Monday, March 15, 2010

Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls



These are the best homemade cinnamon rolls you'll ever bake. Trust me. Throw out your old recipe. You can stop looking. The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummund, has come up with an amazing recipe that isn't all bread. It is the perfect ratio of bread to cinnamon to sugar. Add it makes a ton! Go ahead and make the whole batch and throw some in the freezer. If you are making a mess anyway, you might as well enjoy it for weeks to come....if they last that long!


Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls

  • 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
  • 2 cups Sugar
  • Generous Sprinkling Of Cinnamon
  • _____
  • MAPLE FROSTING:
  • 1 bag Powdered Sugar
  • 2 teaspoons Maple Flavoring
  • ½ cups Milk
  • ¼ cups Melted Butter
  • ¼ cups Brewed Coffee
  • ⅛ teaspoons Salt

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

Repeat this process with the other half of the dough. Let the rolls rise for 20 to 30 minutes, then bake at 400 degrees (see note below) until light golden brown, about 15 to 18 minutes.

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.

Note: My rolls don’t work for me at 400 degrees anymore. I now bake them at 375 degrees.


9 comments:

Mom Judy said...

Oh, girl, (instead of oh, boy) do those look absolutely wonderful! My mouth is salivating. They look so pretty on your English plates. Thanks for the recipe. I have been thinking about cinnamon rolls lately. I heard it was 64 today in your fair town. Lucky you!

Kendra said...

those look delish!! I will have to try them:) How many do they make and if you were to freeze them do you freeze them rolled up and cut?

Christina said...

Wow! These look soooooooo good! I'm going to bookmark them for future use.

Heidi said...

Kendra, I got about 3 1/2 dozen out of the recipe.
And I froze them cut up in a buttered dish. I took out the frozen ones the night before I wanted to use them (about 6 pm) just left them on the counter till I went to bed. Then stuck them in the fridge overnight.
In the morning I pulled them out while the oven was heating then popped them in the oven. We've already gone through our 3+ dozen....time to make more!

Mom Judy said...

Heidi, are you going to have them this weekend for us?

Heidi said...

Why, yes we are, mom!

Molly said...

These WERE incredible! Sorry everyone - I was able to indulge without having to do the work. Thanks for the amazing birthday present, Heidi!! I am going to throw away all my other recipes - this one surpasses them all.

Bryant and Hannah said...

Heidi,
I wanted to make Bryant cinnamon rolls to celebrate Bryant's Finance Exam success so I whipped the dough last night and baked them this morning. Bryant told me about this recipe a while ago but finally got around to making them... They were AMAZING!! I sifted the flour instead of measuring straight up, so they were a bit soft. Next time I won't skimp on the flour. Thank you for sharing these on your blog! Next feat will be the granola. I swear, Bryant dreams about that stuff at night. :)
Sincerely,
The Dittmers

Heidi said...

I'm glad you tried them, Hannah! And you MUST do the granola! It's so easy and yummy, you'll be making some every week!