2014 Cooking Club Week 4: Pecan Cinnamon Rolls

Lola92

*apologies for lack of pictures for now, will have them uploaded later on, some technical issues.

This is a recipe has evolved from several I have found and tried of the last couple of years. Cinnamon Rolls are a really indulgent wintry comfort treat. We had these on Christmas morning. It certainly wouldn't be your everyday breakfast, or one for those on diet, as there is a bit of work involved but IMO it’s worth the payoff! Best enjoyed warm, fresh from the oven with a good cup of coffee, or with a side of ice cream for dessert.

The Cinnamon Roll has 3 main parts.
1) The Dough
2) The Filling and
3) The Glaze
We’ll start with the dough, which is a sweet bread dough. The ingredient amounts here will make two lots of dough, I stick to this as it uses a full sachet of yeast, rather than wasting the other half. It will keep well in the fridge for a couple of days, and I’m sure it would freeze, although I haven’t tried it myself. They never last that long here!! The recipe can be scaled up easily so I imagine these amounts for the dough could be halved if you didn’t want to make the extra.

The Dough
Ingredients:
575g Plain Flour, 75g flour plus extra for surfaces and kneading
475ml Milk
125g Butter
125g Sugar
Dried Fast Action Yeast (1 7g Sachet)*
1 heaped teaspoon Baking powder

1) Add the milk, butter and Sugar to a pot and heat through on low, stirring to dissolve the sugar, until just before the milk reaches boiling point. Set the pot aside to cool.
2) Once the mixture is warm and not hot, add the sachet of yeast. Adding the yeast while it is still hot will kill the yeast so be patient here. Let it sit on the surface for a minute, then stir gently and leave aside for a further 3-4 minutes.
3) In a large mixing bowl, place the flour and make a well in the center. Slowly pour in the liquid yeast mix, incorporating all of the flour and stir until the mixture comes together well.
4) Cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave in a warm, draft free spot for a minimum of 1 hour.
5) Once the dough has doubled in volume add 75g of flour and a heaped teaspoon of baking powder. Mix through thoroughly. It will still look wet and sticky, don’t worry about that.
6) Turn the sticky dough out onto a floured worktop and knead through until the dough is smooth and elastic, adding more flour as necessary. It is easiest to flour your hands well to avoid the worst of the sticking. Kneading to the right point usually takes me about 10-15 minutes. If you had a stand mixer and dough hook attachment you could use that either.
7) Roll the dough into a ball and cut in half, set aside one batch and carry on with the other for filling.

The filling.
Ingredients:
200g Butter
200g Caster sugar
1 Heaped tbsp Cinnamon
Pecan nuts (optional, could also substitute for walnuts or flaked almonds)

1) Preheat the oven to 200 degrees conventional or 180 for a fan oven.
2) Place pecan nuts in a bag or between a tea towel and bash with a rolling pin/mallot.
3) Melt butter in saucepan and add sugar and cinnamon once off the heat. Mix very well to form a buttery gooey paste.
4) Roll out the dough to about half a centimetre in thickness, in a long rectangle shape.
5) Spread out the filling mix leaving a small margin at the outer edges. At this stage you can add more butter/ cinnamon if you like, gooey and sticky is what you want to go for.
6) Sprinkle over the broken up nuts.
7) Roll the dough over, from the long end. Try to keep it tight and tuck in the ends once you are finished. Some of the filling might ooze out as you roll, don’t worry about that.
8) Cut the roll into 1 inch sized slices. (I find a serrated knife good).
9) Butter a large oven friendly dish, preferably round or oval but any will do. If it is a metal baking tin make sure you line it with parchment paper.
10) Arrange the rolls in the baking dish as evenly spaced as possible.
11) Place in the oven to cook for 35-45 mins, until the rolls are well browned and the tops are slightly crispy.


The glaze
Ingredients:
50ml Milk
175g Icing Sugar
1tsp Vanilla extract*
If you aren’t a fan of vanilla or want a change, you could use maple syrup or a spoon of instant coffee granules in the milk instead.

1) Heat the milk in a sauce pan, add to sieved icing sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla extract.
2) Mix well to form a runny paste
3) Drizzle Generously over hot cinnamon rolls.
4) Enjoy!

Larry Bee

They look GREAT

Faith

Ah for F*CKS sake!! Cinnamon rolls are one of my favourite things in the world. You couldn't have posted this before I gave up sugar?!!

Someday I will make these, for sure. Whenever I can eat sugar again without going straight back to crazy addiction.

meoklmrk91

These look amazing..... Stupid diet

Mr E

Click the back button CLICK THE BACK BUTTON

Crap... too late.

Lola92

Mr E wrote: »

Click the back button CLICK THE BACK BUTTON

Crap... too late.

They are a little bit addictive. I may have already had two today...

pampootie

Your timing is amazing. My OH has a big birthday this week, he loves cinnamon so I was planning on making cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Had tonight set aside to research recipes!

homemadecider

Dear Jesus. I NEED these in my life. They have zero calories, right?

The Black Oil

Oh. I had one of these when on holiday in Canada...seriously tasty. :cool:

Mrs Fox

These are sinful. Cinnabon come to mama.
I shall bake them someday I promise

Mrs Fox

Lola, are the filling and glaze recipe for one batch then? I only plan to halve the dough recipe.

