Day 36 - Mini Cinnamon Rolls

Day 36

Friday, December 30, 2011

Today I decided to make some mini cinnamon rolls for my family for breakfast. My plan was to make these on Christmas morning but after getting out of bed [a bit too early] to open presents, it kind of slipped my mind in the midst of all the excitement. I decided to make them today as a pre-new year's treat!

I have made cinnamon rolls before from scratch but as you can imagine it is quite a project. I have seen many recipes for "easy" cinnamon rolls on Pinterest.com [my new favorite website] and I decided to try one.. well actually two.

I found two different recipes that I wanted to try since both recipes seemed so easy. The dough I used for both versions was Pillsbury Crescent Roll dough. I started by rolling out half of the dough and pinching the seams in the dough together. The filling for the first recipe was a mixture of butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and flour. The mixture had the texture of a paste and was spread over the rolled out dough. I then rolled the dough into a log from the short end and cut it into pieces. What makes these rolls mini is that they are cut small and baked in mini muffin tins.

Cutting the log into mini rolls 

The second version was really simple as well. I rolled out the second half of the dough and brushed it with melted butter and sprinkled it with just cinnamon and white sugar. Again, I rolled the dough into a log and cut it into small pieces for the mini muffin tin.

First version on the bottom, second on the top

While the cinnamon rolls baked, I mixed together the glaze. I used the recipe from the last time I made cinnamon rolls which consists of powdered sugar, heavy cream and melted butter. I used it because it was easy to make and had a nice thick consistency. Both versions of the cinnamon rolls baked for about 14 minutes and they were ready to come out.

Version 1

Version 2

When the rolls were slightly cooled I drizzled the glaze over the top and they were ready to taste. I had a preference to one of the cinnamon buns as soon as they came out of the oven because the one with the brown sugar based filling looked ooey and gooey and delicious whereas the other ones with the white sugar looked very dry [as you can see in the pictures above].

Version 1 with the glaze! YUM!

I passed these around to the family and there was a clear winner as they all immediately reached for the oozing cinnamon rolls first. They agreed, there was really no comparison - I should have made the first recipe with all of the dough, not just half of it! These went like hot cakes!

This is a great, easy recipe for a brunch or holiday breakfast. I will definitely be making these again.

Stay tuned until next time…

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!