Thursday, November 8, 2012

Ruthy/Dorothy Cinnamon Rolls Revisited!

Okay, I did the unthinkable....

DO NOT TELL CONNEALY.

Just don't, 'kay?

Because I messed with the cinnamon roll recipe which in and of itself isn't a BAD THING, right????

Except that it's Mary's mother's recipe.... and Mary delights in shooting people. Sometimes fictional folk...

But I'm not betting my life on the planet that she wouldn't grab hold of Ivan's Ithaca Deerslayer and give me a blast of buckshot to my nether-regions.

Therefore, we need to examine this QUIETLY.

:)

(Have youse ever known me to be quiet???? EVER??????)

Thank you.

Okay, so here's the basic. I used my basic bread recipe for the dough because it's my fave but I loved the texture of Dorothy's too, so use whichever one your little heart desires:

Here  (Dorothy Moore's yeast-dough recipe from late October)

My bread recipe courtesy of Betty Crocker Cookbook....

2 packets of yeast (I use 2 Tablespoons from my big pack of yeast)
3/4 cup very warm water
Mix those two things together, a marriage made in heaven!!!

Then add:

1/4 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon salt
3 Tablespoons Crisco (shortening)
2 2/3 cup very warm water
5 cups flour


3-4 cups flour (added during kneading step)

Mix yeast and 3/4 cup water, let sit a couple of minutes to "work"... then add sugar. salt, Crisco and 5 cups bread flour.... Mix slowly at first, then raise the speed and mix well with regular beater paddle until smooth on medium speed.

Add 3-4 more cups of flour one cup at a time. I find it's usually about 8 1/2 cups altogether for a batch that makes a ton of cinnamon rolls or two nice big 9" loaves of bread. Use dough hook (kneader) to work flour into dough while you chill-lax and do your nails or something. Really, it is pretty darn easy with today's machinery.

Turn out dough onto counter. It's always good if the counter's clean. That is not a necessity, however.

Grease mixing bowl thoroughly. Put somewhat tainted dough back into mixing bowl. Flip it over or grease the top of dough, cover with towel and let rise in warm spot until almost doubled in size. (Depending on temperature this might be half-hour or an hour....)

Punch dough. (Removes latent aggressions)

Divide in half. (Permanent separation, SO SAD!!!!!)   ;)








Roll out one half into large rectangle about 12 x 20 inches, give or take. No need to flour table or counter, bread dough is very elastic and won't stick like pie crust.

Butter dough thoroughly by plopping butter here and there and then spreading it.  Sprinkle with about a ton of brown sugar. Then sprinkle with about 2 Tablespoons cinnamon. (I really don't measure this I just liberally sprinkle sugar and cinnamon like crazy because there's no such thing as too much of either, is there?)

Roll up dough starting from narrower end and rolling tightly....  Slice off uneven ends and then slice the cinnamon roll with a good, serrated bread knife at about 1" (one-inch) increments.

(This is where I got busy with kids and photo-op ended abruptly!!!)

When the roll is fully sliced, prepare a 9 X 13" pan by melting a stick of butter into the pan. (I just popped it into the oven until it was melted....)

Sprinkle butter liberally with BROWN sugar.....  Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon.

Place cinnamon rolls into pan, 3 across and 4 rows....

Allow to sit (proof) for about ten minutes.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 11-13 minutes, until just golden brown.

Turn out onto a large platter or cookie sheet, flipping pan upside down and letting all that gooey wonderful goodness just DRIP down the rolls....

Now here's the best part.... drizzle cream cheese icing over rolls while warm.

Cream Cheese Icing

4 oz (1/2 an 8 oz. block) cream cheese (do not use that pretend neufchatel stuff. I will haunt you.)
4 oz butter (do not skimp and use margarine. I mean, really??????)
1 teaspoon vanilla
3-4 cups confectioners/powdered/10X sugar

Soften cream cheese and butter, mix well with vanilla. Add powdered sugar slowly to avoid a HUGE mess and then beat on medium speed for about 3 minutes... You want the frosting smooth... and fairly thick. If it's thin add a little more sugar.

Do not add milk or water. Please. Trust me, it's awesome this way!!!  Drizzle on cinnamon rolls. (I often make this and pop it into a freezer zip-lock bag when I have cream cheese that's sitting, opened in the fridge. It molds quickly so if no one is around to eat it making frosting with it is a great time saver when I need a quick frosting out of the freezer. Frostings are delicate, though, and they take on the scent and flavor of things around them, even in the freezer, so use it up fairly quickly. Not like the liver you've had in there since last December because it was on sale and you couldn't resist. )  :)

Eat warm or cool but there's usually never any around to GET COOL.






