Cinnamon Rolls

Since I've been on a baking hiatus, I decided last week to make some cinnamon rolls for Sunday morning's breakfast. Mmmm did they turn out yummy!



Question: When you make cinnamon rolls, what sugar do you use for the center filling?

a. White sugar
b. Brown sugar
c. Both

What is the difference in the end result of the rolls when the different sugars are used in the filling? There seems to be a difference, but I can't figure out what it is.

Anyway...here's the whole reason you’re reading this.

Cinnamon Rolls

*note* the recipe is meant for use with a bread machine.

These rolls are very good and not overly sweet. About 2/3 of the testers liked them as-is; the others wanted them sweeter. If you want a sweeter bun, make a glaze out of milk and powdered sugar [and a drop of vanilla] to spread over the tops while still warm.

Dough
1 cup milk
2 Tbsp butter
1 egg

2 Tbsp. sugar
½ tsp. salt
3-3 ½ cups all-purpose flour (I used Bread flour because that's all we had)
1 ½ tsp. yeast

Filling
Mix together
¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
1 ½ Tbsp. cinnamon
½ cup raisins--optional

For Brushing
2 Tbsp. melted butter--optional

Remove dough from machine. Roll dough into a rectangle, spread with softened butter, then cinnamon-sugar mixture. Roll dough as a jellyroll and cut into slices about 1 ½ inches wide (dental floss does this well without sealing of the edges). Place each slice in a greased 13 x 9 pan and let rise for 35-40 minutes--or overnight. (I have found that the rolls tend to be softer when they rise and touch each other.) Brush tops lightly with melted butter if desired. Bake in a preheated 400* oven for 15-20 minutes.

Yield: about 12

--Recipe from: The Bread Machine Cookbook by Donna Rathmell German.

Heavenly Honey-Bran Muffins

Here is a recipe for some finger-lickin' good bran muffins. Who knew that something this yummy could also be good for you?!



Just a word of caution: the muffin batter makes enough for 6 dozen muffins. You can either freeze the extra batter, or halve the recipe. A good resource I have found is this online recipe converter. You can use it to double, triple, halve, sevenths...etc just about any recipe under the sun. Another option is to bake all the muffins up, wrap them individually, and freeze them--just defrost them in the fridge the night before you want to eat them.

Mimi’s Honey-Bran Muffins

2 c. boiling water
6 c. all-bran® cereal, divided
1 c. oil
4 eggs, beaten
3 c. sugar
1 qt. buttermilk
5 c. all purpose flour
5 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. salt
24 oz. apple butter
2 c. chopped walnuts (optional)
2 c. raisins (optional)

Muffin Glaze (enough for 16 muffins)
3 Tbsp. sugar
3 Tbsp. dark brown sugar, packed
3 Tbsp shortening
2 Tbsp corn syrup
2 tsp. water

1. Pour boiling water over 2 c. bran cereal. Add oil. Mix and set aside.

2. Mix together beaten eggs, sugar, buttermilk, and the remaining bran—in that order.

3. Sift flour with soda and salt. Combine bran mixtures with flour mixture. Stir in apple butter, walnuts, and raisins.

4. To make the glaze: Melt shortening in a small saucepan. Add the sugars, corn syrup, and water. Simmer for 5 minutes (until slightly thickened [Mom said it “has that caramelized look”]).

5. Grease muffin tins well (really well!!). Distribute about 1 Tbsp. glaze onto bottom and sides of 12 muffin tins with a pastry brush. **I just scooped glaze into the bottom of the tin with a spoon—didn’t even bother brushing the sides.

6. Fill muffin tins 2/3 full and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Immediately invert onto foil or waxed paper to cool.

[NOTE] The "immediately" is an extremely important part. If you allow the muffins to cool in the tins, they will be nearly impossible to remove. They must be dumped out of the tins right away, and allowed to cool on their "tops" (a.k.a. with the sticky side up).

If you're anything like me, these muffins won't last long. In fact, we have some batter in the fridge. I think I'll go bake up a batch of these brown beauties right now.