Being an English woman, who grew up in Australia, who now lives back England, it is safe to say, I have never really understood the American fascination with Cinnamon rolls... until now.
Now, I get it.
We often do a cooked breakfast for Christmas, that consists of bacon, eggs and the like.
But this year the dish washer broke, hubby has been unwell (and he cooks breakfast normally), and we have been looking for frugal alternatives, so I looked for things that were cheap, cheerful, large (because we are a family of 7) and mostly could be made the day before, so I did not spend ALL day in the kitchen washing up.
Funny logic really, because to make sure I didn't spend all day in the kitchen Christmas day, I spent all day in the kitchen Christmas Eve... but hey ho the things we do for love.
These were exactly what I was after, because I could make them the night before, leave them in the cold oven overnight (I would have left them on the bench, but we have cheeky kittens), pop them in a hot oven in the morning- easy peasy.
I didn't make the icing the night before, but I could have easily, and either remelted in the microwave or stove top.
I don't have a mix master and I managed to do most of this by hand.
The ingredients you will need for the rolls:
1 cup milk
1 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon of yeast with
2 cups warm water
1 tsp of sugar
2 beaten eggs
1tsp of salt
2 cups of warm water
5+ cups of flour
(could be as many as 10 but I doubt it)
The ingredients you will need for the filling:
2 x lots of
1/4 cup of butter
1/2 cup of white sugar
3/4 cup of brown sugar
Cinnamon to taste (I used 2 tsp)
(you could make this up in a double lot to begin with, but I didn't, because I wanted to make sure I had enough for both lots, but you could just make one large lot)
The ingredients I used for the icing:
(because I didn't use CC's)
I used 8 tablespoons of butter (approx 120gr)
a 1/4 cup of cream cheese
a teaspoon of vanilla
and enough icing sugar to make it, well like runny icing.
I couldn't tell you how much I used, I just poured until it looked and tasted right.
Instructions
1. Combine the 1 cup of milk, 1 cup of butter and 1/2 cup of sugar in a saucepan.2. Turn onto a medium heat and melt slowly. Allow to boil slightly.
3. Once done, take it off the heat, as it needs to be completely cool.
4. In a bowl, combine the tablespoon of yeast with the 2 cups of warm water and teaspoon of sugar.
5. Place in a warmish place and allow to bubble up a bit (proof).
6. Once you have a little froth on top, add the 2 beaten eggs, tsp of salt and the now cool butter/sugar/milk mix.
7. Slowly add the 5 cups of flour, one at a time. I did use my hand beater for this bit, but it soon became evident that it was not up to the job, and by the time the 5 cups where added, I had decided to go all Luddite and do the rest by hand.
8. Crazy Cookie said at this point you add another 4-5 cups of flour. I can't say for certain how many I added, because I just poured, and kneaded, poured and kneaded until it no longer stuck to the bowl or my fingers.
9. I probably kneaded the dough for somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes, until it looked and felt like it was well combined.
10. I then placed it near my stove (as I was baking) and once an hour for the next three hours, I kneaded it by hand for 1-2 minutes. Allowing it to sit and rise in between.
11. I then made my first lot of filling, and divided my dough into 2 and rolled out the first of my 2 rectangles.
12. Spreading the filling over the first rectangle, I then rolled it up.
13. Using a piece of cotton I cut off rolls and placed those rolls in a baking tray.
(Place cotton under the roll, pull up along the sides and cross over to cut the dough. Crazy Cookie has a picture on her site- she used wax dental floss, but I didn't have any).
14. Repeat with the second rectangle.
15. I then wrapped in cling film, and placed in my now cool oven to rise overnight.
rolled up ready to go
16. In the morning, set the oven to 180 degrees, took off the cling film (I say that, because I almost didn't- HEY it was Christmas morning and I was blurry eyed :-)
17. While they are baking make the icing. This too could be done the night before, I just didn't think of it.
18. Combine the butter, cream cheese, icing sugar and vanilla until it looks and tastes right.
19. Pour over the baked rolls as soon as they come out of the oven.
This recipe easily fed the 7 of us and there were left overs for the next day as well.
In fact, next time I will freeze the remainder, because apparently if you take them out of the freezer the night before and let them rise still on the bench, they work too.
Get it? Roll?
*sigh*
What's your favourite Christmas breakfast?
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