Naomi's Cinnamon Rolls

Y'all.  I know you have a cinnamon roll recipe you've made in your family for years.  Maybe it's from your Mom or your Grandma or your Great Aunt so and so.  I did too.  But then I met my friend Naomi who makes these dreamy pieces of cinnamon and sugar perfection and I've never made them any other way since.

When my youngest was in the NICU for 39 days she brought a whole pan of these lovelies and I swear y'all...food is love.  These kept me going.  The best part besides how amazing they taste is that they are so quick! You can be eating these in less than two hours. For all my fellow LDS friends that means you can make them between conference sessions and not have to get up at the crack of dawn.  That's what I'm talking about.

One more note.  Make the brown sugar frosting just like it's written.  I know you may be stepping outside your comfort zone but you'll be glad you did.  It's divine.

To make these relatively quick cinnamon rolls you'll need super sized Kitchen-Aid or a Bosch. 

Most of the notes below and commentary are from my friend Naomi.

Place into mixing bowl:

1 can evaporated milk

2 1/2 cups super hot water (my tap on it's hottest will turn your skin red, that usually does it) 

3/4 cups sugar

4 teaspoons salt

3/4 cups oil 

3 eggs (room temperature)

Making sure it floats on top of the liquids place 6 cups flour.

On top of the flour sprinkle 4 tablespoons instant yeast. I know it sounds counter intuitive to what you may have always been taught, but it really works.

Turn on your mixer and mix until it is all fully incorporated, then start adding more flour, about a half a cup at a time until just the moment the dough "cleans" the side of the bowl. Not a scrap more flour after that instant. It helps to let each addition completely mix in before adding more, but if you have the "feel" of dough and are familiar with making bread/roll dough then go to town. It could take up to 12 cups flour on a humid day.

Then, let the mixer run for ten minutes. Just set the timer and get something else done.    

Disclaimer from Steph: This is the step where you will get into trouble if your mixer isn't super-sized so keep an eye on it.  You may have to scrape it down off the top of the dough hook.  I have a 6 quart Kitchen-Aid and it barely fits.  If yours is smaller I really wouldn't go there.  If you have a Bosch you'll have a little better luck with this part.

After 10 minutes get the dough out of the bowl, and cut in half. Roll one half out in a rectangle on a floured surface and spread with room temperature butter. I find that melted butter absorbs into the dough and not the filling so I prefer softened not melted.

Then sprinkle with a cinnamon and sugar mix. I don't have amounts, obviously loads more sugar than cinnamon, just stop when it looks right for cinnamon toast and make sure the dough is well covered with the mixture. Too little wouldn’t give you the flavor you’re going for so load up!

Next, tightly roll the dough into a long cylinder and cut into individual rolls. You should be able to get 12  1 1/2 to 2 inch rolls out of each half of the dough. 

As you cut each one place in a 9x13 pan. I have tried leaving space in between, and that works all right, but since I always wind up with those 3 that don't fit into the pans evenly, and I have to bake them later and seperate, I just gave up and crowd the pans by letting the rolls all touch. They fit 3 across and 4 lengthwise quite nicely.

Let them rise 25-30 minutes. 

After rising, bake them for 20-25 minutes in a 350 degree oven. When I only bake one pan, it takes around 18 minutes, but when I bake both pans  at once it takes the full 25. 

Remove from the oven and ice them. Make the icing while they are baking actually. You want to ice them still hot. Let them set 5-10 minutes out of the oven then pour it on.

ICING:

1 stick butter

1 cup brown sugar

pinch of salt

up to 1  cup milk divided

powdered sugar

Melt the stick of butter and stir in the brown sugar and pinch of salt. Bring to a boil and boil for one minute. Then take off the heat and pour in 1/2 cup milk. Put back on the heat and bring to a boil, and boil for 1 minute again. Whisk in powdered sugar to get the consistency you want. IF it does not look like enough icing, add more milk and powdered sugar until you have the desired amount of icing at the desired consistency.

Drizzle over rolls while the rolls are still hot.

**Just a side note from Steph - I usually do half the batch as cinnamon rolls and half the batch as orange rolls using the filling and glaze from my previous "Orange Roll" post. When doing this way I roll the orange rolls up just like the cinnamon rolls.  

Enjoy! -S