Cinnamon Rolls

So yesterday morning my partner decided he wanted to make cinnamon rolls from scratch. He did, and they were delicious, but could use a little more experimentation.

Utilizing our bread maker’s “DOUGH” option, he measured and poured all of the ingredients into the baking pan and let it proceed to mix, knead and rise. An hour and a half later the dough was ready to be rolled out, spread with butter, cinnamon and sugar. After rolling, cutting and placing the raw rolls into the final baking pan, he let them rise a final time while the oven preheated. When they were doubled in size, he baked them for about 25 minutes, I made a quick icing with the leftover butter that didn’t go into the dough or spread onto it to hold the cinnamon and sugar mixture, a little milk, powdered sugar and vanilla. He poured it onto the freshly baked rolls and we each had one, and they were warm and tasted good, but they were, well, perhaps a little bland.

My partner has already decided he’s going to make them again this weekend, but with a few differences. Salted butter, brown sugar and cream cheese icing all come to mind as improvements over unsalted butter, granulated sugar and sweet icing. Yes, I know that true bakers only use unsalted butter, but flavor-wise, salted brings out butter flavor better than unsalted butter with salt added, I don’t know why. Besides, I have no formal training and neither does my partner, so we experiment with what works best and use it until we find something better.

In case you are curious, the original recipe came from the famous Betty Crocker 1969 Cookbook, one of the most coveted cookbooks ever. Go ahead, Google it or check out auction websites for how much this book goes for. We have the fifteenth printing from 1972, and it has been well used to the point where we’ve had to transfer a few recipes onto the computer because they are becoming nearly unreadable.

While it is true, making your own cinnamon rolls takes a little more time than going to the store and picking up premade ones in the bakery, or a tube from the refrigerated section, the end results are worth it. I’d suggest going through your cookbook(s) and making a batch this weekend for your family or friends. After all, aren’t they worth the effort?