Random moosages as I see fit.

A friend gave me a small packet of the most wonderful cinnamon ever (EVAR) a little while ago.  And since I received said packet of cinnamon, I had been thinking of what I could possibly do with the cinnamon.  It would have to be featured front and center because…it’s the most wonderful cinnamon ever (EVAR).

Cinnamon rolls.  Def.

I messed around with some recipes and came up with one that I like quite a bit.  I have the unfortunate tendency to roll my cinnamon rolls too tight, which means they don’t puff up as much as they could.  You should probably try and avoid rolling your cinnamon rolls so tight.

Ingredients:

• 14g active dry yeast (2 envelopes if you don’t buy yeast in bulk)
• 1.75 c warm water (approx. 105-110deg F)
• 50g granulated sugar
• 0.5 c vegetable oil
• 35g buttermilk powder
• 625g AP flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 0.5 tsp baking soda
• 120g butter, melted
• 300g brown sugar
• 3 tbsp ground cinnamon

Procedure:

1. In a separate container, dissolve yeast, water, and granulated sugar.  Let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes. If it doesn’t foam, throw it out and buy yourself new yeast.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together buttermilk powder, flour, salt, baking soda.
3. Combine vegetable oil with yeast mixture and pour into dry ingredients.  Stir together until a dough is just forming.
4. Knead until a soft dough forms.  About 3-5 minutes by hand or I use a KitchenAid with the dough hook.  Let the dough rest for about 20 minutes.
5. In a small bowl, combine melted butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon.  Stir until a paste forms.
6. On a well floured surface, turn out dough and divide in half.  Set one half aside.
7. Roll one half out to about a 12″x14″ rectangle.
8. Spread the cinnamon mixture evenly over the dough, leaving about 1″ along one of the long edges of the rectangle.  I use my hands and pat it in.
9. Starting with the clean edge away from you, roll the dough loosely into a log and pinch the clean edge into the roll to seal.  Tuck the ends of the rolls into the log to seal.
10. Roll the log as necessary to achieve an even width along the length of the log.
11. Cut into 1.5-2″ slices.
12. Place cut side up in a lightly greased 10″x15″ baking pan.
13. Repeat steps 7-12 for other half of dough.
14. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
15. Take cinnamon rolls out of refrigerator at least 30 min prior to baking.
16. Preheat oven to 350deg F.
17. Bake uncovered for about 25-30min.
18. Let stand 2-3 min before serving/icing.

Notes:

• I made cranberry nut rolls with the other half of the dough.  It’ll be in the next post because this one was too long with the cranberry recipe added in.  If you use the other half of the dough for something else, then halve the cinnamon mixture.
• I use a LOT of cinnamon.  I really like cinnamon.  You don’t have to use as much cinnamon if you don’t want to.
• The rolls will look kind of puny when you first cut them.
  But they will rise overnight.
  
• You can see how tightly I rolled my cinnamon rolls.  This was even after I purposely tried to not roll them so tightly.
• I also cut 1″ slices this time and I didn’t like it.  I would really recommend 1.5″-2″ slices so you get about 9 rolls out of the log.
• If you have liquid buttermilk on hand for some reason, you can use 1.5c of that instead of 1.5c of water and 35g of buttermilk powder.  I keep buttermilk powder around because it’s much more convenient than trying to acquire a carton of buttermilk at the last moment.  Just warm the buttermilk gently before dumping it in with the rest of the liquids.  You don’t want to curdle the buttermilk.
• I don’t have a set recipe for the cream cheese icing.  I just dump cream cheese, powdered sugar, and milk together and beat until smooth and I’ll modify the ratios to get the consistency I want.