Holiday Tasting Party Recipes

RECIPE NAME: STEVEN'S CINNAMON ROLLS

INGREDIENTS:
BISCUIT DOUGH:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbs. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup milk

THE INSIDES:
2 Tbs. butter (melted)
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon (use as much as you want - I use 2 1/2 tsp)

GLAZE:
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Milk measured Tbs. by Tbs. as needed

HOW TO MAKE THIS:
Mix flour, baking powder and salt together and cut shortening into just as you would in making biscuits. I throw it all into a mixing bowl and use the Kitchen Aid mixer with the mixing paddle. Do this for one minute. Then add milk and continue mixing until the milk has been worked through thoroughly.

Put a couple of Tbs. of flour on the counter and kneed the dough 10 times. (Why? I don't know. That's what the instructions that I follow say to do, so I do it. Plus it makes it look like I really know what I'm doing! If you really want to know why, ask Alton Brown.)

Throw some more flour on the counter surface and flatten dough with rolling pin into a rectangle. I stretch it out to 20-22 inches by about 9-10 inches, but experiment with it to see what you like. The size of the rectangle will ultimately impact the size and thickness of the cinnamon roll.

At this point stop and mix the sugar and cinnamon in bowl until it is all blended. Now spread the melted butter (about 20 seconds in the micro) over the dough. Then using a spoon, sprinkle the cinnamon/sugar mixture over the butter. If you want, put extra along one of the long edges (this is where you will start the roll in the next step).

Roll up the dough tightly beginning on the long edge. To slice the dough, you will need a long piece of thread. The technique is to wrap the thread around the dough and put the end of the thread so that the thread slices through the dough. Use whatever process you want to get the number of cinnamon rolls you want out of the dough. If I can roll the dough out to 20-20 inches long, I can get 16 medium size rolls which works great for our family.

Place rolls in a greased muffin pan and bake at 400 degrees for 12-14 minutes. While rolls are cooking, mix the powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk in a bowl until smooth and of desired constancy. Careful with the milk - it is easy to get too much.

When cinnamon rolls are done, lay them out on a platter and spoon the glaze over them. This makes a great Sunday morning breakfast, if you are not going to first service, that is!

MY NAME: Steven Carrizal