Mom’s Cinnamon Rolls recipe

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This is my favorite time of year; the sparkle of the holiday decorations against the stark beauty of nature, the crisp feel in the air, the sound of a crackling fire, and the wonderful smells coming from my Mom’s kitchen. They always bring a smile to face and a growl to my belly!

One of her specialties (and one my favorites) is cinnamon rolls with loads of creamy icing. She normally makes them for a dessert, but they make a great breakfast treat as well (perfect for Christmas morning~wht) Just fair warning, you will need patience to make the bread. This is why I’m so lucky to have good old Mom to make the rolls; I don’t have the patience yet!

Basic Bread Recipe (from the good ol’ Betty Crocker Cookbook)
Ingredients:
• 1 pack of active dry yeast
• ¼ cup warm water
• 1 cup milk, scalded
• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ cup shortening
• 1tsp salt
• 3 ½ cups flour
• 1 egg

1. Soften yeast in warm water.
2. In separate bowl combine milk, sugar, shortening, and salt; cool to luke warm and then add ½ cup flour and beat well.
3. Then beat in yeast and egg.
4. Gradually add remaining flour to from soft dough, place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease surface.
5. Cover and let rise. (Mom always puts hers in the microwave; she lets it rise then punches it down and lets it rise again. I think this is a secret of hers for really light bread.)

All right perfectionists – close your eyes – from here on out we have no exact measurements.

The Rolls
Ingredients:
• 1 stick of butter
• Cinnamon
• White Sugar
• Brown Sugar
• Pecans

1. Once the dough has risen, take it out of microwave.
2. Lightly flour your counter top and place the dough on flour.
3. Roll dough out into a circle.
4. Melt 1 stick of butter. Use about half of the melted butter to cover the surface of the dough, as my Mom would say, “Don’t be stingy, the butter makes it gooey.”
5. After the dough is covered in butter, heartily sprinkle with cinnamon ensuring that all of the dough is covered in it.
6. Lightly sprinkle with white sugar.
7. Crumble brown sugar and pecans over the surface.
8. Now roll up the dough tightly. Then, cut the dough into desired thickness for your cinnamon rolls. *Tip: We use a piece of thread to cut the dough. Take the thread under the dough then cross over top cutting the dough. This keeps the dough from flattening out.
9. Place in baking dish and let rolls rise again. Then bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until golden brown. (While they bake, whip up the icing).

Icing
Ingredients:
• 2 cups powder sugar
• the remaining melted butter (about ½ stick)
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla

Stir or mix ingredients thoroughly. While stirring, add enough hot water to get the consistency of icing you like. For chocolate icing, just add in some cocoa. Ice immediately and enjoy.

All this talk has made us hungry! Tell us, what’s your favorite family recipe?