cinnamonrolls

Cinnamon Rolls

Christmas morning I wanted to make homemade Cinnamon Buns for my mom and sister. Cook and I had made some amazing rolls a few months ago, but they had to rise overnight and I didn’t have the time to make them the night before.  So, when I came across a recipe in the holiday baking issue of Fine Cooking magazine that was easy and manageable, I was sold!

This delicious recipe was a real find. The dough did NOT have to rise.  I made it in the morning at the very last minute.  All the ingredients are probably already in your pantry so you can whip it up any time you wake up with a craving for something warm and cinnamon-y and fresh from the oven!


What you will need…

Dough

3/4 Cup cottage cheese (Surprised? I was too but it worked great!)

1/3 Cup buttermilk

1/4 Cup sugar

4 Tbls. unsalted butter* (melted)

1 Tsp. vanilla extract

2 Cups all purpose flour plus some for rolling dough

1 Tbs. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. baking soda

Filling:

1- 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted

2/3 Cup packed light or dark brown sugar

1-1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground allspice

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1 Cup chopped pecans

Glaze:

Scant 2/3 cup powdered sugar

2-3 Tbs. cold whole or low fat milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

What to do…

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease the sides and bottom of 9 or 10 inch** springform pan.  In food processor,*** combine cottage cheese, buttermilk, sugar, melted butter, and vanilla.  Process until smooth (about 10 seconds).  Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda and pulse in short bursts just until the dough clumps together.  Don’t over process.  The dough should be soft and moist.

Scrape the dough out onto lightly floured surface and knead it with floured hands 4 or 5 times until smooth.  With a rolling pin, roll the dough into 12×15 inch rectangle.

Make the filling:

In medium bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice and cloves. (Yields a very strong cinnamon flavor so if you like a more subtle spice flavor I would adjust. Also, the amount of filling seemed too high after completing the recipe.  I made this a second time and this time melted the butter and added it to the brown sugar mixture.  This produced a much better consistency and soaked into the dough better.)

Make sure you make the spice mixture before the next step since you will want to sprinkle the mixture over the dough as soon as you have brushed it with butter.  Brush the dough with the melted butter, leaving a 1/2 inch border unbuttered around the edges.Sprinkle the mixture over the buttered area of the dough and pat gently into the surface.  (And yes I did melt butter the second time I made it and added to the brown sugar mixture AND also brushed the dough with melted butter– never too much butter! But I did not use the same amount the recipe called for the second time.)

Sprinkle the nuts over the sugar mixture.  Start at the long edge, roll the dough jelly-roll style and pinch the seam to seal it.  Leave the ends open.  With a sharp knife, cut the roll into 12 equal parts.  Set the pieces, cut side up in the prepared pan.  They should fill the pan and might touch each other but don’t worry if there are small gaps.

Bake until golden brown and firm to the touch, 20 to 28 minutes.  Set the pan on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes.

Make the Glaze:

In small bowl, mix the powdered sugar, 2 Tbs. of milk, and vanilla to make a smooth glaze.  It should have a thick but pourable consistency.  If necessary, add up to 1 Tbs. more milk.  Drizzle the glaze over the rolls and let stand 15 minutes before serving.

This is a great recipe.  No yeast so no rising!  Make it first thing in the morning and have fresh cinnamon rolls for company or holidays like Christmas morning!

*use a high quality butter and do not spread on dough until you have your  filling ready.

** don’t crowd the buns.  We used a 9 inch pie plate and it felt too small.  I would have rather used a 9×13 inch glass baking dish than over-crowd.

*** You can also use stand alone mixer or a hand mixer if you do not have a food processor or a food processor large enough to hold the dough ingredients.