Happy Holidays, pals! Jess here, with another holiday recipe! Every Christmas morning, I make cinnamon rolls which we enjoy while opening presents and watching Christmas movies. My
usual recipe involves prep on Christmas Eve and then proofing and baking off on Christmas morning. This is great for the morning, but since our family often gets together on Christmas Eve, I find myself running around that day trying to get everything together.
This year, I decided to try out a
new recipe that purported to be ready in only an hour from start to finish. To get things moving, gather all ingredients.
First, mix together the dry ingredients (including yeast) in the mixer bowl. If you do a fair amount of baking, it's definitely worth buying your yeast in the jar instead of those packets. It stays good in your fridge for a while and 2 1/4 teaspoons is the equivalent of a packet.
Then I mixed the butter, sugar, milk and water in a microwave-safe measuring cup. I microwaved in 30-second intervals until the butter was melted. Make sure you cool this off enough before mixing it into the flour-yeast mixture. If it's too hot, it will kill the yeast. You want it warm to the touch but not hot.
Once it's cooled enough, drizzle it into the flour with the mixer running, then add the egg. The dough will be super sticky.
Switch to your dough hook, and knead it for four minutes!
Once it's been kneaded, roll it into a ball and drop it onto a floured surface. Cover it with plastic wrap and let it rest for 5 minutes. While you're doing this, preheat your oven to 200 degrees. The warm oven is the key to getting this dough to proof quickly. Also, you should butter your 9x13 pan.
Next, roll out the dough to about 16x9 and spread on the softened butter. Then sprinkle on the filling mixture. I added a touch of Pumpkin Pie spice which is my holiday secret ingredient.
Carefully, roll the dough up from one end. I do one roll at a time and push the ends in a little so it stays together. Then you'll have a nice little log.
To cut 12 pieces, start by cutting down the middle and then cut each half in sixths. If you're not perfect like me, you might end up with 11 instead of 12, which is totally okay.
Place the rolls into the pan. TURN THE OVEN OFF and cover your pan with foil. Place the pan in the oven to rise for 25 minutes.
The rolls with grow a little bit in size as they proof. Take them out, turn your oven back on to 375 degrees and once it's heated bake them off! The recipe suggested 15-18 minutes, but mine took about 25 minutes until they were golden brown and cooked through in center.
While they cool, make the glaze. I halved the glaze recipe (due to a powdered sugar shortage) and I still had plenty.
Glaze your cinnamon rolls (I used a palette knife) and you're good to go!
Will I make this recipe on Christmas morning? I am still debating.
Pros--I liked that I didn't have to do any advance prep and was able to pull this recipe out in the morning. Also, all ingredients were things we regularly have on hand, so you could make this at the spur of the moment.
Cons--This recipe definitely took longer than the hour it suggested. I'd say start to finish, this was about two hours of time. Granted, I had a preschooler "helping me" (i.e. eating brown sugar by the handful, dumping flour on the floor, demanding that Alexa play "Charlie Brown Christmas" at increasingly loud volumes). Also, we liked the vanilla glaze because the traditional cream cheese icing can get a little heavy, but the other recipe gives you a more traditional "Cinnabon-style" frosting.
Either way, this definitely passed the taste test, so I'll definitely be making it again, Christmas or not!
If you give these cinnamon rolls a try, let us know in the comments below and happy baking!
