Love at First Bite

Nothing says love like a warm fresh baked cinnamon roll with added chocolate, WOW.

Fresh Baked Cinnamon Nut Rolls

Simple Cream Frosting

      A good cinnamon roll should be "Love at First Bite". How often have you looked at a cinnamon roll and tried it, to find was filled with disappointment. That happens far to often as far as I am concerned. They look great, and smell great, but are lacking in taste.
   
      Once in a while I even give in, and try one at the mall and I end up gaging. They are pretty, and make the mall smell great, but they are totally lacking in flavor. Other times someone will bake them and they use an old cinnamon and a powdered sugar glaze with out flavor.  How sad to go through so much work and have the final product end up flavorless.

      One thing I do want to make clear is that I do not believe in a healthy cinnamon roll. If you are going to eat a cinnamon roll, you should go all the way  There is a place for healthy, but not in a cinnamon roll. Call it something else, but don't defile the sacred name of "cinnamon roll" with the word healthy.

     When I do a cinnamon roll, I go all the way.  White flour, good white flour, sugar, butter, more butter, nuts, chocolate, heavy cream, and more butter. I like a cinnamon roll dripping with flavor and exploding with taste. The dough should be moist and light, and the glaze should be the crowning glory of the roll, and not some tasteless sugar topping that takes away from the absolute wonder of the roll.

     As a young boy my mother set the standard of a cinnamon roll. She made the rolls out of her "Good ole White Bread" recipe. They were amazing, she topped them with a wonderful maple glaze. They were dripping in goodness. She had a few tricks that I have never seen anyone else do. One of the tricks she had was when the dough was rolled out she sprayed the entire surface with water.  It made them moist and wonderful. As a young man I worked in a store bakery. The head baker was wonderful. But his rolls, I thought, were dry. I casually mentioned that to him one day with the remedy of how to fix it. Needless to say he was so mad. Imagine an 18 year old boy telling him how to bake.  His rolls continued to be dry and I didn't last there long.

     Over the years I have worked and worked on perfecting the recipe for cinnamon rolls. A few years ago I was asked to bake them for the wedding of a friend. I was worried and even took a cooking class in Phoenix. It was great. There is always something new to learn and I have discovered that we should never get to comfortable with what we are doing. There is always room for growth. My cinnamon rolls did get better after that class.  The teacher was amazing and she taught me some great tips.

Letting the Rolls Rise before baking.

 
   They turned out great for the wedding. I was so glad I went to learn more. The next weekend I went to a wedding that almost all the same people were attending and they were serving cinnamon rolls. I was a little nervous. It's an ego thing. But to my relief  they were good, but not a good as mine.  Ha Ha. Going to the class really put mine over the top. Cinnamon rolls are a little work, but it is worth the effort when you can make so many happy.

Fresh Baked Cinnamon Roll

Cinnamon rolls   

3 cups warm butter milk

1 cups Chef Brad’s sour dough starter  You can order this at www.chefbrad.com

½  cup sugar

½ cube melted butter

1 tablespoons salt

3 eggs

5-8 cups Hi-Gluten White Flour (to begin with)

2 ½ tablespoons yeast

Place ingredients into your Bosch, with yeast on top of the flour.  Turn on the Bosch, and add enough flour to clean the sides of the bowl. Mix for six minutes and than remove from bowl and place in oiled large bowl and let rise until double.  (Remember, a sticky dough makes the best rolls.)   Remove from bowl Divide into 4 equal pieces. placing one piece on rolling surface, roll dough out into a large semi circle..  Top with melted butter, than a cinnamon, and brown sugar mixture, sprinkle lightly with water.   Roll dough up starting from furthest away and roll towards you pulling the dough tight. When rolled tight, cut in half and than cut the halves in half and than cut each piece into 3 pieces.  You should end up with 12 rolls. Place rolls into pan sprayed with nonstick pan spray, leaving a small space in between each roll,  and let rise until double in size.  Bake at 400 degrees for 5 minutes, then at 325 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

Do not over bake, this dries out the rolls.  

yield: 4-5 dozen

prep/cooking time: 2 hours

Maple Frosting

4 tablespoons melted butter

1 eight oz. package cream cheese, room temp.

1 tablespoon maple extract

Enough heavy cream to smooth frosting

8 cups powdered sugar

Whisk together in food processor until smooth and than spread on warm rolls

Love Love Love 

With or without frosting they should taste great.

     Cinnamon rolls really do say love and I love them. We don't eat them often, so when we do it is a real treat. My family loves them and I love making them. I have gotten up early at girls camp and scout trainings to make cinnamon rolls. Nothing is better than a warm cinnamon roll, dripping in butter and frosting and exploding with the flavor of cinnamon. Just a note, the right cinnamon does make a difference. Use a good quality one,  one that has been in your pantry for years is probably not the right choice. Penzeys has a great one, and you can order on ine.

A good cinnamon roll truly is "Love at First Bite".