PW's Cinnamon Rolls

It's time for a PW recipe :-) Melanie picked Cinnamon Rolls for this week. I don't know why but I was rather nervous about this recipe, it was one of the recipes that I couldn't wait to try when I got the book and yet I found myself putting off making it. Not sure what it is about the flour and yeast thing, perhaps because I've never really tried doing it, the only time I've used yeast is in a bread machine, and that does all the work for you! Well that's the fun challenge of working our way through this cookbook, so I knew I would have to give them a try.

The hardest part about this recipe is the waiting! First you have to 'scald' the milk, meaning you heat it up with the sugar and oil on the stove top (don't boil) then you have to let it cool back down to 'warm' then sprinkle on your yeast. Let this sit for a minute and then add your flour. . .

at this point it is looking rather gooey, and yes I'm getting a little more nervous! You then have to put it in a warm spot to rise for an hour. My oven was on so I sat the bowl right next to it in the hopes it was a warm enough place.

an hour later I was even more nervous when it looked even more Gooey!!!

but, I added more flour like it said and was happy to see that it all came together in a nice soft round dough ball :-) BIG sigh of relief here . . . now to roll this thing out to 30"

Pour on melted butter (the recipe calls for 1 cup, but I didn't use all of it, more like 3/4 cup) spread it all around then sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on top. . . .

then you roll it! And apparently it's ok if all the sugar and butter squeezes out as you do!

I got 3 batches out of this, (I actually halved the recipe by the way). Here's two of the pans above, the third pan only had 6 in it, the other 2 had 7. This is an 8" round pan and 7 fit perfectly not touching the sides, so this gives them room to grow as they bake.

First batch out of the oven. I only put one batch in first because I was still cutting the other ones and then I was chatting to Mel on the phone telling her how things were going as I was making them :-) I was getting excited at this point, because they looked and smelled like real yummy cinnamon rolls!

I made the icing like PW says, which is powdered sugar, milk, butter and maple extract, only I didn't have the maple flavoring (I thought I had it otherwise I would have bought some as I wanted to try these exactly as she made them) so I used orange extract instead. - still delicious. Went a bit overboard with the icing on the first batch I think ;-)

Here's the 2 other pans with a little less icing on (because I was running short, having put too much on the first pan!)

And here is my very first ((ever) home made cinnamon roll. Does that not look absolutely delicious? Let me tell you, it was every bit as good as the picture looks - I was in heaven after my first bite!

Verdict: By far THE BEST RECIPE I've made so far from this cookbook, and man I wish I'd made the whole recipe and not just half. I gave one pan of rolls to my neighbor and the two we had left were gone in two days!!!

Notes: The recipe says to not let the rolls get t0o brown, so I took the first batch out after 20 minutes like it says to do. The two other pans (which I baked together) came out a few minutes after 20 minutes (cos I was on the phone to Mel again!) and in hindsight these two pans, being a little browner around the edges tasted even better to me. I think it was the texture, that slight crispness to the edge then sinking your teeth in to doughy, sugary goodness that did it. I am in love with these rolls and will definitely be making another BIG batch soon (well, not too soon, or my waistline will complain!).

YOU HAVE TO TRY THESE!

I'm linking to TMTT and Tasty Tuesday today. Thanks for stopping by. I'd love to return the visit, leave a comment so I can come say hi :-)