all in the name of food…

My Mom used to make these cinnamon rolls growing up! I have many memories of carefully selecting a roll with the most frosting or the most spirals from two big cookie sheets full of cinnamon rolls. They are just delicious! The original recipe is actually from my Grandma, so really they are made from my Grandma’s basic roll recipe. My family uses this recipe for “Good Light Rolls” to make regular dinner rolls at Thanksgiving and cinnamon rolls. And you can’t get any more home-y than this! I think making these rolls is more of an artform than anything. I haven’t quite mastered it yet but with time hope too! Both my Mom and Grandma know exactly when the dough “feels about right” when adding the flour and kneading it. But don’t worry – the recipe is actually really hard to mess up! Just make sure you let the dough rise for a long time  – so the rolls are indeed good and light.

Good Light Rolls

Mix together the following and knead several times till soft and incorporated:

• 2 cups of warm water
• 2 tablespoons of yeast
• 1/2 cup of oil
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 3 beaten eggs
• Flour to make the dough soft (about 7-7 1/2 cups)

Refrigerate the dough and allow it to rise till double or overnight. After the dough has risen, roll it out on a floured surface into a long rectangle shape. (Don’t forget to flour the rolling pin too!)

Mix together one part cinnamon ( 2 Tablespoons) and three parts sugar (6 Tablespoons). Melt 1 stick of salted butter. Spoon melted butted over the dough. Then sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the butter. Yum! You can also add raisins at this point. Or raisins soaked in orange juice! That would be good. Or nuts. But I was feeling like keeping it simple.

Carefully roll the dough up into a long log-like shape – to get those nice spirals…

Then grab your pizza cutter and cut the log into rolls! Its very fulfilling…

Place the rolls on a greased cookie sheet and cover with a kitchen towel. Let them rise again for about 45 minutes.

Then bake them at 375 degrees for 17-18 minutes, until light brown. Then admire all your hard work! But wait.. you’re not done yet!

Mix up your favorite vanilla frosting recipe. I wish I could tell you how I made mine, but I never keep track of such things. I’ll just tell you it has butter, powdered sugar, a little bit of milk, AND a healthy dose of vanilla bean paste! The paste adds such pretty specs of vanilla bean – in addition to vanilla extract flavor, all at a much cheaper cost that a real vanilla bean. Secretly, real vanilla beans stress me out. You have to buy 2 beans  that come in a glass container for like $15.00. And then you have to slit the bean and scrape the seeds out. During this I agonize over getting all the seeds into my desired mixture because they are so darn expensive. But vanilla bean paste has solved all my life problems.

Then frost the cinnamon rolls and enjoy! And try hard to remember a time before you started making them! But most importantly get ready to make lots of friends by sharing your home baked goodness with everyone around you.

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