Thoughts From The Loo

Who doesn’t love an ooey, gooey, fresh from the oven cinnamon roll? I sure don’t know of anyone who would turn their nose up at them!

Ingredients

• 3/4 Cup Milk
• 1/4 Cup Margarine, Softened
• 3 1/4 Cups All Purpose Flour
• 1 Package Instant Yeast (2 Tsp)
• 1/4 Cup White Sugar
• 1/2 Tsp Salt
• 1/4 Cup Water
• 1 Egg
• 1 Cup Packed Brown Sugar
• 1 Tbsp Ground Cinnamon
• 1/2 Cup Softened Margarine
• 1/2 Cup Raisins (Optional)
• 1/2 Cup Nuts (Optional; your choice, I’ve used walnuts and pecans)

1. Heat milk in small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat
2. Mix in margarine, stirring until melted
3. Let cool until lukewarm
4. In large mixing bowl, combine 2 1/4 cup flour, yeast, sugar, and salt, mixing well
5. Add water, egg, and milk mixture, beating well
6. Add remaining flour, 1/4 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition
7. When dough has just pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, kneading until smooth, about 5 minutes
8. Cover dough with a damp cloth and let sit 10 minutes
9. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, cinnamon, and softened margarine
10. Roll out dough to a 12×9 triangle
11. Spread sugar/cinnamon mixture across dough
12. Sprinkle with raisins and/or nuts if desired
13. Roll up dough and pinch edges to seal
14. Cut 12 equal size rolls, placing cut side up in lightly greased pan
15. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
16. Bake in oven 20 minutes, or until browned
17. Remove from pan while warm to cool, flipping onto serving tray
18. Serve warm

Now, this is my Gramma’s recipe, and as much as I love it, I have found that using Rhodes bread dough works just as well, and you can save time by just thawing out a loaf at a time. I will toss a loaf into a greased bowl, spray some cooking spray on the loaf, and seal the bowl with saran wrap. The bowl can go in the fridge overnight, or on the stove for several hours to thaw out. Once it’s thawed, I take it out of the fridge and place on the counter or stove to start to rise. You want the bread to at least double in size before rolling it out.

I don’t always do the margarine mixture, either. I will sometimes just throw a few spoonfuls of margarine on top of the rolled out dough and spread it around with my hands. I don’t mind getting messy in the kitchen. Whatever is left over and still on my hands I will use to grease the pan they will be cooked in.

As for cutting, I prefer to use unscented/unflavoured dental floss. The dough doesn’t squish up as much as when I use a knife.