Ooey Gooey Cinnamon Rolls



Right out of the oven (before the icing)



Earlier this week in my weight watcher's meeting, someone mentioned how adding cinnamon to your diet has been proven to boost your metabolism. Since then, I could not get the thought of cinnamon out of my mind.  Somehow, I don't think taking cinnamon and mixing it with butter, sugar and dough is doing anything positive for my metabolism.  Surely I could show some restraint and only eat half of one and feed the remaining to my kids and husband.  Bad idea......I showed no restraint and it was love at first bite.  I have now fed them to my kids for both breakfast and afternoon snack today in hopes of getting them out of my house immediately. I've promised the remaining to a neighbor later today, so now I have no choice but to stay away.  So......in a nutshell, this recipe from Bread Becker's is simply Ooey Gooey Awesomeness!!!!  Now, if I could just show a little self control with them in my kitchen, my family could enjoy this treat more often!  Before I share the recipe, I should note that there are a few redeeming qualities to this version of homemade cinnamon rolls compared to the standard.  First, since you are using freshly milled flour, you get all the nutritional benefits that come from that, in addition to using Sucanat (pure dried sugar cane juice) instead of refined brown sugar.  And, this recipe yielded 15 cinnamon rolls and called for 6 Tbs. of butter, so really, that is not a crazy amount of butter per serving (if you can only eat a serving of these!!!)

These were easier to make than what I was expecting since I have never attempted making a cinnamon roll that did not pop right out of a cardboard cylinder shaped tin (and full of who knows what mystery ingredients)

Recipe for "Ooey Gooey" Cinnamon Rolls   
(From Bread Becker's Recipe Collection)

1.  You start with making your basic bread dough recipe using your choice of grain (I used all Hard White Wheat) and put the ingredients in the Zoji for the "Quick Dough" (45 minute) cycle.

2.  When your dough is ready, take it out of the pan and put it on a floured surface:

3.  Roll all of dough out into a 10x15 inch rectangle.  (trimming off any excess dough)

4.  Spread the Ooey Gooey Filling over all the the dough and roll up jelly roll style. (sorry, forgot to photo the filling going on it)  Recipe for Ooey Gooey Filling: Combine 1 1/2 cups Sucanat, 1 Tbs. cinnamon, dash of nutmeg (as desired) and mix with 6 Tbs. of melted butter.

5.  Cut into 1 inch slices.

6.  Place cut side up in a 9x13 greased pan with sides touching and allow to rise to double size. (20-30 min.)

7.  Once they have (roughly) doubled in size, Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. 

8.  Remove from the oven after baking is complete:  (I baked mine 25 minutes and might try closer to 23-24 min. next time)

9.  Prepare Icing.  I made the BB's Cream Cheese Icing Recipe:  8 oz. cream cheese (softened), 1-2 Tbs. honey and 1 tsp. vanilla.

10.  Whip cream cheese adding honey and vanilla to taste until smooth.

11.  Add icing to the cinnamon rolls and enjoy!  (I put my icing in a zip lock bag and clipped a corner off to give it the swirled look)

Note:  Since the icing is cream cheese based, store it in the refrigerator while storing the cinnamon rolls at room temperature.  I think next time I'll try the powdered sugar/ glaze style icing.  Here is that recipe: 

Sucanat with Honey Glaze:

1 cup Sucanat with Honey (this is the white sugar version of the Sucanat)

1/2 tsp. Vanilla

1-2 Tbs. Butter, melted

Powder Sucanat w/ honey in a blender.  Add to melted butter.  Add vanilla, and enough milk to thin to desired consistency.  Whisk until smooth.  Drizzle over Cinnamon Rolls.

Variations to Cinnamon Roll Recipe:

The Bread Becker's Recipe Collection has several variations to this recipe so I won't list them all here.  Mainly I wanted to note that you could adjust the size of your rolls by creating a different sized rectangle and cutting either thicker or thinner slices from the roll.  You could cut slices 3/4 inch thick and place in 2 greased round 9 inch cake pans.  These can be made in advance and stored in the refrigerator overnight and ready to pop in the oven in the morning.

Enjoy!