Gingerbread Cinnamon Rolls

I made this festive version of cinnamon rolls as a breakfast treat for my daughters early this week, but they would be perfect for any holiday brunch. I knew that they would be well received in this kitchen because my girls LOVE gingerbread. We make gingerbread men, ladies, houses, barns, and even reindeer every year for Christmas. I freeze the extras and we eat the spicy cookies throughout the year. Someone recently pointed out to me that gingerbread is an acquired taste. If that's so, then my children have acquired the taste early. They'll eat gingerbread cookies by the dozen, with or without frosting! So, it's no surprise that my family gobbled up these gingerbread flavored cinnamon rolls for breakfast.

This cinnamon roll recipe starts out like many others, with yeast proofing in warm water. This is 2 packages of active dry yeast in 1/4 cup of water (around 115 degrees).

Then mix together evaporated milk, molasses, brown sugar, an egg, vegetable oil, and salt.

Add in the proofed yeast mixture and keep stirring until combined.

Stir in as much flour as you can, then turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead in enough of the remaining flour to form a soft, smooth, elastic dough (for about 5 minutes kneading time). I got a little too enthusiastic with my flour and added a smidge too much, which made for a denser, drier finished product (Shame on me!) The dough seemed so soft as I was stirring that I just dumped in the rest of the flour. The fact that I was rushing to get these mixed up contributed to my hasty flour addition; I made these after dinner and I wanted to get them rising before I put the girls to bed. Next time, I'll add the flour little by little...

Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a greased bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled. The recipe suggests that this should take about an hour. Mine needed 2 hours until it was doubled.  I swear that I put it in a warm place....

Once doubled, punch the dough down, then cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Again, I was busy, so I failed to read the recipe and I skipped this step and went straight to the rolling. Man, I used to be so good at yeast rolls and bread!

I rolled the dough out into a rectangle. Mine was slightly bigger then the recipe recommended 12 X 8 inch rectangle.

Spread the dough with 2 tablespoons of butter.

Combine brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and ginger for the filling.

Spread the sugar mixture evenly over the butter.

Then roll the dough up, long side to long side.

Pinch the seams to seal. As I finished this step, I marvelled at how very much the gingerbread cinnamon roll log looked like a GIANT cigar. But, unlike a cigar, when you fire these up, the house will smell absolutely wonderful!

Slice the dough into 1 to 1-1/2" thick slices.

Lookin' good....

Place the rolls onto a greased 13 X 9 inch pan, then cover and let rise for another hour, until nearly doubled. This second raising session went better for me. After an hour, they were ready to go! The recipe recommended that I bake these at 350 degrees for 22-25 minutes. I baked these on the low end of the recommendation, for 22 minutes. It was too long. I bet that they would have been good to go at between 18-20 minutes.

Move the rolls to a plate or serving platter to cool while you stir the glaze together. The glaze is simply powdered sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and milk. Stir the mixture until smooth and desired spreading consistency.

Spread the glaze over the slightly cooled rolls and garnish with sugared cranberries, if you like. Even if these were a tad on the dry side from my over-use of flour and over-baking, they were still really good. We ate them for breakfast two mornings in a row!

In addition to being delicious, the rolls were very photogenic, they just looked so pretty, especially with the sugared cranberries sprinkled around the plate, that I had a difficult time choosing which picture to use for this post...so I went with two.

Here's the recipe, as seen in the December 2009 edition of Better Homes and Gardens Magazine

Gingerbread Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients
2 pkg. active dry yeast
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/3 cup molasses
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
2 Tbsp. butter, softened
1 recipe Glaze (recipe below)
Sugared cranberries*
Directions
1. In a bowl combine yeast and 1/4 cup warm water (about 115 degrees F). Let stand 5 minutes. Stir in milk, molasses, 1/4 cup brown sugar, the egg, oil, and 1/2 tsp. salt. Stir in as much flour as you can. Turn dough out onto floured surface. Knead in enough remaining flour for moderately soft, smooth, elastic dough (5 minutes). Shape in ball. Place in greased bowl; turn once. Cover; let rise until double (1 hour). Punch down. Turn onto lightly floured surface. Cover; let rest 10 minutes.

2. Grease a 13x9x2-inch pan. For filling, in bowl combine 1/4 cup brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and ginger. Roll dough to 12x8-inch rectangle. Spread butter on dough. Sprinkle filling to within 1 inch along one long side. Roll up, beginning at long side of filling. Pinch to seal. Cut 12 slices. Place in pan. Cover; let rise until nearly double (45 minutes).

3. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes or until golden brown and set. Let stand 5 minutes; invert onto platter. Drizzle with Glaze. To serve, top with sugared cranberries. Makes 12 rolls.

