Cinnamon Rolls

The man-critter confessed to a weakness for cinnamon rolls, so I had to come up with some. This recipe is loosely based on one from the March 2003 issue of Cooking Light, which has been reproduced here.

I didn't change the dough part much; I used 2 1/4 tsp of old yeast that I ought to replace, in 1/4 cup warm water, then added 1/2 cup warm milk, 1/3 cup granulated sugar, 1/4 cup butter (melted rather than merely softened), 3/4 tsp salt, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 slightly beaten egg, and about 3 1/2 cups flour. I poured the warm milk and some other ingredients into the egg to warm it up so it wouldn't re-congeal the butter on contact.

I put the dough in a bowl to rise at 7 PM and then went off to a party, from which I did not return until 2 AM. The dough tripled or quadrupled, but still had enough oomph to raise the shaped-and-cut rolls a little bit overnight.

Instead of a pure raisin filling, I used about half a cup of raisins and half a cup of chopped walnuts, mixed with 2/3 cup brown sugar and a tablespoon of cinnamon. I found these awfully sweet, though I was informed that they were on the less-sweet side relative to other rolls. Next time I'd cut the brown sugar down to about half a cup, probably. The filling, along with 2 tbsp melted butter, goes on the stretched-flat dough, which is then rolled parallel to the long side and sliced into about twenty 1/2-inch rounds. These rounds rise on a baking sheet for an hour or so in a warm place (or overnight in my chilly kitchen) and are then baked for 20 minutes at 350.

Instead of a basic vanilla glaze, I mixed about half a cup of powdered sugar with a splash of milk and a healthy splash of maple syrup. This gave enough glaze for each roll to get a little bit, which was enough for me, but probably a lot less than commercial rolls. Next time the rolls should cool down much more before being glazed.

After a few hours these rolls got a bit tough, but came back to life wonderfully with 30 seconds in the microwave. We'll see how they are the next day.