Adventures with Cinnamon Rolls...

I've been trying to come up with something new to fix this year for teachers and neighbors since I've been giving out the same Christmas cookies every year & I'm kinda bored with that. I've always had an unnatural fear of yeast breads for reason too submerged in my subconscious to even understand, so I try not to go there. However, I decided to face my fears yesterday & just get over it! I heard about "The Pioneer Woman" site about two months ago (thank you, Theresa!) & this wonderful cattle ranchers wife, and her awesome food photography spurred me on to greatness yesterday! Well....sorta. I tried her famous Cinnamon Roll recipe and while things were not as simple as she makes it sound, it was a good learning experience & I DID make 8 whole pans of cinnamon rolls!

I followed the recipe EXACTLY as it was written and the only problem I ran into was that my dough was pretty soft and sticky even after adding the 9 freaking cups of flour with another CUP of flour sprinkled over the rolling surface! My cinnamon rolls did not cut into cute Pillsbury pinwheels like PW shows in her pictures & I would not call this an "easy" recipe (PW rates this as an "easy" recipe on her site...but that woman is smoking some high quality crack if she really thinks this process is "easy"!). Whatev' PW! I had oozing melted butter and cinnamon/sugar mixture rolling all over my counter and even dripping onto my floors & shoes! Every time I tried to cut a roll it stuck to my knife and fell apart before I could get it transferred to the pan. I fought really hard to keep my smooshy dough looking somewhat "circular" and cinnamon roll-ish which started making me really frustrated toward the end . I'm glad I didn't give up though, because the end result (while not very aesthetically pleasing) was very, very yummy!

I'm going to try my hand at these cinnamon rolls again for Christmas (and teacher gifts), but next time I think I'm gonna cut down on the butter and sugar used inside the rolls (I think 1/2 cup of melted butter is PLENTY and brown sugar might work a little better then white sugar). The maple frosting on top is to die for, but it's also VERY sweet so you don't need a truck load of sugar inside the rolls too! I'm also going to work a little extra flour into my dough before I actually roll it out. Oh, and in case you live in fear of yeast rolls like I did for the first 30 years of my life, here are a few tips I found that made things a little easier:

-When you scald your milk only bring it up to about 185-190 degrees (I used a candy thermometer).

- Let your scalded milk cool down for about 50 minutes & don't add your yeast until the mixture cools to about 125-130 degrees.

-If your kitchen is really cold (like it probably is today on this 4 degree day!) then turn on your oven to preheat and leave your dough in the pan on top of the oven (yeast likes a nice cozy warm environment to rise).

-"Sticky/Wet" dough is way too tough to handle, so it's best to work a little (a little light kneading where your turn the dough into some flour with the heel of your hands) flour into the sticky mess before you try to roll it out.

-Yeast dough probably takes a little time and patience to get better at, but it's well worth the effort!
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This is what my pans of cinnamon rolls ended up looking like (not so pretty, huh?), but the frosting sorta covered a multitude of sins so to speak-ha!