Cinnamon Rolls (pizza crust recipe)

photo courtesy of Delores Bailey

The other night I needed a dessert and since I was out of eggs and I only had a little cocoa and powdered sugar, my options were limited.  I decided to give this a try.  Forgive my lack of clear instructions…it was one of those things I just did without measuring much.  I don’t think you could mess these up too much.  I was also lazy and just sprinkled the sugars and cinnamon on instead of combining them first.

Overall I was pleased with how these turned out.  They didn’t take long to throw together and there is only one time needed for rising the dough (after you make the rolls).  So it’s not a time-consuming recipe.  The taste and texture were great!  And this dough is just so easy to work with!

I first made my pizza crust dough recipe:

1 ¾ - 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 envelope Fleischmann’s Pizza Crust Yeast

1 ½ teaspoon sugar

¾ teaspoon salt

2/3 cup very warm water (120 – 130 degrees)

3 tablespoons oil

Combine 1 cup flour, yeast, sugar, and salt.  Stir in water and oil.  Mix together until well blended (about 1 minute).

Gradually add ½ cup flour until soft dough ball is formed.  Add more flour if needed. 

Knead on a floured surface, adding more flour as needed until smooth & elastic (about 4 minutes). Honestly, I just knead enough flour into it until it’s not so sticky.  It’s probably more like 2 or 3 minutes.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface.  Roll into a rectangle (as thin as you can easily do—not thin like pie crust but you want it thin enough to be able to roll it up a few times). 

Filling:

Butter, softened (about 2 tablespoons)

Cinnamon (about 1 teaspoon—I just sprinkled it from the jar)

White sugar (about 3 tablespoons)

Brown sugar (about 3 tablespoons)

Spread butter over the dough.  Sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugars (you can combine the three first).  Carefully roll the dough up from the long edge, as tightly as you can (which won’t be that tight).  Slice the log into pieces (I did about 1 ½ inch pieces and then flattened them because my log was pretty long and narrow…you can do it however you want).  Place into buttered baking pan (I used a Pampered Chef stone round baking pan—I think it’s 10 inches), about 1 inch apart.  A glass baking dish would work, a cake pan, or even an iron skillet.

Cover the pan with clear wrap and place in warm spot until the rolls are doubled and almost touching.  A cold oven with the light on is a perfect place for this!  The top of the refrigerator works well too.

Bake at 400 until done (about 15 minutes, but watch it closely after 10).  Depending on the pan, it might take more like 20-30 minutes.  The center should be set.

Glaze:

2 tablespoons butter, softened

1 ½ cups powdered sugar

Milk (enough to make a drizzling consistency)

Whisk together.  Glaze the warm cinnamon rolls.