"Warm spirals of fluffy, moist, melt-in-your-mouth dough layered with a fragrant blend of cinnamon, sugar and butter, all smothered in a luscious glaze that spills over the tender sides and covers your fingers in sticky sweetness." That's how Theresa Sullivan of the food blog Craving Chronicles describes her Best Ever Cinnamon Buns. Hungry yet? Yeah, I thought so. Well, have I got a treat for you.
Best news of all, whether you call them cinnamon buns, sticky rolls, caramel rolls or something else, they can be made ahead the day before, even days before, and tucked into the freezer.
Joe Pastry explains it well in response to a reader, Freezing Yeast Dough.
"The answer is that yeast doughs of all kinds freeze well ... The best point to freeze a yeast dough is after shaping, just before the second rising (proofing) stage. Simply freeze the whatever-they-are on pans, then once they're solid, put them in freezer bags for storage. The night before you want to bake, lay out your rolls or buns on parchment-lined sheet pans and put the pans in the refrigerator. By morning they will have thawed and will be ready for proofing and baking. The proofing will take perhaps 50% longer than normal because the dough will be deeply chilled, but once proofed, they should bake up every bit as well as if they'd never been frozen."
So keep that in mind as you check out these recipes from some of my favorite food bloggers. You might want to make a big batch now, then freeze the shaped dough in small batches to enjoy on the weekends, or bake a small test batch now and then freeze the rest for Christmas morning or the morning after a Christmas party.
And in case you think you need to be an experienced baker to make cinnamon buns, think again!
Craving Chronicles ~ Best Ever Cinnamon Buns
"Don’t let the recipe scare you either. It really couldn’t be easier! I’ll let you in on a little secret: For as much as I bake, I’ve never baked with yeast before. Not once. And yet I didn’t have a bit of trouble with this recipe. In fact, the hardest part of this recipe was the waiting – waiting for the dough to rise, waiting to eat the buns so that they’re not lava-hot, waiting to let other people have one before I dive in for seconds, etc."
Still intimidated by yeast? Too hungry to for yeast to rise? This batch of cinnamon buns is a 'quick' bread -- that means it's leavened with baking powder or baking soda instead of yeast, like muffins.
Big Red Kitchen ~ Quick Cinnamon Rolls
"Although I am very fond of yeast cinnamon rolls, there are times when I need something quick and easy. This biscuit style roll is quick and fits the bill for easy. The reason I like them so much is that they fulfill my desire for instant gratification. ... These come together quickly and bake up in about 18 minutes."
Favorite family recipes abound. These are recipes that get passed from generation to generation.
Dirty Kitchen Secrets ~ Grandma’s Sticky Cinnamon Pecan Rolls With A Brandy Glaze
"... my grandmother lovingly gave me a killer obsession for these highly addictive, skeleton demolishing, mouthwatering buns of glory!"
To limit the calories, you can even use applesauce to sweeten the 'caramel' There happen to be vegan too!
Vegan Feast Kitchen ~ Giant Caramel Cinnamon Rolls
"These big puffy, sticky, gooey cinnamon rolls contain about HALF the fat and calories of a Cinnabon classic cinnamon roll, or a roll from a recipe such as the Giant Sticky Pecan Rolls on the Fleischmann's Yeast website!"
Lots of cooks are reveling in Ree Drummond's sticky buns, with chunks of apples tucked into the caramel. Prepare to drool ...
The Pioneer Woman Cooks ~ Caramel Apple Sticky Buns
"I put a caramel apple spin on my impossible-to-mess-up cinnamon roll dough, and I loved the results."
And you?
And you, what's your favorite cinnamon bun? Leave a recipe or a link to a recipe in the comments!
BlogHer food editor Alanna Kellogg is broken-hearted that the family recipe she bkaed for Thanksgiving rolls can't be added to her collection of homemade bread recipes. Keep a recipe secret? Really? People still DO that?
Comments
Must have read my mind,
Must have read my mind, because I wanted a cinnamon roll recipe. I want homemade, because I am tired of in the can ones.
Happy Blogging!
Terrific!
I'm having a hard time resisting moving to the kitchen, the trouble with baking is that it's such impulse cooking because all the ingredients can be on hand with even a small pantry.
Alanna Kellogg Kitchen Parade & A Veggie Venture
Quick & Easy
I was looking through a new cook book last night and cinnamon rolls was a prime choice until I saw all that was in involved. Thanks for the easy peasy substitute. I'll have to look for cinnamon chips when I'm out today. :D
Moe
Big Girl Blue, M.E. Wood lens, Large and Lovely, Five Favorite Things
Pumpkin Cinnamon Buns
Pumpkin cinnamon buns have been on my breakfast plans for weeks now. These: http://www.cooklocal.com/?p=2174 The girl and I want to make them but the three hours involved don't make for a good breakfast choice. But, I promised so I suppose tomorrow I may get up early and get them started.
Retro-Food.com
I regularly make up dough
I regularly make up dough and store it in the fridge.
I make sweet buns for breakfast most days for the hubby and I, but since it's the two of us, we only eat a small amount every day. He prefers the buns fresh, as do I, so I make up a batch of dough every three days, then shape up 1/3 of the batch each night and leave it to rise overnight, then bake it on top of the stove in the morning. The rest of the batch stays in the fridge until I use it.
It could also be done just as easily in the freezer.
Laurie in Sri Lanka
Chilli & Chocolate | A Canadian in King Parakramabahu's Court | LMAshton on Twitter
Leftovers!
This year I finally bit the bullet and learned how to make all of my mother's Thanksgiving staples, including her pie crust! After trimming off the extra bits from around the edges of the pie plate, she told me that she used to let us kids turn them into little flaky cinnamon rolls...so of course I had to try it. Roll out the leftover bits into a rectangle, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, dot with butter, and roll it up like a rug. You can add raisins or diced apples before rolling, if you like. Seal the rolled edge with water and slice a couple of vents in the top. Bake at 350 for a hour, on a stone, cookie sheet, or glass pie plate, then slice into wheels. Soooo good! After I (so graciously) shared my paltry little "leftover" roll with my husband, he commented that he could've eaten four more himself right there and then. Me too! :)
redhead * wife * mother * beauty consultant *craft junkie
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