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Thursday, December 27, 2012

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

I will definitely be posting recaps and pictures from our wonderful Christmas celebration but need time to catch up on real life now that the craziness is over. I hope you all had just as great a holiday!

I decided to make Pioneer Woman's homemade cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning and am incredibly glad I did them ahead of time. It was such a fun treat for our family and I even gave some pans away as gifts to friends and coworkers.  I am not going to post the actual recipe because Ree does a great job posting step by step directions and pictures here, but I wanted to share my experience and tips. 



My tips/suggestions:
  • Definitely make ahead of time! I knew they were going to be time consuming but didn't realize the intensity. I recommend making them on a day you plan on spending at home with other things to do because you complete a few steps, let sit for an hour, do a few more steps, let rise a few hours. Be patient (I am proud of myself because I am NOT patient).
  • The recipe makes a LOT. Ree made 8 circular pans but mine made 6...plan on giving some away as gifts or feeding a big crowd. I've seen people post about halving this recipe, so if you want less, google. 
  • Buy disposable circular pans to make it easier. I bought mine 3 for a $1 at the Dollar Tree. The tops are white so you can decorate/write on them too.
  • It gets VERY messy...just be aware that you will most likely use an entire roll of paper towels cleaning up
  • I am not a fan of coffee flavoring so I substituted more milk instead of brewed coffee in the frosting
  • I could NOT find maple flavoring anywhere so I used half the amount suggested of vanilla flavoring (since it is stronger, you don't need as much)
  • My cinnamon rolls were all different sizes and yours will probably be too. Some of the pans held just a few huge rolls and some had tons of little ones. They were still delicious!
  • I used a lot less butter than suggested when making the cinnamon filling before rolling the dough up. Butter was literally oozing out the sides onto my counter and I hadn't even used 75% of the butter suggested so there was no way I was going to use more. Just use your best judgement.
  • I baked all my 6 pans at the same time in my double ovens and immediately frosted them upon cooking so the frosting oozed over the hot rolls. I let them sit a bit and actually put them in the freezer. I have read of people freezing them uncooked, cooked without frosting and cooked with frosting and they all turn out great. I am so glad I finished them before freezing because it made Christmas morning so easy! I thawed the night before and popped them in the oven to warm them up.
  • I know it sounds like a lot of work, and it is, but I have been wanting to make these forever and I am so glad I did! It was such a yummy treat (and I will be bringing more to the lake with us this weekend).
  • Ree actually did a whole post with notes on the cinnamon rolls and you can find that here


10 comments:

Michelle said...

These look so yummy!

Hanna said...

Yum. These look delicious! Merry christmas

Anonymous said...

we made the entire recipe last year so we did halve it this year and it still made three full pans. We did not put coffee or maple, just the vanilla. I hate coffee so that was not an option for us, lol !! THey are the best cinnamon rolls ever !! I have got to get her cook book, I just printed out the recipe with pictures from her blog. I am glad you had a nice Christmas and can't wait to see more pictures !!

The Mrs. and The Momma said...

I made these this year too! I don't use the coffee or the maple either. I love them!!!! Yours look great. I usually make these and freeze them....then when I want just one or two for breakfast, I can pop it into the microwave! :)
-Kristen

The Mrs. and The Momma

Jenna DeSantis said...

Hi Ruthie,

Just found your blog- you are adorable and I love this post!! These cinnamon rolls look delicious. I'm definitely following you now :-) Mind if I steal your button?

Happy New Year- XO Jenna

Demureindiamonds.blogspot.com

jo ann said...

When I make cinnamon rolls, instead of melting the butter, I let it set out til really soft so I can just spread it (or microwave a *little* til spreadable)--that way it doesn't ooze out (and you can put it on thicker! :) YUM.

Allyson McGuire said...

These look incredible. If I had the freezer space I would fill it with these...

Anonymous said...

Yum! Yours looks divine! My mom and I were going to do this... but ended up watching Christmas movies instead and did a recipe without yeast haha! I definitely want to do this sometime though!

Unknown said...

These look delish!! Following you from the Mrs. & the Momma giveaway! Looking forward to getting to "know" you more ;)

Fotini { http://glamorousbride.blogspot.com }

Alisha said...

I made these twice last year…well, 2011 ha! And they were delicious!! Yours look so good. Great tips on adding more milk if you're into coffee flavors.

Can't wait to see what else you cooked up over the holidays!

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