Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls

In honor of meeting The Pioneer Woman this last weekend, I just had to try making her famous cinnamon rolls. I was a little nervous about making these, everytime I use yeast I always wonder if it will actually rise, and it suprises me when it does!

It wasn't too hard of a recipe, but it did take about 2 hours to make. So if you are expecting to have cinnamon rolls early in the morning, you better grab the ones in the can! Of course, they won't be as good as these are, and they were totally worth the 2 hours it took to make them. I made these on Sunday, and just added some bacon on the side and called it brunch!

Ree's recipe makes like 4 dozen rolls. I totally did not need that many cinnamon rolls, even in my freezer, so I halved the recipe. I also used skim milk instead of whole milk because that is what I have. They still tasted very good, and I can only imagine how they would taste with the whole milk. Next time I might try splenda just to help the calorie count on these bad boys, but who knows if they will be as tastey.

Below is the recipe from her site, but I would highly recommend going to her site directly as she has step by step pictures, which I found very helpful. I totally recommend you try these! The Maple Frosting is to die for!!

Please note this recipe makes 4 dozen.

Ingredients:

-- 1 quart Whole Milk
-- 1 cup Vegetable Oil
-- 1 cup Sugar
-- 2 packages Active Dry Yeast
-- 8 cups (Plus 1 Cup Extra, Separated) All-purpose Flour
-- 1 teaspoon (heaping) Baking Powder
-- 1 teaspoon (scant) Baking Soda
-- 1 Tablespoon (heaping) Salt
-- Plenty Of Melted Butter
-- 2 cups Sugar
-- Generous Sprinkling Of Cinnamon

MAPLE FROSTING:
-- 1 bag Powdered Sugar
-- 2 teaspoons Maple Flavoring
-- ½ cups Milk
-- ¼ cups Melted Butter
-- ¼ cups Brewed Coffee
-- ⅛ teaspoons Salt

Preparation Instructions:

Mix the milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a pan. Scald the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point). Turn off heat and leave to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour. When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but NOT hot, sprinkle in both packages of Active Dry Yeast. Let this sit for a minute. Then add 8 cups of all-purpose flour. Stir mixture together. Cover and let rise for at least an hour.

After rising for at least an hour, add 1 more cup of flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir mixture together. (At this point, you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it – overnight or even a day or two, if necessary. Just keep your eye on it and if it starts to overflow out of the pan, just punch it down).

When ready to prepare rolls: Sprinkle rolling surface generously with flour. Take half the dough and form a rough rectangle. Then roll the dough thin, maintaining a general rectangular shape. Drizzle 1/2 to 1 cup melted butter over the dough. Now sprinkle 1 cup of sugar over the butter followed by a generous sprinkling of cinnamon.

Now, starting at the opposite end, begin rolling the dough in a neat line toward you. Keep the roll relatively tight as you go. Next, pinch the seam of the roll to seal it.

Spread 1 tablespoon of melted butter in a seven inch round foil cake or pie pan. Then begin cutting the rolls approximately ¾ to 1 inch thick and laying them in the buttered pans.

Repeat this process with the other half of the dough. Let the rolls rise for 20 to 30 minutes, then bake at 375 degrees (see note below) until light golden brown, about 15 to 18 minutes.

For the frosting, mix together all ingredients listed and stir well until smooth. It should be thick but pourable. Taste and adjust as needed. Generously drizzle over the warm rolls. Go crazy and don’t skimp on the frosting.