CINNAMON ROLLS

 

INGREDIENTS:

 

1 & ½ packages (about 3 & ¼ teaspoons) dry yeast

¼ cup warm water

½ cup shortening

1/3 cup sugar

1 & ½ teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

1 egg (beaten)

4 to 5 cups sifted flour

Melted butter

Brown sugar

Cinnamon

Raisins (optional)

Nuts (optional)

 

Vanilla Frosting:

 

2 cups powdered sugar

1 Tablespoon butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla

Milk or cream (2 to 4 Tablespoons)

 

PREPARATION:

 

Add the warm water to the yeast and proof 10 minutes.

 

Scald milk and pour over the shortening.  Add sugar and salt and let cool to tepid.  Add the dissolved yeast and beaten egg. Add 4 cups of flour, one at a time, beating after each addition.

 

Dough should be soft, yet firm enough to handle.

 

Knead on a floured board until elastic and smooth.  Avoid too much flour.  Turn dough into a well oiled bowl.  Let rise for and hour and a half.

 

Press dough down and divide into workable size.  Roll dough out into a rectangle. Cover with melted butter.  Cover with a generous thick layer of brown sugar.  Sprinkle on cinnamon as desired. If adding raisins and/or nuts, do it now.  Roll up jelly roll fashion along the long edge.

 

*Using scissors or a piece of string or thread, cut off slices about 1 to 1.5 inches thick.  Place slices in an 8 or 9 inch greased cake pan.  Place one slice in the middle and other slices around it.  Press rolls down to even out and fill pan.  Let rise until rolls fill the pan generously ….about another hour.

 

Bake in a 350F preheated oven about 15-20 minutes.  If rolls get too brown, cover with foil until end of baking time.  Do not over bake.

 

**Remove immediately from pan by inverting onto a plate and then tip over onto another plate to right the rolls.

 

For the frosting:

 

In a medium bowl, place sugar, butter and vanilla.  Then stir in enough milk or cream to reach a thick, hardly-able to stir consistency.

 

Spread over warm rolls as soon as they are placed on a plate to let the frosting melt and run into the rolls.

 

NOTE: 

 

I mixed and kneaded in my Bosch Universal mixer until the dough cleared the sides of the bowl.

 

After the first rising, I separated the dough into two parts and worked each part.

 

*Using string or thread by slipping it under the roll and pulling though the roll makes a neater cut.  A knife tends to squash the rolls a bit.

 

**I left the rolls in the pans to make them easier to transport after they were frosted.