Glaze: Combine 1-1/2 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, and 1/2 tsp. vanilla. Whisk in enough milk (4 to 5 tsp.) for drizzling consistency.

*Note: For sugared cranberries, roll frozen cranberries in sugar.

Nutrition Facts
Servings Per Recipe 12 rollsCalories332, Total Fat (g)6, Saturated Fat (g)2, Monounsaturated Fat (g)2, Polyunsaturated Fat (g)1, Cholesterol (mg)26, Sodium (mg)136, Carbohydrate (g)64, Total Sugar (g)32, Fiber (g)1, Protein (g)6, Calcium (DV%)7, Iron (DV%)15, Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet

My Notes:
*As stated above, add that last cup of flour slowly to avoid a dry product.
*Start checking rolls after 18 minutes of baking time to make sure that they do not overbake.
*I prefer a spicier gingerbread flavor. Next time I will add in nutmeg and ground cloves to the dough.
*These could be "gooey-ier". Next time I might increase the butter/filling for the recipe to make 1-1/2 to 2 X more filling.

I love the idea of these. This recipe is an excellent starting place. I can't wait to "tweak" them to perfection when I make them again!

Pumpkin-Spiced Cinnamon Rolls

When I saw these Easy Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Rolls on The Ungourmet last week, I knew that they would make an appearance in my kitchen in the near future. By the way, if you haven't visited Kim's blog, please give it a look for some excellent baked goodies (her cupcakes are SO creative!) and delicious meals. I already had all of the ingredients needed for pumpkin-spiced cinnamon rolls, so they were an easy choice for this morning's breakfast. Besides, what's not to love about cinnamon rolls...especially pumpkin -spiced cinnamon rolls...especially at this time of year!? This is the perfect easy Saturday morning recipe, a morning that no on needs to rush off to work or school and you can all sit down together and enjoy it with glasses of cold milk or a cup of steaming, fragrant coffe. Make it in your p.j.'s...cartoons playing in the background...savoring the haven of your warm, cozy kitchen. Smile out at the cold, hard, gray November morning as the smell of pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon fill the air. The holiday hustle and bustle is just around the corner, but today it's just a low-key Saturday morning with the family and these yummy pumpkin-spiced, cream cheese and maple topped cinnamon rolls on your plate...

I began by combining the filling ingredients: pumpkin puree, a little butter, maple syrup, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. Stir until smooth.



Then grab an 16-18 oz package of refrigerated pizza dough. Kim, from The Ungourmet used Trader Joe's pizza dough that comes in a bag, not a tube. I went with what I already had...Pillsbury in a tube. I still haven't figured out where Trader Joe's is in this town...



You're supposed to roll it out into a 12 X 10 inch rectangle. Since I used the thin crust version of Pillsbury pizza dough, I simply needed to unroll it onto a floured surface.



Then I spread the filling over the rectangle, leaving about an inch on each side.



Kim commented that these rolls aren't overly sweet, which was good for her because super sweet goodies just aren't her cup of tea. Me on the other hand, I'm all about the sugar high! I sprinkled another layer of sugar-cinnamon blend over the filling mixture.



Then, starting with the long side, I rolled the rectangle up, jelly roll style. Pinch the seams to seal.



Then, using a sharp knife, slice the roll into 1 to 1-1/2" portions. Mine were a little "smooshy", partly because I used pizza roll from a tube and partly because I didn't roll it as tightly as I should have.



It was all good, though...they still turned out okay. Transfer them to a greased, 9-inch baking dish. I used my 9-inch springform pan, but a regular 9 in. round or square pan would work out just fine. Depending on the type of pizza dough, you might need to let these rise until doubled for about 45 minutes. Using pizza dough from a tube, I found that the rolls do not expand much when left to rest on the counter. I think that I let mine sit for about 30 minutes with no change. Next time, I might not even bother. Bake the rolls at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown.



While the rolls bake, combine the icing ingredients: butter, cream cheese, maple syrup, and a little orange juice.



Sift in a cup of powdered sugar and stir until combined and smooth.



Spread the icing over the rolls while they are still warm.



The recipe makes plenty of icing...feel free to smother em'! Mmmm. These were great fresh from the oven, but I liked them even better, hours later, with an afternoon cup of coffee.




Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Rolls
adapted from theUngourmet

1 16-18 oz package of refrigerated pizza dough
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 tbsp room temperature butter

Icing
2 tbsp room temperature butter
1/2 cup room temperature cream cheese
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tbsp orange juice
1 cup sifted powdered sugar

Roll dough into a 12x10 inch rectangle. Combine the pumpkin, spices, syrup and butter. Spread filling onto the rolled dough, leaving 1 inch on each side. Carefully roll dough jelly-roll style, starting at the long end (this will be a bit messy). Pinch seam to seal. Use a sharp serrated knife to cut 12 1 inch slices. Place rolls into a greased 9 inch baking pan. Cover and place in a draft free area and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown.

Combine icing ingredients and beat until smooth. Spread over rolls while they are still warm. Enjoy!

Notes: I used pizza dough from a tube. It didn't really need time to raise. If you use homemade dough or refrigerated pizza dough from a bag, it will a) need time to raise and b) probably yield a lighter, fluffier cinnamon roll.

I liberally sprinkled cinnamon-sugar over the filling before I rolled up the dough for a sweeter product.

Happy Birthday to...Me!

Anyone want to guess what I got for my birthday?



Only the sleekest, prettiest, piece of kitchen equipment in candy apple red that this home cook could ever imagine having in her possession.



That's right...it's the 90th Anniversary Limited Edition Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer complete with a 5 quart glass bowl! WOOOHOOOO! This was a total surprise. I didn't even ask for one (although I really, REALLY did want it.) My mom, my grandma, and my mother-in-law (and by default, my dad, my grandpa, and my father-in-law) all went in together to make this dream come true for my birthday. They are really too kind. Last year, when I had just started this blog, they gave me a whole new set of cookware for my birthday. You can read about that HERE.

I received my mixer last weekend when I was home visiting. And then tonight, before he carried out the cake, my husband took it one step further and gave me the attachment pack with the slicer/shredder, food grinder, and pasta maker plates. I am way beyond getting upset when my man gives the gift of kitchen appliances for birthdays and holidays. For me this IS romantic...and I am so stinkin' excited that I could bust. The possibilities and capabilities for my new kitchen toy are just racing through my head!

Not to stereotype, but you know how some guys love their cars so much that they'll spend a whole Saturday afternoon buffing and polishing...rubbing ArmorAll into the upholstery? That's kind of how I feel about my new mixer. Like a friend might call for a lunch date and I'll have to think about it because I just wanna stay home and mix up cookies and then polish my mixer. Okay, maybe I wouldn't go that far...but I sure do love my present.

In the words of Stevie Wonder, "Isn't she lovely? Isn't she wonderful?"



Of course, once I tore away the packing, I had to start baking right away. First I made this Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Pecan Praline Filling from Deep South Dish.



My in-laws were coming into town to babysit so that I could go out for a birthday dinner with my husband and friends. I wanted to make something yummy to go with their morning coffee. This certainly fit the bill!



Then I made homemade cinnamon rolls for the first time. I chose this recipe for Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls from Recipezaar. These are hands down the best homemade cinnamon rolls that I have ever tasted! My parent's Amish neighbor lady makes some killer cinnamon rolls and these are even better than hers! Sorry, Mary. Actually I wouldn't have written that comparison if I weren't completely certain that my former Amish neighbor is not surfing the web. Ha ha.



Since I was "on a roll" I decided to whip up some orange cinnamon rolls too. I love the kind that come from a tube and I wanted to make some from scratch.



To make the Cinnabon rolls, you need to dissolve the yeast in warm milk in a large bowl.



Then, add in the sugar, butter, salt, and eggs.



Gradually add the flour and mix well. Wow, my dough hook looks particularly ominous in this shot, doesn't it?



Knead the dough into a large ball, using your hands dusted lightly with flour. Next, I put the dough into a greased bowl, turned once, and covered it before letting it rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.



Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface, until it is approx 21 inches long by 16 inches wide. It should be about 1/4" thick. Then, spread softened butter over the dough. Oops. I was going for soft on the butter, but I'd forgotten to set it out beforehand. I used my microwave. Mine ended up melted. I don't think that it made any difference.



Now, sprinkle a mixture of brown sugar and cinnamon over the butter. The suggestion comments on this recipe recommends sprinkling flour over the filling to prevent it from running out as the rolls bake, so I did that too.



Working carefully, from the long edge, roll the dough down to the bottom edge.



Here's the roll of cinnamon-sugar laden dough. At this point I have no idea how good these are going to be. I'm about to be enlightened....and in cinnamon roll bliss very soon!



Cut the dough into 1 3/4 inch slices, and place in a lightly greased baking pan. Bake for 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Or that's what the recipe instructs. Mine never got really golden brown. I left them in for about 15 minutes before removing them from the oven.



While the rolls baked, I combined the icing ingredients (butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt) and beat em' til they were fluffy.