Lola92

Yes, filling and glaze will do one batch. Hope you enjoy and if you get a chance would love to see a picture!

Pigwidgeon

Oh wow... I know what I'm doing on my next day off!

Mrs Fox

This turned out to be a disaster for me
The dough was just too wet, even though I've thrown flour into it a bit at a time, many times. I was hoping once I roll it out, spread the filling, it'll be ok. But it was almost impossible to swissroll it back as it was still too wet. Baked it anyway, and it was just a flat mess.
Didn't bother making the glaze cause I knew it wasn't going to turn out as it should.
I don't know exactly why it went wrong, but I don't think I should've halved the recipe for the dough. Cause I followed everything else right to a T.
If it's any consolation, it actually tasted lovely, although it's almost like a bread and butter pudding mess texture on the inside and toffee hard outside once cooled.
Glad I tried it out, I will try it again in future and hope for a better result.
Thanks Lola

pampootie

Made these this morning. Yum! I wasn't sure if the filling amounts was to be halved as well or not, so I made the full quantity but didn't use it all-i probably should have as the finished rolls weren't as sticky as I'd like! Didn't bother with the glaze out of laziness. Mine seemed to cook quite fast too, which is odd because my oven is normally slow... Took them out after 30 mins and they were already slightly overdone on top, so I'd keep a closer eye on them next time. Thanks Lola, they'll definitely be a regular thing!

Tom Dunne

Oh dear God. There's nothing nicer than something "cinnamon-ey" with the coffee on a cold morning. And a big +1 to Cinnabon.

I'm going to try these at the weekend - everybody has been commenting how much weight I have been losing lately. Time to sort that out....


Just a random question - do these freeze well? It would be ideal to throw one in the laptop bag for coffee break during the working week.

angeldelight

Just decided these are going to be made for breakfast on Christmas morning this year - can't wait!

Lola92

I did that last year AngelDelight. I made them up on Christmas eve and just left chilling in the fridge overnight. Took out to come to room temp about 45 mins before cooking and they were perfect. 'Tis the season

angeldelight

Lola92 wrote: »

I did that last year AngelDelight. I made them up on Christmas eve and just left chilling in the fridge overnight. Took out to come to room temp about 45 mins before cooking and they were perfect. 'Tis the season

Oh brilliant, I was just going to make the dough the night before but if I can do the whole thing apart from bake and glaze that'd be even better!

Frigga_92

angeldelight wrote: »

Just decided these are going to be made for breakfast on Christmas morning this year - can't wait!

Me too

Lola92 wrote: »

I did that last year AngelDelight. I made them up on Christmas eve and just left chilling in the fridge overnight. Took out to come to room temp about 45 mins before cooking and they were perfect. 'Tis the season

That's good to know, thanks.

Frigga_92

Lola - I know you say in the recipe post that the dough can be kept in the fridge for a couple of days, is that strictly a couple of days as in 2 days or would it last 3 or 4 days?

I made these this morning and they turned out lovely.
I had the oven at 200 instead of 180 so they got a little bit more well done than I would've liked but still yummy.
The dough turned out so well, great recipe

Frigga_92

I just decided to use the rest of the dough to make a second batch and I'm much happier with them

braddun

you could use walnuts they taste very similar


I would leave out cinnamon as I hate cinnamon,as it over powers the taste

Soilse

going to make two versions of this the traditional one and one peacans soaked in brandy and toasted in oven and crispy bacon without the sugar added to either just cream cheese and vanilla extract with cinnamon

Frigga_92

My husband has said he would "eat these everyday" so they're a big hit in our house. Thanks Lola

Lola92

26sdrawkcab wrote: »

Lola - I know you say in the recipe post that the dough can be kept in the fridge for a couple of days, is that strictly a couple of days as in 2 days or would it last 3 or 4 days?

Sorry 26sDrawkcab, I just saw your PM there, I havn't been online in a couple of days. To be honest, I have never been able to leave the dough more than two days, my willpower is pathetic, and cinnamon rolls are delish. I would imagine that another day or two wouldn't do any great harm but if you knew that would be the case you could make them up and freeze in a foil tray, have them ready to just pop straight into the oven!

braddun wrote: »

you could use walnuts they taste very similar
I would leave out cinnamon as I hate cinnamon,as it over powers the taste

Yes, other nuts would also be suitable. I have used pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts and even almonds in a pinch. They wouldn't really be cinnamon rolls without the cinnamon. You could use some raisins if you wanted something more like a danish, but with sweet bread rather than pastry obviously. I saw a blog post once using very thinly sliced apples which had been softened in boiling water and custard. Chocolate chips are an option too.

hairyprincess

Got around to making these day, omg, they are devine!

Couple of things though, I used quite a bit of flour for when I was kneading and rolling, is this normal? I was worried it may have an impact on the rolls.

Also the quantities for the filling and icing, I'm presuming that should be halved along with the the dough? I used all the filling on one half of the dough, and as I was rolling it a whole lot of it seeped out. It was only then I thought maybe I should have kept half if it back. They were still gorgeous though. I will need to make the other half before the diet starts on January 1st!