posted by Jennifer on breakfast, dessert, holiday foods, kid friendly, recipe make over

Happy Holidays everyone! My site was down for a few days but everything is back up and fine. I hope you had a wonderful holiday with family and friends!

I am off of work until January 3rd – so I am SUPER excited to have so much time off in a row. I don’t have any specific plans, but I know there will be some time spent in my kitchen!

I made these cinnamon rolls the night of Christmas Eve so that all I had to do was pop these in the oven while the kids were opening their gifts. The best part about this recipe, is it’s so easy – no yeast is required, you don’t have to wait for the dough to rise an hour before you roll it out. And the dough is super soft and pliable so it’s a great dough to work with, even if it’s your first time working with it.

This recipe is based on a Cooks Illustrated Recipe. It called for a cream cheese frosting and I just did a simple glaze. I DID figure out the calories, even though it is the Holidays, I’m trying not to go crazy and so far it’s working!

Each Cinnamon Roll without the glaze is:

247 calories
6 grams of fat
43 carbs
4 grams protein
1 gram of fiber

If you add 1/2 a tablespoon of the glaze – add 25 calories.

All in all, I didn’t think it was that bad – considering I analyzed Paula Deens recipe for Cinnamon rolls and hers were 478 calories per cinnamon roll with 22 grams of fat!

So – this recipe makes 10 cinnamon rolls (I split the prepared rolls between 2 pans)

Ingredients:

Rolls:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus extra for the counter
2 Tablespoons white granulated sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Cinnamon Filling:

3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup white granulated sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Generously coat a 9 inch round cake pan and a wire cooling rack with vegetable oil spray.

2. Make the filling: combine together the brown sugar, 1/4 cup granulated white sugar, cinnamon, salt, and the 1 Tablespoon melted butter until the mixture resembles wet sand.

3. Make the dough: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour; 2 Tablespoons white granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk the buttermilk and 2 Tablespoons of the melted butter together.

5. Stir the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture with a wooden spoon until absorbed, about 30 seconds. Turn the dough out onto a generously floured counter and knead until smooth, about 1 minute.

7. Press the dough out into a 9 by 12 inch rectangle using your hands. (I used a rolling pin)

8. Sprinkle the dough evenly with the filling, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Press the filling firmly into the dough.

9. Loosen the dough from the counter using a bench scraper or a metal spatula.

10. Starting at a long side, roll the dough, pressing lightly, to form a tight log.

11. Pinch the seam to seal. Slice the dough into 10 even pieces.

12. Place the slices in the greased pan. (I used Pam Cooking Spray)

13. Bake until the edges are golden brown, 20-25 minutes.

14. Use a knife to loosen the buns from the pan. Flip the buns out onto the prepared wire rack, then turn buns upright and let cool for 10 minutes before adding the icing. Prepare the icing while rolls are cooling.

For the icing, I just mixed 1 cup of powdered sugar with 1 tablespoon of milk. If it’s too thick add a touch more milk to get the right consistency. (You will have leftover icing).

*I lessened the amount of butter by 4 tablespoons. The original recipe called for brushing the dough with 2 tablespoons melted butter before putting the filling in and then adding another 2 tablespoons of butter over the top before baking. I didn’t really think this was necessary – so I omitted that part.

These turned out great! So tender and gooey. After making these, I just covered the pan with saran wrap and placed in the refrigerator overnight. As the rolls cooked, they spread out covering the whole pan.

Enjoy your week if you are off! I did overindulge on Christmas, but was back on as of yesterday and I ran 3 miles yesterday with my hubby on the local high school track. We were both wearing shorts and t-shirts the day after Christmas! It was 45 degrees and sunny out – no signs of winter yet here in Chicago – but I am fine with that!

Tags: cinnamon rolls without yeast, quick breakfast