Foodie Friday! - Mom's Cinnamon Rolls

When I was a teenager my Mom and I would spend Saturday afternoons in the kitchen baking and we always had the radio on, listening to the Top 40.   What we made would vary:  cookies, bars,  cake,  but I always loved that time with Mom.  She taught me a lot in those Saturday afternoons, but what I cherish the most was the talks we had and the time spent together.

One of our favorite things to make was cinnamon rolls.  I think the recipe we used was from the Betty Crocker Cookbook (my cookbook is now over 30 years old).  I was recently going through the 3-ring binder of recipes that my Mom had collected in addition to her recipe box and came across the cinnamon roll recipe.  She had typed it up at some point.

So I thought it would be fun to share this recipe with you.  It has wonderful memories for me.

Sweet Roll Dough 

1/2 cup warm water (not hot)

2 pkg. active dry yeast

1-1/2 cups lukewarm milk

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup soft shortening or margarine (Mom used margarine)

7 to 7-1/2 cups flour

In bowl dissolve yeast in water.  Measure flour by sifting.  Add milk, sugar, salt, margarine, and half of flour to yeast.  Mix until smooth.  Add enough remaining flour to handle easily.  Turn onto lightly floured board.  Knead until smooth.  Put in greased bowl, cover with cloth.  Let rise in warm place until double, about 1-1/2 hours.  Punch down, let rise again until almost double about 30 minutes.

Roll dough into a rectangle on lightly floured surface.  Spread 2 T. melted margarine over dough.  Then sprinkle 1/2 cup sugar and 2 tsp. cinnamon on top.  Roll up and cut into rolls, about 1-inch slices.

Caramel Glaze

1/2 cup margarine, melted

1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1 T corn syrup

1/2 cup pecan halves

Pour glaze into greased 9 x 13 pan. 

Place rolls in  pan on top of glaze mixture.  Cover and let rise until double, 35-40 minutes.  Bake at 375 degrees for 20 or 25 minutes.  Immediately turn upside down on a large baking sheet.  Let the pan stay over the rolls for a minute so that all the glaze drizzles down on the rolls.

If you prefer a cream cheese frosting, skip the glaze and just frost when warm from the oven with your favorite cream cheese or powdered sugar frosting.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as Mom and me!

Happy Friday!