Cinnamon Rolls with Brown Sugar Glaze

One my favorite things my mom would make while I was growing up was cinnamon rolls. Soft and warm straight from the oven. Mmmm-mmm. While I don't think mine will ever measure up to hers (but can you ever cook better than your mother?) these are still pretty good.

The Details:

First, you make a basic roll dough. There's several different ones, but here's the one I use. This recipe makes enough for two pans, so if you just want one you can half the recipe.

1 1/4 c. milk

2 1/4 tsp. (1 packet) yeast

1/4 c. sugar

1/4 c. shortening

1 tsp. salt

1 egg, beaten

3 1/2 c. flour

Heat milk to 110 - 115 degrees Fahrenheit. (Any hotter will kill the yeast) Dissolve in yeast. Cream sugar, shortening, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add egg, and mix well. Add half the flour, then add the milk mixture. Mix until flour in moistened. Add rest of the flour by hand. Turn out onto floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 7 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turning once to grease top, cover, and let rise in warm place until doubled. Punch down and let sit a few minutes. Divide in half.

Now to make the cinnamon rolls! Note these directions are for only one pan - half of the previous recipe.

Glaze:

5 Tbsp melted butter

1/2 c brown sugar

Filling:

1 Tbsp melted butter

2 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

2 Tbsp brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour butter for glaze in 13"x9" pan and sprinkle with brown sugar. Roll out dough into rectangle roughly 9"x18". Brush with melted butter. Combine sugar, cinnamon, and brown sugar and sprinkle evenly over dough. Roll dough up tightly, starting on long side. Pinch seams to seal. Cut rolled dough into 12 sections. (dental floss works great for this). Place in pan and let rise 30 minutes. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Invert onto large platter (or a cookies sheet works well). Eat and enjoy!

If you've made the full batch of dough, and don't want to cook them all at once, you can always freeze them. To do this, first form your rolls as directed, but simply place them on a pan or cookie sheet and place in the freezer. When they are froze, put in bags and store in the freezer.

Frozen cinnamon rolls

To cook, fix your pan with the glaze, and place rolls in the pan. You can cook just like that, but they do better if you let them defrost and rise, which will take several hours.You can also store the rolls in the refrigerator overnight, let them rise the next morning, and bake!

Happy Cooking!!