and use your hands to spread it to the edges, except leave the bottom 1 inch uncovered with cinnamon. Run a rolling pin over the filling to flatten it in the margarine.
- Roll the dough tightly starting at the top. Stretch the dough a little as you roll it down, so that you have 5 1/2 to 6 rotations by the time you get to the bottom. Brush a little water over the bottom 1 inch uncoated strip of dough and complete the rolling. Mark the approximate middle of the dough roll, then use a ruler to make 3 marks every 2 1/2 inches to the left of the middle mark and 3 marks every 2 1/2 inches to the right of the middle mark. Use a serrated knife to cut at each mark to make 6 rolls (the ends can be tossed).
- Place rolls evenly spaced out on parchment paper in a 9 x 13-inch baking pan. Place the pan in your oven along with a large bowl or pan full of boiling water. Rolls should proof for about 1 hour or until nearly full size in the pan.
- When rolls have proofed to almost full size, preheat a convection oven to 325° (350° if not convection). Bake for 16 to 20 minutes or until light brown and rolls register around 170° to 175° in the middle. Spin the pan around 180° approximately halfway through the baking.
- While dough bakes, whip butter, cream cheese, salt, vanilla extract and lemon extract for 10 minutes on high speed with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add powdered sugar, then mix again (slowly at first, then on high speed), for 30 seconds.
- When the rolls come out of the oven, immediately cover each with the frosting.
- Makes 6 cinnamon rolls.
