Girls Activity

This past Tuesday we had a young girls activity at church from 9-6. I was in charge of a 30 min lesson on Psalm 1, card-making, sun catcher craft, and teaching how to make cinnamon rolls from scratch. Now I am a easy, look good, taste good kind of recipe girl, I have made cinnamon rolls before but used a bread machine and did not put enough ooey gooey yummy stuff in the middle. So I had to search for a recipe (and I usually do like pioneer women's food) so the previous Tuesday I did a trial run, and its a good thing I did b/c the recipe had changed the ingredient numbers up top but not down in the recipe (which I have now done)but I ended up putting 8 cups of flour into a little bit of liquid and realized right away it was a mistake - that batch got thrown out. I was so happy with this recipe I just had to share it with you. They are melt in your mouth yummy if you are willing to take the time to make them. It took me from about 10 to 1:30 from start to finish..but there is a lot of dough resting time to do other things around the house. On Pioneer women recipe she uses a maple icing and I switched it out for a cream cheese icing. During the day the girls also made 2 pillowcases, one for themselves and one for a child at St. Jude's.

 Small Batch Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls(makes 12)
 Ingredients:
 1 cup whole milk
 1/4 cup vegetable oil
 1/4 cup sugar
 1 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (1/2 package)
2 1/8 cups all-purpose flour (plus 1/4 cup for kneading)
 1/4 teaspoon baking powder (heaping)
 1/4 teaspoon baking soda (scant)
1/4 tablespoon salt (heaping)
 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
 1/2 cup sugar and brown sugar
 1/2 cup melted butter
 2 teaspoons melted butter, for pans

 Alton Brown's cream cheese icing Ingredients:
1/4 cup cream cheese
3 tablespoon Milk
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

 Directions: For the dough, heat the milk, vegetable oil, and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat to just below a boil. Set aside and cool to warm (about a half hour). Sprinkle the yeast on top and let it sit on the milk for 1 minute. Add 2 1/8 cups of the flour. Stir until just combined, then cover with a clean kitchen towel, and set aside in a relatively warm place for 1 hour. After 1 hour, remove the towel and add the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and the remaining 1/4 cup flour. Stir thoroughly to combine. Use the dough right away, or place in a mixing bowl and refrigerate for up to 3 days, punching down the dough if it rises to the top of the bowl. (Note: dough is easier to work with if it’s been chilled for at least an hour or so beforehand.) To assemble the rolls, remove the dough from the pan/bowl. On a floured baking surface, roll the dough into a large rectangle. The dough should be rolled very thin. Pour 1/2 cup of melted butter over the surface of the dough. Spread the butter evenly. Generously sprinkle the ground cinnamon and 1/2 cup of sugar over the butter. Gooey is the goal. (I like too add brown sugar at this point too). Roll the rectangle tightly towards you. Use both hands and work slowly, being careful to keep the roll tight. Don’t worry if the filling oozes as you work. When you reach the end, pinch the seam together and flip the roll so that the seam is face down. When you’re finished, you’ll wind up with one long buttery, cinnamony, sugary, gooey log. Slip a cutting board underneath the roll and with a sharp knife, make 1/2-inch slices. One “log” will produce 12 to 15 rolls. Pour a teaspoon of melted butter into cake pan and swirl to coat. Place the sliced rolls in the pans, being careful not to overcrowd. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cover all the pans with a kitchen towel and set aside to rise on the counter top for at least 20 minutes before baking. (40 minutes worked really good I thought) Remove the towel and bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until golden brown. Don’t allow the rolls to become overly brown. While the rolls are baking, make the icing by mixing ingredients until smooth. Remove pans from the oven. Immediately drizzle icing over the top. Be sure to get it all around the edges and over the top. As they sit, the rolls will absorb some of the icing’s moisture and flavor. They only get better with time… not that they last for more than a few seconds. Make them for a friend today!