Here are my rolls fresh from the oven. Healthy eating aside, I bet if you lightly brushed these with some melted, un-salted butter they'd get nice and golden brown.



Once the rolls come out of the oven, spread them generously with the icing. Cinnamon rolls aren't like a cake, you can ice them fresh from the oven. In fact, it's much easier to spread the icing while the rolls are hot.



These were perfection! I took them to my Monday morning parenting group for refreshments and they were a big hit!



I also took these Orange Rolls. They're probably a little better for you. Less butter. Less sugar. They are nicely flavored by the orange juice and freshly grated orange rind mixed into the dough. These need a little more time to rise. Once you form them into rolls, they need to rise a second time for 30 or more minutes. I won't do the play-by-play on the preparation of these. You get the idea from the steps above AND you can find the complete recipe below.



Bake em'in a 375 degree preheated oven until rolls are golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. This recipe did turn a nice, golden-brown. I would like to point out here that I baked all of the rolls in a springform pan. That way, I could remove the sides for easier service. Once the sides of the pan are gone, you can scoot the rolls right onto a serving plate.

Each recipe made about 2 pans full of rolls. I ended up freezing half of them to heat up as a breakfast treat on another day.



While these rolls baked, I made the icing. It's just orange juice, powdered sugar, orange zest, and vanilla. Next time I'll leave out the vanilla. It really doesn't need to be there and distracted from the sharp citrus flavor that I love about these rolls. Also, I highly recommend doubling the icing recipe. There wasn't quite enough to cover each and every roll.



Once the rolls were iced, I grated a little more orange zest over top just to make em' prettier. These rolls were good, but not as good as the Cinnabon recipe. They were a little more dense than I prefer. I think that I may have added just a touch more flour than I needed. Next time I'll add a little less flour and leave the vanilla out of the icing and then they should be just about perfect. If not, I'll look for an airy-er version. But don't get me wrong, these were MORE than just edible. They were yummy, I just don't believe that they've reached their full potential yet. I mean, just look at em'! They've got potential...




A job well done by my new favorite appliance. I called out "Hi-yo, Silver, away!" and she rode off into the sunset.



What?! Hi-yo Silver? Well call me "crazy" but don't you see the resemblance? No? Okay then, humor me. It's my birthday.



Here are the recipes:

Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls from Recipezaar

SERVES 12

1 (1/4 ounce) package dry yeast
1 cup warm milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup margarine (I used butter)
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
4 cups flour
FILLING
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
1/3 cup margarine, softened
ICING
8 tablespoons margarine
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
For the rolls, dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in a large bowl.
Add sugar, margarine salt, eggs, and flour, mix well. Knead the dough into a large ball, using your hands dusted lightly with flour. Put in a bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface, until it is approx 21 inches long by 16 inches wide. It should be approx 1/4 thick.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

To make filling, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Spread the softened margarine over the surface of the dough, then sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon evenly over the surface. Working carefully, from the long edge, roll the dough down to the bottom edge. Cut the dough into 1 3/4 inch slices, and place in a lightly greased baking pan.

Bake for 10 minutes or until light golden brown.

While the rolls are baking combine the icing ingredients. Beat well with an electric mixer until fluffy. When the rolls are done, spread generously with icing.

Orange Cinnamon Rolls also from Recipezaar altered (slightly) by me

3 hours | 25 min prep

SERVES 15

Rolls
1 package active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (105-115 degrees)
1 1/2 teaspoons orange zest
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
3-3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Filling
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter or margarine, softened

Icing (Double this!)
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon orange juice + 1 teaspoon
1 tablespoon orange zest


Dissolve yeast in warm water in lg mixer bowl.
Add orange peel, orange juice, sugar, salt, egg, butter and 1 1/2 c of the flour.
Beat 30 seconds on low, scraping bowl constantly; increase speed to medium, beat 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a dough easy to handle. Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead 5 minutes and dough is smooth and elastic. Cover; let rise in warm place until double, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours (dough is ready if an indentation remains when dough is touched). Punch dough down and, on a lightly floured surface, roll into a rectangle 15x9". Spread w/ 1 T butter and sprinkle w/ combined 2 T sugar and 1 t cinnamon. Roll up, beginning at one of the long sides; pinch edge of dough into roll to seal well; stretch to make roll even. Cut roll into 15 slices about 1" wide. Place slices slightly apart in a greased oblong baking pan, 13x9x2", or in greased muffin cups.
Cover and let rise until double, about 30 minutes.

Bake in a 375 degree preheated oven until rolls are golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes.

If desired, mix together confectioner's sugar, orange juice, orange peel; frost while warm.

Recipe is easily doubled.