Aunt Joans Cinnamon Rolls Recipes

CINNAMON ROLL WITH VANILLA FROSTING OR CINNZEO BUNS

Steps:

• Add the warm water to the yeast and soak 10 minutes.
• Scald milk; pour over the shortening. Add sugar and salt and cool to tepid. Add the dissolved yeast and beaten egg. Add 4 cups flour adding one at a time beating after each addition.
• Dough should be soft yet firm enough to handle. Knead on floured board until elastic and smooth. Avoid too much flour. Turn dough into well oiled bowl. Let rise for 1-1/2 hours.
• Press dough down and divide into workable size. Roll dough out into a rectangle. Cover with melted butter. Layer with a generous thick layer* of brown sugar. Sprinkle on cinnamon* as desired. If you like raisins, layer on a layer of raisins. Roll up jellyroll fashion.
• Using a scissors or a piece of string, cut off slices about 1 to 1-1/2 inches thick. Place slices in an 8 or 9 inch round greased cake pan. Place one slice in the middle and other slices around it. Press rolls down to even out and fill pan. Let rise until rolls fill the pan generously -- about another hour.
• Bake in a 350*F. oven about 15 - 20 minutes. If rolls get too brown, cover with a piece of tine foil until the end of baking. Do not over bake rolls.
• Remove immediately from pan by inverting onto a plate and then tip over onto another plate to right the rolls.
• For the Frosting:.
• In a medium bowl, place sugar, butter and vanilla. Then stir in enough milk or cream to reach a thick, hardly-able to stir consistency.
• Spread over warm rolls as soon as they are placed on a plate to let the frosting melt and run into the rolls.
• * I was pretty generous with both the brown sugar and cinnamon. I ended up with about a 1/2 inch layer of brown sugar completely covered with cinnamon. I very lightly sprinkled the brown sugar filling with flour. This prevents the filling from melting thru rolls as they are baking. Or any easy way is to mix the brown sugar, cinnamon & about 1/4 cup of flour, then spread the mixture on dough. I also like diced Granny Smith Apple with chopped walnuts.
• My Note: This time a double batch, wel l actually 2 single batches because I don't know what would happen with a double batch. I am well versed in the kitchen but baking seems to be an exact science. The only thing I altered from the recipie was to grate a little fresh nutmeg over the buttered dough before applying the brown sugar.
• This remains to be delicious even on the second day! Most cinnamon recipes I have tried promised to be the best of the best. However, in the end, after trying them- they are a disappointment and not good. They turned out to be like old hard bread with a cinnamon taste. This one is exceptional. This THE BEST! My cinnamon turned out to be really yummy, super delicious and moist! My husband and I ended up eating the bread while it was still hot, fresh from the oven! He suggested that I pour or drizzle the frosting only before eating time. I did it and yes, it was better and tasted really fresh! ALTERNATIVE: I used SOUR CREAM for this recipe! I used 3/4 cup of water and 1/3 cup of sour cream, mixed them well and placed the combo in the microwave for 30 seconds.This is my sub for the milk! No wonder the bread is creamy! I used OLIVE OIL instead of shortening for health reasons. Turned out excellent! For VANILLA FROSTING, I used sour cream. This the real and ULTIMATE CINNAMON RECIPE that is very, very delicious! And the bread is soft, delicate, moist and creamy- probably because of the sour cream I used! TIPS: I used BREAD FLOUR instead of the usual ALL PURPOSE FLOUR. And I also added 5 tablespoons GLUTEN to help it to rise easier, faster and softer. I used 5 cupsof BREAD FLOUR.
• Better than Cinnabon! =) I made a few changes to the recipe for personal preference: I used 3/4 Silk almond milk and 1/4 sweetened condensed milk (I still added the 1/3 cup white sugar). I used 4 cups of bread flour and I kneaded the dough for about 45 mins by hand. I let the dough rise in the sunlight with plastic wrap tightly covering the bowl. This extra heat helped the dough rise much faster. Then I punched it down and prepared the rolls by using 1/2 stick of room temp butter and smeared it over the dough by hand. I pat down the brown sugar / cinnamon mix and then began to roll it tightly. I placed the cut up rolls into a baking dish and placed it in the sunlight for an hour to let rise (double / triple in size). Baked in the oven for 20 mins at 350 F and as soon as they came out, I brushed melted butter on top. I also used store bought Pillsbury cream cheese icing and melted it in the microwave before putting it on top of the baked rolls. This recipe is well worth the time and effort required to make this dessert. You'll be glad you did.

AUNT JOAN'S CINNAMON ROLLS

Steps:

• Dough: Mix first ingredients (Yeast through Egg) with a spoon. Add in Flour gradually and then mix with your hands until you can knead the dough.
• Warm a bowl with hot water, dry and grease the bowl. Let the dough rise in the warmed, greased and covered bowl at room temperature until doubled.
• Make Topping: Cook sugar and butter until it is combined (in a pan on the stove). Take off the heat, add Caro Syrup and stir. Pour 1/2 syrup mixture into each greased 9X13 Pan. NOTE: don't cook this too long or too hard - you'll get a hard candy topping -- Joan cooked it for just a few minutes -- You can optionally add nuts to the topping. You can make the topping ahead of time and pour into the prepared pans while the dough is rising.
• Divide dough in half once doubled. Perform the following on each dough: Roll dough out oblong to about 12 X 18 inches. Spread milk over the dough with your fingers (1/8 C or so?) (note - some recipes call for using butter instead of milk - the milk does work fine though -- ) Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon over the dough. Can optionally add raisins. Roll up dough lengthwise. NOTE: First time I made these I used an unmeasured amount of cinnamon and sugar - sprinkled it on what I thought was liberally and it wasn't nearly enough. Researched cinnamon rolls on the internet and found 1C Sugar + 1 TBL cinnamon was a pretty common ingredient set in cinnamon rolls. I tried these amounts and the sugar melted out of the rolls when they cooked and left gaps in the rolls that I wasn't happy with. Next time will use between 1/2 - 3/4 C sugar and a slightly reduced amount of Cinnamon.
• Cut rolls about every 1 1/2 inches and place on top of syrup in pan. When you place the rolls, there will be big gaps between them - rolls will be 3 X 4 in the 9 X 12 pan. As they rolls rise the second time, these gaps will be filled in nicely. Let rise until "ready" (Second raise - maybe another 1/2 - 1 hour to hour depending on humidity levels?).
• Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Important - Check the rolls about 20 minutes inches If the rolls on the edges start to brown and the middle looks not done - put tin foil over the rolls and cook a bit longer. Once all are done, run a spatula along the edge of the pan and then immediately turn out (with topping on top) onto a bread board, cookie sheet, foil or wax paper to cool completely (But not a cooling rack - you want to capture all of the topping!).
• Aunt Joan lets them cool completely and then wraps tightly in wrap (freezer paper / plastic combo) and puts most into the freezer now days as her kids are long ago grown and moved away. Believe me - even frozen and thawed these things ROCK. (of course, you could eat them right away ;).

AUNT MARY'S VANILLA FROSTING

Steps:

• Combine butter or margarine, shortening, confectioners' sugar, flour, vanilla, and milk in a mixing bowl. Whip all ingredients until fluffy.