A Massive Number of Gooey Cinnamon Rolls

This was one of those projects that started out as a great idea and turned into chaos...but it did turn out!

As a community service activity for work, he had to bring breakfast for over 50 school children one Friday back in November. (Yes, it has taken this long to get over the drama of the butter and dough being everywhere to be able to write about it :) )

She thought it would be brilliant to make cinnamon rolls. What child does not love gooey fresh cinnamon rolls? He was not arriving home from his business trip until late Thursday night, meaning she was on her own to make dozens of rolls.

Because this was for a work event, she thought she would test out the recipe. She divided the recipe (normally makes 50 rolls) in half and got going.

First problem - she killed the yeast (or now she is thinking perhaps her yeast was not "active" dry yeast...)

She kept the dough but also started again...now she had made an entire batch for just testing!

This test batch ended up making over 75 cinnamon rolls - small rolls - but still many many more than she could eat.

The second batch of rolls were better than the first but she was not fully satisfied.She started again, hoping to make ones good enough to serve.

In the end she ended up with over 75 decent, but not great cinnamon rolls. Some did not rise, some did, but all tasted amazing (and the kids ate them up in a heartbeat!) The kitchen was a total disaster area, melted butter, flour, and cinnamon were all over her and the floor.

We are posting this recipe because we believe if you are careful and do not kill the yeast (note to self: Get a thermometer!) these can turn into amazing cinnamon rolls (just read the reviews!) and even if they don't look beautiful (like hers) they still taste great:

40-50 rolls (more if small):

Dough:

1 quart milk
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2 packages dry yeast (4 1/2 tsp)
9 cups flour
1 heaping tsp baking powder
1 scant tsp baking soda
1 Tbs salt
 
Filling:

2 cups butter, melted
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup ground cinnamon

Icing: 

8 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar
1 Tbs milk

Dough:

Heat the milk, oil and sugar over medium. Remove from the heat once it is about to boil and let it cool to warm (really wait!). Add the yeast and let sit or at least one minute to make sure the yeast is alive.

Add 8 cups of flour, stir until just combined and then set aside in a warm place (cover with a clean towel) for one hour.

After the hour is up, add the baking powder, soda, salt, and remaining 1 cup of flour. Mix.

~You can now use the dough right away or keep it in the fridge for up to three days. You may want to chill the dough for about an hour to make it easier to roll out.~

To assemble the rolls:



Split the dough in two. Keep the half you are not using in the fridge while working with the other half.

Roll the dough out on a floured surface into a large rectangle (about 30 by 10 inches). The dough should be very thin.


 

Pour one cup of melted butter onto the dough and spread evenly. Mix the cinnamon and sugar and use one half of the mixture on the dough. Again spread evenly (this makes a mess, beware!). You want it to be gooey!

Roll the dough (longways) and pinch the seam together. Cut the roll into 1/2 inch slices. Place a small amount of melted butter on a foil-lined baking sheet. Lay the rolls on the sheet.

Let sit (covered) on the counter for at least 20 minutes before baking. During this time you can roll the second half of the dough and preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C).

Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until lightly browned. Do not let them get overly brown.

While the rolls are cooking you can prepare the icing. 


Icing: (this was not from the recipe listed below, instead she used a different/easier icing)

Just mix everything listed under icing (cream cheese, butter, vanilla, powdered sugar, and milk) until smooth.

Spread over the rolls while they are still warm (makes it easier!)

The cinnamon roll recipe is from Ree Drummond (The Pioneer Woman on Food Network), the icing is from MomsWhoThink.com.