Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls
These buttery soft and pillowy cinnamon rolls covered in maple icing will absolutely melt in your mouth. They are a labor of love that is 100% worth it!
Ingredients
- 4 c. whole milk
- 1 c. vegetable oil
- 1 c. sugar
- 2 pkgs. Active Dry Yeast
- 9 c. all-purpose flour divided
- 1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
- 3/4 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tbsp. salt
- 1 1/2 c. unsalted butter melted
Cinnamon Sugar Topping
- 2 c. sugar
- cinnamon
Maple Icing
- 1 2 lb. bag powdered sugar
- 2 tsp. maple flavoring
- 1/2 c. whole milk
- 1/4 c. unsalted butter melted
- 1/8 tsp. salt
Instructions
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Whisk together the milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a pan. Over medium-high heat scald the mixture (heat to where it's just about to reach the boiling point. At this point, small bubbles will start to appear around the edges.). Turn off heat (keeping pan on burner) and leave to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour.
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After an hour or so when the mixture is no longer hot, instead lukewarm, sprinkle in both packages of yeast (if measuring from a jar instead of packets you’ll need 4 1/2 tsp). Let sit for a moment to absorb in the milk mixture.
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Transfer milk mixture to a stand mixer bowl and add 8 of the 9 cups (reserving the last cup for later) of flour. Using the hook attachment of your stand mixer incorporate flour together. If you’d rather mix by hand, depending on how much room you have you can keep everything in the same pot and mix in flour with a wooden spoon until well incorporated. Cover and let rise for at least an hour.
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Dough should be nearly doubled in size after rising for at least an hour. Punch down to release the air. Mix in remaining cup of flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir mixture together.
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Sprinkle rolling surface generously with flour.
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Divide dough in half. Using one half of the dough form a rectangle. Roll thin, maintaining a general rectangular shape (as best you can).
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Drizzle 1/2 to 1 cup melted butter over the dough.
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Sprinkle 1 cup of sugar over the butter (the other cup that has been measured will be for the other half of the dough). Generously sprinkle cinnamon.
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Starting with the longest side roll dough tightly. Pinch the seam of the roll to seal it. Cut the rolls approximately ¾ to 1 inch thick. This can be done with a serrated knife if you find that easier but I prefer dental floss.
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Spread around 1 tbsp. of melted butter (could be slightly more) in the baking dish of your choice. If using a 9x13 you will be able to arrange 12-15 rolls depending on the size of your rolls. If using a disposable round foil pie pan you should be able to get seven rolls to a pan. If using a disposable square foil cake pan you should be able to get 9 rolls to a pan. Lay them in the buttered pans.
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Let the rolls rise for 20 to 30 minutes. Repeat this process with the other half of the dough. Once the rolls have risen slightly (be careful not to over-rise your rolls) they are ready to bake.
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If you’re giving the rolls as gifts you can at this point refrigerate to bake later, or remove plastic wrap and bake to give fresh hot rolls. Preheat oven to 375F. Bake about 15 to 18 minutes until golden brown.
For the Maple Icing
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Whisk everything together until smooth. The consistency you’re looking for is thick but pourable. Generously drizzle over the warm rolls to serve immediately.
Recipe Notes
- Make sure you gather all of your ingredients needed for the recipe beforehand. There's nothing worse than getting started on a recipe only to realize halfway through that you're missing something.
- Don't walk away from your milk mixture while you're heating it up. To scald the mixture you're wanting it to get where it's just about to reach the boiling point. If you walk away, it will be easy to forget & then come back to find a rolling boil (which is not what you want)
- A sign of scalding is that small bubbles will start to appear around the edges
- Use fresh yeast! If you're needing to reach into the deep dark depths of your pantry for your yeast then I'd recommend buying new for this recipe. It's a fair amount of work to make these and you don't want all of your time to be in vain.
- I like to store my yeast in the freezer to ensure freshness for longer than pantry shelf life.
- Do not over mix your dough. You only want to mix until your flour is incorporated. Otherwise if you create a tough overworked dough you won't have fluffy and soft rolls.
- If you want to make your dough ahead of time after the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt have been mixed in you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you are ready to finish.
- This includes overnight and even a day or two.
- If it starts to overflow simply punch it down to release the extra air.
- One of my favorite kitchen tools is a silicone mat to roll my dough onto. It makes for easy handling of your dough and really easy cleanup as well.
- My most favorite way to slice the cinnamon rolls is with dental floss. It's SO easy and makes for such a clean cut. If you don't have floss handy a serrated knife will do the trick just as well.
- If you don' have maple flavoring or just don't prefer it, you can substitute equal amounts of vanilla instead.
Adapted from The Pioneer Woman