Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

I love homemade cinnamon rolls. My dad always makes some for Christmas morning, and I wanted to try them out for myself. I really wanted an overnight recipe, because I am not a great morning person and waiting that long in the morning for cinnamon rolls just seemed like too much work. I found two recipes that I liked, from here and here, and combined the two to make some really great cinnamon rolls.

I actually made these again at my in-law's house for Christmas morning, and they loved them and requested that I be there every Christmas to make them again. These are so tasty, that it's hard to eat just one.

Ingredients:

 Dough:

1 tbsp active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
4 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 

1 tsp kosher salt
4 eggs
1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter 

Filling:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp cinnamon

Frosting:

3 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp lemon juice

Directions:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, sprinkle the yeast over the water, allow to bloom for a few minutes, then whisk until smooth. 

2. Whisk in 1/2 cup of the flour. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand in a warm spot for about 30 minutes.

3. Add the eggs, sugar, butter, salt, and remaining 4 cups flour to the yeast mixture. With the dough hook, knead on medium speed until smooth, about 8-12 minutes.  Add a bit more flour to reduce stickiness if needed. This makes my stand mixer really warm, so be prepared for that. 

4. Cover with plastic wrap, set in a warm spot and let rise until doubled, about 2 hours.

5. While dough is rising, prepare filling. Take 2 tbsp of the stick of butter and set aside. Beat remaining butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon together until combined and slightly fluffy, about 1 minute. It will be pretty thick.

6. Butter a 9×13 baking dish. Transfer the dough to a floured work surface.

7. Roll out into a rectangle about 15×10 in.

Or a lumpy oval. Same thing.

8. Spread filling onto dough. The easiest way I found to do this was to just use my hands. You'll get a little messy, but you'll smell yummy like cinnamon!

9. Roll the dough up length-wise.

10. Cut your rolls. I just use a knife, because I don't care if they're a little smooshed. Dental floss cuts through dough as well. You can cut the rolls to your liking. This will make 12 small rolls, 10 medium ones, or 8 large rolls.
11. Place in buttered baking dish.

12. Melt the reserved 2 T butter and brush on top of rolls. 

13. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight.
14. The next morning, remove from refrigerator and let rise until half again as high, about 1 hour.

16. Preheat the oven to 350. Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes.

15. While baking, prepare the frosting. 

Whip cream cheese and butter together, then add in vanilla and lemon juice. Add the powdered sugar slowly until it's all incorporated.

 

Beat on high for about 5 minutes until it is light and fluffy.

16. Once rolls are out of the oven, immediately frost using half the frosting. This will melt and slide down into the rolls.

17. After they have cooled a few more minutes, frost again with remaining frosting. This step isn't entirely necessary, but it makes the frosting look nicer.

And those are my cinnamon rolls! They're a little work, but sooooo worth it. They are giant and soft and cinnamony, which is everything a cinnamon roll should be. They also make my apartment smell amazing. They're best served warm, but I've been known to pull of pieces straight out of the fridge and eat them. These are great for a get-together, because you can prep everything the night before, even the frosting. Then just pull them out and let them rise, and pop them in the oven and bake!

Preztel Bites with Cheddar Sauce

I made these to eat for a snack before a football game. They were a process, to say the least. They were delicious though.The cheese sauce I was less impressed with, but I'm still going to post it because it seems like a decent base. I got the recipe from here and here.These would be great for a party, because the recipe makes a lot!

Ingredients:

Pretzel Ingredients

1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp kosher salt
1 package active dry yeast
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
Pretzel or kosher salt

Cheese Sauce Ingredients

2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
8 oz shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese

I used regular salt because I forgot to buy larger salt, and it tasted just fine. It didn't look as pretty, but it will still work.

Directions:

Pretzels:

1. Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam.

Foaming yeast

 2. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes.

3. Remove the dough from the bowl and oil it with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

4. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an large pot.
5. Put the dough onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Slice or tear each rope into 1-inch pieces.
Make sure to place a lightly damp towel over the pretzel pieces to prevent them from drying out while you roll and cut the other pieces.

I don't have space to oil my counter, so I wrapped plastic wrap around my table and put oil on that.

8 equal parts

Rolling out into ropes

Half of the pretzel pieces. Yup, that's only half.

6. Put a handful of the pretzel pieces into the boiling water and boil them for 30 seconds.

7. Remove the pretzel pieces from the water using a slotted spoon, or a potato masher, which is what I had on hand. Drain them on a paper towel and place them on the baking sheets.

Mashers: Not just for mashing anymore

8. Brush the top of each pretzel with the egg and water mixture and sprinkle with the salt.
9. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 10 – 12 minutes.

Yummy!

Cheese Sauce:
1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter.

2. Whisk in the flour and cook for 30 seconds, whisking constantly.
3. Slowly whisk in the milk until no flour lumps are left.  Stir constantly and bring the milk to a simmer over medium-low heat until it thickens, about 3-5 minutes.

4. Remove the pan from the stove and stir in the shredded cheese until all of the cheese has melted. Serve warm.

 

The cheese sauce didn't have a whole lot of flavor, and it definitely didn't reheat well. I don't recommend it. A beer cheese sauce would be excellent with these, though. I plan on trying one in the future.

The pretzels were excellent though, and I will definitely be making those again. I will probably just make them in the regular pretzel fashion though, instead of the bites. It took a long time to boil them all in small groups, and it would have been much easier to just have to do eight pretzels instead of so many bites.

Bread Bowls

This recipe is from last week, when it was colder and not 80° like it is right now. Stupid weather. I wanted Panera so badly, but there isn't one anywhere around us. So, I decided to make my own bread bowls to put some soup in. I used this recipe and adjusted it to make 4 servings.

Ingredients:

1 package active dry yeast

1 & 1/4 c warm water

1 tsp honey

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp vegetable oil

3 & 1/2 cups flour

1 egg

1 tsp water

Directions:
1. Put the yeast, honey and warm water in a bowl. Let sit for 10 minutes until it is creamy and foamy.

Before and After

 2. Add the salt, oil and 2 cups of flour to the bowl. Add in the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time, mixing well.
3. When the dough has come together, put the mixer on high and let in knead for 6 minutes.

This is what it should look like once done.

4. Lightly oil the bowl and dough.

All lubed up.

5.Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and let rise for about 40 minutes.

6. After the dough has doubled in size, take it out and divide into 4 equal portions. Shape them into round loaves and place them on lightly greased baking sheets. Cover with the damp cloth and let rise again for about 35 minutes.

7. Preheat oven to 400°.
8. Beat together egg and water to make an egg wash. Brush the loaves with the wash.
9. Bake the loaves for 15 minutes. Brush with egg wash again and put back in the oven to bake for 10-15 more minutes until golden brown.

Before the second egg wash

10. Take out and cool on wire racks.

All yummy and brown!

11. To make bowls, cut off the tops of loaves and scoop out the middle to create a bowl shape. 

Next time, I will probably just make two larger bowls, because the bowls were pretty small and didn't hold a lot of soup. They were very tasty though, and fairly easy to make. I will definitely be making this recipe again, and would recommend it for an easy bread bowl. 

I made a broccoli-cheddar soup to put in the bread bowls, and I used this recipe, which was amazing. I don't really even like broccoli-cheddar soup, but this one was tasty. The bread bowl worked perfectly and were a great addition to the soup. Overall, an excellent dinner.