Sunday, March 13, 2011

One Hour Cinnamon Rolls (Really!)


Makes 9-12

Preheat oven to 425. Start warming 3/4 cup milk or rice milk.

In bowl, whisk together:

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (or 1 packet)
1 cup unbleached flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Whisk in warm milk, then:

1 egg
2 tablespoons oil (extra virgin olive in my house)

Cover with a plate and let sit in warm place for 15 minutes. It should get nice and bubbly.

Then add:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
Unbleached flour as necessary

Knead for 3 minutes, adding unbleached flour as necessary until dough is no longer sticky.

Let rest for 5 minutes. (Longer is better, but if you're shooting for the 1-hour mark, 5 minutes is enough.) While dough is resting:

Melt 2 tablespoons butter.

Roll out dough into a 9"x12" rectangle.  Spread with melted butter.  Sprinkle with:

Cinnamon to taste (I just shake it all over the dough)
Brown sugar (again to taste; let's call it 1/4 cup)
Other fillings as desired (see below for suggestions)

With the 12" side facing you, roll up dough.  Cut into 9-12 rolls, depending on how many/how tall you'd like your rolls to be.  I usually cut 12.

Place rolls in 11" round baking pan.  If you made 9 rolls, they'll fit in a 9"x9" pan.

Bake at 425 for 13-15 minutes, or until golden brown on top. While rolls are baking, make frosting or glaze, if desired. Remove from oven and frost as you like! See below for toppings/variations.


Buttercream:
2 Tbsp. melted butter
Dash salt
Few drops vanilla or almond
1 cup powdered sugar
Milk, rice milk, or cream (1 Tbsp. to start)

Whip together, adding more powdered sugar or liquid to achieve desired consistency. I make it fluffy, as for a cake, then put dollops on the rolls and let them melt. If you like your rolls saturated with glaze, make it thinner.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
Use Buttercream recipe above. Reduce butter to 1 Tbsp. Substitute 2 Tbsp. room-temperature cream cheese for milk. Thin with milk or cream if needed.

Caramel Glaze:
4 Tbsp. butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
Dash salt

Bring to boil in small pan, stirring constantly. Pour over baked rolls. Nuts may be added for extra decadence!

Orange Topping:
Add zest of 1/2 orange to either of the above

Apple Rolls
While dough is resting, core and dice 1 apple. Sprinkle over dough with cinnamon and brown sugar.

Pear/Cardamom Rolls
Follow directions for apple rolls above, but use 1 pear. Instead of cinnamon, use cardamom and nutmeg. Glaze with thin almond-flavoured buttercream.

Cranberry/Walnut with Orange Glaze:
Sprinkle chopped fresh or frozen cranberries and walnuts over dough with brown sugar. Use nutmeg and very little cinnamon. Glaze with thin orange-flavoured buttercream.

3 comments:

  1. Just read this post. My mouth is watering!!! What a collection of toppings!! Geesh, now I feel like I need to try them all!!! lol!!!

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  2. Guess what I'm eatingggggggg??????????

    I was nervous about the yeast. I've always studiously avoided yeast recipes, with very occasional bread making forays. Never enough to gain any sort of confidence...but these just looked too good and the hour part was nice...if I totally messed it up I'd only lost an hour!! :)

    Well, not only did they come out perfectly delicous, they look beautiful AND they weren't so hard!! :) Thank you so much for posting this!! I will now work my way down the topping list!! :D

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  3. How fun! I made some tonight with herb-cheese filling. Mr. M said (as he headed to the kitchen for his fourth) "What do you put in these things, MSG? They're addictive."

    So glad it worked for you.

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