Happy Sunday! Don’t you just love the weekend? Zachary and I got out and did a little exploring yesterday with the pup and it was beyond glorious! We have a state park that’s about 1/2 hour away from us, so we went out with some friends and had a picnic and hiked around a little bit.
It was a gorgeous day and after almost a whole week’s worth of constant snow, we were so excited to have a warm day that finally made things feel like spring!
Anyway, back to why you’re here – I have to admit something: being a food blogger is kind of hard at times. We try so hard to perfect a recipe that is worthy of sharing, but sometimes? It’s just not in the cards. I don’t know how many things we’ve spent time making, just to throw away because it tastes disgusting and we know you guys wouldn’t like it. That was the case last week, when I tried to make my dad’s famous cinnamon rolls. Now, I know they’re good because I basically grew up on the darn things and they were delicious every time. But sometimes I’m just not as good at baking as I’d like to be.
After throwing away a dry, crusty batch of cinnamon rolls, I felt kinda bummed because I was already sold on the me-being-able-to-indulge-in-a-yummy-tasty-cinnamon-roll idea. That’s when I thought, “Hey. Let’s make things easier and make a batch of cinnamon roll bites.” Umm, ok. That sounds awesome. Why not, right? I used the same dough recipe as I did for my honey butter pull-apart rolls and it all turned out phenomenal! Zachary’s lucky there were any left by the time he got home from work.
The great thing about these is they can be made overnight too. I got a} craving for them the other day at like 10 pm, so I whipped up the dough {which takes like ten minutes tops and just stuck it in the fridge overnight. Then you just make them like normal in the morning. This way you don’t have much waiting around to do if you’re making them for breakfast! {Which I highly suggest doing. These babies will put anyone in a good mood right off the bat.}
Ingredients:
Dough:
Dough:
- 1 & 1/2 cups hot water {as hot as you can get it out of the tap – not boiling.}
- 1 Tbsp. active dry yeast
- 2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
- 3 & 1/2 to 4 cups bread flour {you can use all-purpose flour as well}
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 cup {1 stick} salted butter, melted
Icing:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2-3 Tbsp. milk
- 2 Tbsp. butter, melted
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla
Directions:
- In a small bowl, combine water, yeast and sugar and let sit until frothy. {about 5 minutes}
- Add the salt and vegetable oil and mix well.
- In a large bowl, yeast mixture and about 2 cups of flour.
- Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until dough starts to pull away from sides and is no longer sticky.
- Turn out dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic.
- Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap.
- Let rise for one hour, until doubled in size. {Or if you’re doing this the night before, just place it in the refrigerator and go to bed.}
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Punch down dough and knead on a floured surface until smooth again; set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine sugars and cinnamon.
- Place butter in another small bowl.
- Rip off small pieces of dough {I used like a quarter size} and roll into a ball.
- Dip the ball in the butter and then roll it around in the sugar mixture; place on a cookie sheet.
- Repeat steps 12 & 13 until you fill your cookie sheet up and then bake for 10-12 minutes.
- Do this until all the dough is gone.
- Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine powdered sugar, milk, butter, and vanilla until smooth.
- Use a spoon to drizzle your frosting over the cinnamon roll bites.
- Serve warm.
Now excuse me while I go for a walk to try to burn off these bad boys. I’ve had way too many of them this week.
-Sarah
Linking up here.
I am in love with cinnamon rolls and these sound awesome! I’m glad you kept at it and came up with this yummy recipe!
I am in love with cinnamon rolls and these sound awesome! I’m glad you kept at it and came up with this yummy recipe!
Noticed these on Nikki’s linky party and wow, they look wonderful! I love little dough balls like this and love that you used a yeasted dough but still baked them!
Noticed these on Nikki’s linky party and wow, they look wonderful! I love little dough balls like this and love that you used a yeasted dough but still baked them!
These look so good! I’ve never attempted to make dough by hand, but I think I’ll give it a try! Thanks!!
