Old Fashioned Cinnamon Rolls. The no fuss way our grandmothers made them using regular white bread dough as a special treat on bread making day.
Old Fashioned Cinnamon Rolls
When I first started baking many years ago, I loved making bread in particular. Long before I had ever heard of a soft, sweet brioche brioche dough, which is the base for my cinnamon rolls these days, I would make them from leftover white bread dough just like our Grandmothers did. The rolls are not quite as sweet or light and airy but I have discovered that some people prefer a more substantial, chewy texture to their cinnamon rolls.
One commercial bakery owner I knew made them this way and changed her recipe once to make them softer but her customers balked and asked that she go back to the old recipe. I think the more rustic recipe hit a nostalgic note with her customers which is why they were so popular.
Old Fashioned Cinnamon Rolls
I thought about that one recent weekend when I was making White Bread to go with my Pulled Pork Baked Beans and decided to take part of the dough to make these old fashioned cinnamon rolls. When you think of it, this is a great early morning weekend baking project because you get a pan of great rolls for brunch and a fresh loaf of bread to serve with dinner. (You can also freeze the remaining dough for later if you prefer.)
Click here to find my standard White Bread recipe.
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Old Fashioned Cinnamon Rolls
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- <a href="https://www.rockrecipes.com/?p=1214" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;"><u><b>Click here to find my standard White Bread recipe.</b></u></span></a>
- The bread recipe makes enough for the rolls plus a loaf of bread.
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ cup very soft butter
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 cup icing sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp milk
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Once you make the dough, cover it and leave to rest and rise for one hour. Punch the dough down and knead it for a few minutes by hand before letting it rest for another 10 minutes.
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Roll 1/2 the the rested dough our into a large rectangle about 12x18 inches. Form the other half of the dough into a loaf and let it rise in a greased loaf pan.
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Combine:
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Spread this mixture on the rolled out dough. At this point you can make plain cinnamon rolls or, if desired, you can sprinkle on raisins, chopped pecans or walnuts, chopped apple pieces or any combination you like.
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Starting at the short side of the rectangle, roll the dough into a log, pinching the dough together to seal at the end of the roll.
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Cut the roll into 12 equal pieces and place in the bottom of a greased 9x13 baking pan.
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(Note: For Sticky Buns combine 1 cup brown sugar and ½ cup melted butter in the bottom of the pan before adding the rolls. Invert onto a platter when baked.)
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Cover the baking pan with a clean tea towel and allow the rolls to rise until at least doubled in size, about 1 to 1 ½ hours. (I sometimes let them rise in the fridge overnight and pop them into the oven in the morning. I’ve also frozen them before they rise and take them out of the freezer to rise overnight on the counter top before going to bed)
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Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until the rolls spring back when touched in the middle of the pan. Frost with vanilla glaze if desired.
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Whisk all three ingredients together until smooth and drizzle over the cinnamon rolls.
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Darlene
Tuesday 26th of May 2020
Hello, the ingredients for your cinnamon rolls seem to be missing. There is some programming lingo there instead. Looking forward to your updated list of ingredients. Thank you
Viviane
Sunday 22nd of October 2017
Made these today... so so good!
Vicki
Wednesday 16th of November 2016
I made your dough today for bread and cinnamon rolls but can you please tell me if you know why the dough was Sooooo Sticky? I kneaded it the second time by hand as u say u do but I had to add sooo much flour because the dough was so sticky it worried me a bit that it would b too much and at the same time by the time I got the sticky dough off my hands several times over it was a significant amount of dough lost being scraped off my hands.. . Of course it's an error on my end but I'm a novice and I'm clueless where I went wrong. ( I used a can of carnation and that wasn't quite 2 cups so I added half n half to measure 2 cups as the recipe called for).. otherwise I think I followed to the letter. ( uugh) lol except I didn't roll out my rolls then I let them proof another hour before I did and put them in the pan but I don't think that matters a whole lot. I always mess something up somewhere lol.. but I remember my grandma making this type of roll. She's Norwegian from Minnesota and I've never had better and I've always tried to duplicate and now I've found a way! Thank you Barry for your outstanding chef mind, imagination and generosity of amazing recipes, techniques and tips you share.. ;))
Barry C. Parsons
Thursday 17th of November 2016
I'm wondering if you mis-measured the flour. It's normal to add more flour when kneading but many people have made this recipe and you are the first to mention this issue.
Tammie
Sunday 22nd of March 2015
Hi Barry, have you a recipe in your archives for chocolate cinnamon rolls? One of our local restaurants makes a version with what seems like Oreo crumbs in the filling and it's drizzled with chocolate and caramel.
Tammie
Barry C. Parsons
Wednesday 25th of March 2015
No but sounds fantastic. Got a link to one of the restaurants. I'd love to take a look.