how to make cinnamon rolls
- Noelle Escobal
- May 23, 2021
- 5 min read
hi everyone! i know i haven't posted on here in a while! i think the last time i opened this website was way back in january! that's almost six months! yikes! soooo, to jumpstart the summer, i just wanted to resurrect a little four minute recipe video that i had stuck in my archives! this video was originally supposed to be a "post-christmas" blog post, but here we are...in the month of may (almost june)...mid-summer...lol.
ingredients!
dough
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon white granulated sugar
1 package active dry yeast
1/2 cup whole milk
4 cups all purpose flour (sifted)
6 tablespoons butter (melted)
2 room temperature eggs
2 tablespoons peanut oil
extra: whole milk, heavy cream, and 1 1/2 tablespoons butter
cinnamon-sugar filling
1/2 cup softened butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
icing
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon whole milk
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
a "pinch of salt"
"the" process!
to make the yeast mixture, heat up 1/3 cup of water. to be specific, heat water up to 100 degrees fahrenheit (the temp. when chocolate melts 👀 the more you know). it's easier if you have a candy thermometer accessible. if not, no worries, just make sure water is lukewarm to touch.
once water is ready, transfer to small bowl, then add in 1/4 teaspoon of white granulated sugar followed by one package of active dry yeast.
** i actually had to make the yeast mixture twice because i forgot to add in the 1/4 teaspoon of sugar. the yeast needs something to eat (the sugar), and so when i forgot to add the sugar in, no reaction happened.
heat up 6 tablespoons of melted butter. to prevent any butter exploding in the microwave, use a heat resistant bowl and cover it with a paper towel. heat butter up in intervals of 10 seconds. pause after each interval and give a little stir to the butter to speed up the melting process.
crack open two room temperature eggs in a bowl. give a light whisk and put aside.
using a stand mixer or a hand mixer, start by pouring in all of the wet ingredients (plus sugar)
add in the yeast mixture
add in 1/3 cup heavy cream
add in 1/2 cup whole milk
add in 1/2 cup of white granulated sugar
add in 2 tablespoons peanut oil
add in 6 tablespoons of melted butter
add in 2 slightly beaten room temp. eggs
add in 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
whisk on medium until everything is fully incorporated. also, while mixing, add in 1 teaspoon of baking powder.
in the video, i changed the whisk to a kneading hook. this is because we will be slowly adding in the flour to make the dough.
make sure that the four cups of flour are carefully sifted. while mixing, gradually add in the flour. this allows time for the wet mixture to fully absorb and incorporate the flour.
once all of the flour is added, knead until all of the flour is fully incorporated. you should have one large mass of dough.
cover the freshly made dough and let it sit for one hour in a dry place.
once it's been an hour, it's time for additional kneading! using my hands, i kneaded the dough for a about 10-15 minutes. this isn't a set time though. if you feel that the dough isn't ready, keep kneading.
how to tell if the dough is ready: the dough should be somewhat stretchy. try to gently pull it apart. it should not break. also, try test-rolling it, the dough should be stretchy and want to move back to it's original position.
if the dough is too dry (which can often be the case if you use too much flour while hand-kneading the dough on the counter): this is really just a trial-and-error method, but i used a mixture of leftover heavy cream, whole milk, and approximately 1 1/2 tablespoons of melted butter. i incorporated all of these ingredients into the dough while hand-kneading. it was a little bit messy as the dough was slippery and slimy. to fix this, gradually add flour until the dough firms up again, but be careful to not add too much as we do not want the flour to dominate the overall taste of the dough.
roll out dough using rolling pin (or, if you don't have one, some other creative contraption). once dough is rolled out, if you want to be precise, you can use a knife to shave off the uneven sides so that dough is perfect rectangle.
soften 1/2 cup of butter and gently spread on dough. don't use all of the butter just yet. save some for later (specifically after you sprinkle dough with cinnamon-sugar mixture)
to make filling, in a bowl, add one tablespoon of cinnamon and one cup of brown sugar. mix together and sprinkle on dough. add remaining softened butter over. spread until everything is fully incorporated.
to roll out a perfect cinnamon roll, it all starts out with the first curl. patiently curl the one end of the dough, then slowly roll, making sure that roll is tight and not sloppy. you should have a neat "dough tube" at the end of this step.
to cut cinnamon rolls, use string (you can use floss, but you don't want to contaminate your cinnamon rolls with a floss minty flavor).
holding string with both hands, place it under dough. drag to desired length. lift both ends of string in a criss-cross until dough is perfectly cut. repeat until all dough is cut.
place freshly cut cinnamon rolls onto a greased pan.
pre-heat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.
while oven preheats, make icing.
in a large bowl, pour in 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon whole milk, 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 1/4 cup of melted butter, 4 oz. of softened cream cheese, and a "pinch of salt."
mix together until everything is fully incorporated.
before popping cinnamon rolls into oven, coat with some icing, making sure to save some icing for later's cinnamon roll garnish.
once coated, place cinnamon rolls in oven for 20-25 minutes until gold brown.
take out of oven once fully baked, drizzle with left over icing, and enjoy!
everything is best served fresh!
i hope you enjoy this recipe! this was actually the third time that i made cinnamon rolls, and i have to say that the third time's a charm because these tasted absolutely amazing! the downside is that this recipe is loaded with tons of butter, sugar, and other unhealthy things, BUT letting loose or letting go every once in a while to indulge in life's greatest joys isn't bad, especially when you had a stressful day, week, month OR if you're like me and just want a taste of christmas morning in mid-may.
i also wrote this recipe after a long day, so if there are a bunch of grammatical errors or incoherent sentences 👀 oops.
noelle escobal
may 23, 2021
Comentarios