These look so good! I’ve never attempted to make dough by hand, but I think I’ll give it a try! Thanks!!
These look like pillsbury cinnamon rolls. I too love cinnamon rolls, so I’ll definitely be making these!
These look like pillsbury cinnamon rolls. I too love cinnamon rolls, so I’ll definitely be making these!
OH, these look absolutely amazing! I’ve pinned them to my board Pastry (& other desserts) & can’t wait to make them! I followed you from the Totally Tasty Tuesdays link party. I also run a Tasty Tuesdays link party on my blog & I’d love it if you could stop by & link up some of your recipes! Here’s the link: http://anyonitanibbles.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/Tasty-Tuesdays-Link-Party-9.html
These look very dangerous:)
These look very dangerous:)
How long do you bake them?
For 10-12 minutes 🙂
Just wondering if you are doing it the night before, like stated in step #7, do you let it warm up to room temp in the morning when you take it out of the refrigerator? Or do you just start punching the dough? I have done quite a few yeast recipes, but I have never done one where I have left it in the fridge so I am uncertain.
Thanks, these look fabulous!
Hey Linda – I just punched it down right out of the fridge and used it right away. Hope that helps!
Maybe I’m a little dense, but you let it rise first BEFORE you put it in the fridge? Thanks! Planning to make these as a brunch addition on Monday!
Yep, I did!
oh man! I didn’t see this and I put the dough away already before letting it rise :-/
Oh man! I didn’t see this before! I put the dough away in the fridge before letting it rise first. The directions wasn’t very clear.
I love this idea!! I make cinnamon rolls often, don’t know why I didn’t think to do this! lol. Visiting from Pinterest.
Helen
Blue Eyed Beauty Blog
Exercise Encouragement Group Blog
do you bake them before or after rolling in butter and sugar?
You bake them after 🙂
Ok, now those are going to need to get in my belly right now, please…. 🙂 I pinned these right away – can’t wait to try them!!
Haha Thanks girl! They’re amazing!
Turns out, using really really hot water kills the yeast and these suckers don’t rise at all. Next time, I’ll try with just warm water like most bread type recipes call for.
Made these this morning. Forgot to put in the cinnamon. Still yummy! Oh well next I won’t forget!
Just got done making these. forgot to put the cinnamon in. Oh well! Still yummy.
Is there any place I could locate nutritional information on these beauties?
this might be a dumb question… Im new to cooking 🙂 how many does this recipe make? I want to make them for my superbowl party!
Hiii! This might be a stupid question- I’m new to cooking! How many does the recipe make? I want to make them for superbowl 🙂
When yeast is added directly to the water, the water temperature shouldn’t exceed 110 degrees. The hottest water out of my tap is close to 160 degrees and would kill the yeast. Using a thermometer is really handy, but if you don’t have one, the water should feel too hot for a baby’s bath but not so hot that it burns your finger when tested. It’s better for it to be very warm than too hot! These little guys look delicious!!
When yeast is added directly to the water, the water temperature shouldn’t exceed 110 degrees. The hottest water out of my tap is close to 160 degrees and would kill the yeast. Using a thermometer is really handy, but if you don’t have one, the water should feel too hot for a baby’s bath but not so hot that it burns your finger when tested. It’s better for it to be very warm than too hot! These little guys look delicious!!
When yeast is added directly to the water to dissolve, the water should never exceed 110-115 degrees. Any hotter and the yeast will be instantly killed. The hottest water out of my tap is 160 degrees. It’s best to use a thermometer, but if you don’t have one, the water temp should feel too hot for a baby’s bath, but not so hot that it burns your finger when tested. I use yeast in many recipes and 110 degrees is perfect. The recipe looks great!
OMG! We will be making these soon. 🙂
I had to use way more flour than the recipe calls for, at least an extra cup +…my dough was way too sticky without adding the additional flour. They did come out good though.
I also rolled them in finely chopped pecans. Yummy