16 comments:

  1. You're killing me! Just stop with the cinnamon rolls, already! :D

    I actually amde some the other day and either I killed the yeast by putting it in the milk while it was too hot, or the yeast was stale or the stars weren't aligned. Chewy. Hard.

    Kids still ate them. But they were an embarassment to the name of cinnamon rolls.

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    Replies
    1. Good morning, Virginia! That reminds me of my very first attempt to bake a cake from scratch. (I was a teenager.)
      Both layers - with icing included - reached less than an inch high.
      The family was valiant and ate it - because that's what families do. :) I was scarred for life and went back to box mixes.

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    2. Oh, been there, done that.

      My son-in-law tried to make dough with dead yeast. He tried every means of revival he could think of...

      No go.

      Dead yeast is, well... dead. ;)

      Dorothy's were gorgeously soft and chewy. So were these. I think combining the two recipes and adding the cream cheese frosting made for an experience even better than my Cinnabon style recipe. And I didn't think anything would rival my Cinnabon-style recipe. Ever.

      Delete
    3. Oops, that's really me with my real name....

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  2. I'm sitting here reading this recipe while I drink my morning coffee. What is wrong with this picture?????

    Missing cinnamon rolls (as if you couldn't figure that out).

    I'm also hearing snow plows go by. Seriously??? A week after a hurricane????

    Looks pretty though. Did the snow get you up north?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nope, just flakes, not real snow, Mary. And there are so many facing tough situations in NYC.... Staten Island. The Financial District of Lower Manhattan. Queens... Coney Island. So stinkin' sad.

      And such a mess in the hard-struck areas. Now the piles of flood-water, mold-spore producing garbage are very Currier-and-Ives covered in snow.

      Donating and praying for all concerned.

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  3. Cniyrnkswll,bvrzzlpk

    Sorry about that. I was wiping the drool off of my keyboard.

    Ruthy, you have quite the little helper there. And so handsome. I wonder if I could talk my 13 yo aspiring chef to help me make these? Of course, he likes the canned variety. But only the store brands. I bought the name brand when it was on sale and I had a coupon. He totally dissed them.

    But these...these would make anyone drool. Yes, it's time for mother and son to do some bonding in the kitchen.

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    Replies
    1. Mindy, yes, drool factor of off-the-charts. And the brown sugar glaze is a huge part of that. Why didn't I ever think of that before? To just SLATHER the bottom of the pan with butter and brown sugar????

      Oh mylanta, my cheeks are growing cheeks as we speak! To match my CHINS!!!!

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  4. It's good your tweaking. My mom read the blog (which is unbelievable, she doesn't even know the word blog) and saw several mistakes in the first one, which, my mom being who she is, she totally blamed on herself.
    So, good for you, Ruthy. You must have tried it and found it wanting and fixed it. That sounds like the kinda hard working consciencious thing you'd do.
    Love you even more than cinnamon rolls.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aw, I probably copied it down wrong. We great recipe-thinkers with no measurements are always tweaking.

      And I don't buy GALLONS of cinnamon. But yes, pounds.... The big plastic jars at Sam's Club. Everything in my cupboard appears to be on steroids.

      I love you back.

      Delete
  5. PS you really buy cinnamon in gallon jugs?
    I'm doing it wrong.

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  6. I love, love, love cinnamon rolls. I don't care whose recipe it is. Both Dorothy's and Betty Crocker/Ruthy's sound wonderful.

    I don't make them enough.

    Now that I have an oven that works (yay!), I've been experimenting with the changes for high altitude baking.

    It's so nice to enjoy baking again :)

    We live at about 3500 feet, which makes a difference.

    Man, you should have seen the sorry stuff I was turning out when we first moved here...especially beans and rice. I mean, how can you mess up beans and rice? But when air pressure and other scientific things start messing with your cooking, bad things happen.

    Anyway, I'll have to try my high altitude magic on this recipe.

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    Replies
    1. Oh yeah, high altitude... the first thing a friend told me was to get to know your oven.

      Then adjust. Because ovens vary... and high altitude adds its own level of craziness.

      Lower temps, right, Jan? Anything else that helps? Less moisture? More????

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    2. My King Arthur Flour Baker's Cookbook (I love that thing) has a whole chapter on high altitude baking. And then they point you to publications from the University of Colorado for even more info!

      Yes, lower temps, more moisture (the evaporation point is different) and less leavening (yeast, baking soda, baking powder), plus a lot of experimentation.

      And my family loves it when I spend time getting to know my oven!

      Delete
  7. Of course they do, Jan! Playing with the oven means good stuff comin'!

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  8. Oh my stars, i almost missed this recipe today!!! YUMMO! And looks like Mary caught you, Ruthy. :)

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