Saturday, December 27, 2014

Honey Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting

Wow. I don't know about everyone else but this past month has been incredibly filled. It always kicks off with L1's birthday, then Thanksgiving. The first week of December the farm we get our raw milk share through informed us that they will be discontinuing the CSA and that there were only three weeks left of milk pick ups. Talk about a little bit of a panic. Next E turned one. My father had a birthday, as did I. A week later, I was told that my part-time online job was downsizing the project I am currently working on and that my contract will not be renewed. Then suddenly it was Christmas. That is the short version.

While the holiday season can be stressful, we try to focus on family during this season so our annual family Christmas Eve party helped to relax and mellow us. Christmas was, as always a lovely stay at home day surrounded by family and friends. It was an excellent to day. I hope that you and yours had just as wonderful a day and holiday season.

One of the things I enjoy about Christmas morning, is that we host a brunch and invite our family. This year, we only had a few people, which added to the relaxed atmosphere. Also, this year I went super simple and decided to only serve cinnamon rolls and fruit with homemade yogurt. Wanting to use the bread machine, I looked for a recipe that was simple and didn't contain too much sugar so that the honey substitution wasn't too difficult. I found this recipe and modified it.

Rolls
1 cup warm milk   *I warmed my milk and butter on the woodstove together
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 eggs, room temperature   
4 1/2 cups flour, sifted
1  teaspoon salt  
1/4 cup honey  
2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast  

Filling
1  cup dark maple syrup, brown sugar or a combination of the two
2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon  
1/3 cup butter, softened

Place all ingredients in bread machine and select DOUGH cycle.
In separate bowl combine syrup, cinnamon and butter.
After dough has finished, turn it out onto lightly floured surface and roll into a 16x24 rectangle. Spread dough with filling mixture.
Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls.
Place rolls in lightly greased 9x13 pan.
***Cover and let rise until almost doubled (about 30 min). - I skipped this step because I was in a hurry and they were super fluffy anyway.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Bake rolls for 14-16 minutes.
Frost or ice as desired. I used the same recipe I use for my Maple Cake:
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
2-6 Tablespoons maple syrup to taste
Vanilla to taste

I cannot get over how impressed I was with these rolls. They were moist but super fluffy. They weren't dense at all and the frosting was extremely fluffy, perhaps because I left the butter and cream cheese being whisked while I did something else, completely forgetting that I had left the mixer running (did I mention that I stayed up late cleaning and only got about 3-4 hours of sleep?).

This recipe is going into my permanent recipe box and will be used hence forth. It took about 1 1/2 hours from start to finish and before you say, "who has time for that?" let me tell you how I got that number:
It took maybe 5 minutes to get the ingredients into the bread machine
45 minutes for the dough cycle to complete, during which I put the filling together (3 minutes to mix up?)
5 minutes to roll out the dough and spread the filling
5 minutes to slice and put into the pan (that includes an extra minute or two to rearrange when you space them too far apart)
15 minutes to bake
10 minutes to cool and make the frosting
5 minutes to remove from pan, frost and sit down at the table with a cup of coffee or orange juice and take the fist bite.

*I did not include the time it took to call the kids and get them settled in before getting first said bite because perhaps if you serve these on a normal morning, the kids won't be so excited that it takes a few minutes to settle them, serve them, locate where you set down your own coffee cup, answer the phone (because doesn't it always ring when you are sitting down?) and then make it back to the table. Just saying - this time is variable so it doesn't count.

Enjoy!

This article was featured on Natural Family Friday

http://naturalfamilytoday.com/natural-family-friday/natural-family-friday-192015/

This article was shared on The Chicken Chick, Natural Family Friday, From The Farm,

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