Sinfully Cinnamony Rolls

Frankly, there wasn’t going to be a blog post today. Usually, I write the food posts ahead of time and schedule them to post, but I ran out of gas last night and didn’t want to look at the computer screen. I figured I’d write the post this morning. Then, I got up, discovered my sinuses are attacking me, and spent most of the morning feeling like crap. My whole face hurts and I’m queasy. My life is fun.

But since I’m currently able to sit upright and type and think (three things I couldn’t do at the same time earlier), you’re going to get your recipe post for today! Excited?! You should be. The things I do for you people.

And today’s post is appropriately sinful. It’s cinnamon rolls, people. CINNAMON ROLLS! Let’s just say I love cinnamon rolls. So much that a few weekends ago while hanging out with some friends, we started discussing the best cinnamon rolls ever. . . which basically meant I couldn’t stop thinking about cinnamon rolls and had to go home and make some.

This recipe is one my mom gave me. I have it in her handwriting in a cookbook she made me when I moved to Nashville. (It also has recipes in my grandma’s handwriting pre-stroke! A treasure!)

Anyway, let’s get the show on the road:

1. Mix cake mix (1 pkg yellow cake mix w/o pudding in it), 2 packages of yeast (I use the rapid rise kind), and 5 1/2 cups of flour. I mixed mine in my Kitchen Aid mixer, but I used to make these before I had the mixer and it’s fine to do by hand. Stir in 2 1/2 cups hot water. I used the Kitchen Aid and the dough hook, but again, you can do this by hand. Just know that it’s not exceptionally fun or easy. I also think it might help if you combined the hot water and yeast (so the water could activate the yeast), then poured it into the dry ingredients.

2. After mixing, the dough should look like this:

Now comes the fun part when you just cover the bowl with a clean towel or plastic wrap, set it in a warm place, and let the yeast do its work. Sometimes, I set things that need to rise on top of my dryer if I’m doing laundry. If it’s warm outside, you can sit the bowl out on the patio, which is what I did this time. But that led to this:

(Someone is strong-willed and wouldn’t come in. . . apparently barking and basking are fun!)

3. Let the dough rise until it’s about double in size. Then, take out half of the dough and roll it into a rectangle (or near rectangle) on a floured surface.

4. Melt 1 stick of butter in the microwave and pour onto the rolled out dough. Top with 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup white sugar, and as much cinnamon as turns your fancy.

5. Next, roll the rectangle up, as my mom’s recipe says, “jellyroll fashion.” I’ve learned that you should probably start at the end farthest away from you and roll toward yourself. . . but that’s not what I did here! Anyway, it worked. 🙂

6. Cut the roll into 2 inch slices and place in your greased baking dish. I used my 9×13 glass Pyrex pan. Repeat this process with the remaining dough, then let cinnamon rolls rise in baking pan. I don’t really have a time period for this. I just let them rise for about an hour.

7. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes or until done. They’re done when the tops are golden brown.

8. Glaze or ice with whatever floats your boat. I condensed the Pioneer Woman’s cinnamon roll glaze recipe and used vanilla rather than almond extract. . . mostly because I didn’t have any.

9. Enjoy! With coffee!

Ingredients: 1 pkg yellow cake mix (no pudding in the mix!) 2 pkgs yeast (rapid rise) 5 cups flour 2 1/2 cups flour 2 sticks butter 1 cup brown sugar 1 cup white sugar Cinnamon to taste Glaze or icing of your choice