cinnamon rolls...

one of jarad's favorite things is cinnamon rolls, i will occasionally pick up a package of pilsbury ones at the store as a weekend breakfast treat, but this time i wanted to try to make them from scratch.  i love to cook, but don't consider myself a "baker", baking is an exact science and takes patience, i like to cook by taste and without following a recipe.  i adapted the "pioneer woman's" recipe and made a few adjustments and cut it in half...they came out pretty good for my first try.

ingredients for dough:

2 cups whole milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 package (or 2 1/4 ts.) dry yeast
4 1/2 cups flour
1/2 ts. baking powder
1/2 ts. baking soda
1/2 ts. salt

ingredients for filling:

1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
plenty of cinnamon for dusting

ingredients for frosting:

1 lb. powder sugar
4 oz. cream cheese
1/4 cup marscapone cheese
3 tb. milk
3 tb. melted butter

how to:

mix milk, oil and 1/2 cup of sugar in a pan.  scald the mixture (heat just before boiling point), and then remove from heat and let cool until lukewarm.  when mixture has cooled, add yeast.  let yeast sit for a minute and then add 4 cups of flour and stir.  cover the mixture with plastic wrap and let rise for at least an hour.

this is what my dough looked like after rising for approximately 2 hours, it almost doubled in size.

at this point, you will add the remaining 1/2 cup of flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and knead together.  i made the dough the day ahead, so you can store it in the fridge, and it will continue to rise slowly or finish up the rolls.  the next day, i took the dough out of the fridge and allowed it to rest on the counter to become room temp.  i laid plastic wrap on my counter and sprinkled it with flour and rolled the dough out to a large rectangle, i cut the edges with a knife to make it more even.

next step is the filling.  melt 1/2 cup of butter and brush onto dough.  sprinkle both sugars and a generous dash of cinnamon all over.

cut the dough into 2 inch strips and roll up.  place in baking pan and allow to rest for 30 minutes before baking, they will rise all over again...

bake rolls at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes or until bubbly and golden.  serve with plenty of frosting.

pinterest.com also had this great way to transform cinnamon rolls into pie crust...you could use either the packaged ones or cut your own into slices to form crust...