Comfort food: Cinnamon rolls with Ruthy's frosting and chai tea.

Hello, everybody! It's the Fresh Pioneer here this weekend. But you knew that, right? You knew that because the post is LATE. And it has sugar and wheat and all sorts of unhealthy things. So, buckle up because I'm gonna feed you some tasty comfort foods whether you wanted Julie's GAL cooking or not! (Seriously, you can just watch us eat the rolls. No harm in that and more for ME.)

I know we've done cinnamon rolls here before but when I looked at the posts, there weren't ever any pics of the finished product. So, let's see if we can get all the way through the recipe, all the way to the sweet, sweet end!

 1 qt milk
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
Heat in a pan but don't boil.

 Dry ingredients:
9 cups flour
1tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 TBS salt

When the milk has warmed, but not boiled, wait for it to cool a bit and then add 4.5 tsp yeast. Let it settle in and get all happy.
After ten min or so, add to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.

 Cover with a damp cloth and put somewhere warm. I put it on Miss Betsy, our vintage picnic hamper. She holds crayons and pens and glue and glue sticks. She's quite the crafty gal and misses being part of the food preparation.

 After an hour or so, turn on the oven at 375F. Now cut the risen dough into two pieces. Roll one out into a square, smear with half a cube of softened butter. (You read that right.) Sprinkle with sugar.

 Add cinnamon (missed that picture!!), roll it up, cut into pieces...

 Place in a buttered dish.

 Make sure you have very small, chubby hands for extra cuteness.

 Take the second bit and decide it looks like a fat bottom and slap, slap, slap it, laughing hysterically all the while.

Pour melted butter (a few tbs) onto the rolls and let them sit for ten minutes on the warm stove.

 While it's cooking, let's use Mr. Latte maker do make some chai tea. Some of us (read: ALL OF US) have a terrible cold and need something more than a vanilla latte.

 Three bags in the top, add the water.

 Add milk, press the button. (Isn't this fascinating? It gets better!)

 *WHIRRRRRRRRR*

 Oh, some of us are on a deadline and have darling, lovely, adorable friends down in Southern states who decided to send us REAL Cafe Du Monde coffee. I should make some beignets...

Sugar at the ready.

 So, added a bit of sugar, pour in the chai tea, a sprinkle of cinnamon on top...

 Waiting.... waiting.... waiting....

 Oh, that's the problem. Someone has been watching the oven. SHOO!

 Sideways!! Horrors!

 OK, using Ruthy's frosting from Nov 2012 (see, I DO read this blog!) I made frosting:
4 oz cream cheese
4 oz butter
4-5 cups powdered sugar
pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla

Soften the cream cheese and butter, blend with the other ingredients. It worked!

 First bite... Kids are watching...

Altogether now, YUMMY. Sit yourselves down and have a warm cinnamon roll and some chai. We're all about the comfort here. 

Hoping all of you are staying warm and cozy. Praying that you've got a warm blanket, a good book, and wonderful friends (like the kind that send you coffee).