Good morning to you!
After a long evening at the fair with my totally awesome kids and husband, where I got to try my first funnel cake EVER, and watch an amazing rodeo…
I am glad to be home this morning, kicking up in my jammies,
and eating an Apple Pie Cinnamon Roll.
September 2012 170

 

If you have followed this blog for very long at all, I am all about making homemade things that just are a touch over the top once a week so that my family doesn’t feel deprived from the “healthy” meals they always get instead of the frozen pizza and juice boxes their friends get all the time (*snort*).
But I also post these recipes, because I love baking, and I love sharing those strangely brilliant creations or ideas that have been simmering in the back of my mind. I know we also just finished a great week of Back to the Basics, where I was teaching you to use the basics to replace the expensive convenience foods we throw so much money of our grocery budget into thinking it saves us time.
Yesterday we talked about how using a loaf of bread dough to make many different meals can also be used to make cinnamon rolls for a breakfast meal. There are so many other things it can be used for, but today I am going to expand your idea of the simple cinnamon roll and teach you how it can be made in an infinite number of ways depending on your tastes. 🙂
Cinnamon rolls are the perfect accompaniment to a cup of coffee, aren’t they?

Take a basic recipe, such as the one I shared yesterday, and follow these steps.Step one: Roll the bread dough out into a nice, large rectangle.

Smother the bread dough with butter or coconut oil, being sure to leave a little room around the edges for sealing in a little bit when you roll it up.

Top the bread dough with cinnamon and a healthy dose of sugar (I use brown sugar). Roll up in a long roll for multiple standard rolls, or the opposite direction for those super size rolls we all dream occasionally about eating without any consequence….

Once the dough is rolled up, pinch the edge into the roll for a good solid seal. You dont want it coming undone and leaking everywhere…

Slice the roll into 10-12 slices. I use cheap thread to do this as it makes a nice clean cut and does not crush the round shape of the rolls.
Lay into a greased pan and press a a little flat so that they will bake up nice and big.

Cover with plastic wrap and then a towel, and set in a nice warm place to rise until double.

Now this is where the variations can start. One of my favorite ideas is to take a can (or jar) of apple pie filling, and spread it over the top of the rolls. Take some real maple syrup and make scrolls over the top, then bake in a 350* oven for 30 minutes.

Or how about cherry pie filling that you mix a Tbs of almond extract into, and when done baking, you drizzle the top with a thin mix of powdered sugar and water?

Another idea that my husband loves is smoothing chunky peanut butter over them, and then drizzling with chocolate syrup once they come out of the oven and have cooled for ten minutes….

My mom’s favorite is using blueberry filling and dollops of sweetened cream cheese (1/2 block cream cheese, 2 Tbs sugar, 1 tsp lemon juice) and baking them in the oven. You can thin out the leftover cream cheese mix if you have some, and drizzle it over the rolls when they come out.

Also, cinnamon rolls can be rolled out and baked like cookies to make “elephant ears”, something my husband absolutely loves to get from bakeries when we are on a long road trip. Some places fry them instead of baking them, but I think they are healthier baked of course. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar before serving. 🙂

So those are just a few of the ideas you can use to dress up an amazing and simple batch of cinnamon rolls. Let me know if you have any suggestions or ideas, or if you try them!
And now, I have to go eat mine before it gets cold!

See ya on Monday!
Blessings to you and yours,
Heather