Cooking Lesson #15— Ed & Phil’s Glazed Cinnamon Rolls

How you doin’? I learned over the last few days that one of my favorite donut shops (Stan’s Donuts in Westwood, California) closed forever after 55 years. The next best thing to a donut is a freshly baked cinnamon roll, so let’s roll up our sleeves and get baking!
 
I want to share with you one of our most prized recipes that have ever been developed in the Perspectives’ California Kitchen. Phil Kellogg was our director of R&D back in the 1990’s working with us on client projects. For fun, we also developed recipes inspired by our old family favorites. (Today he’s the owner of Daffy Farms (The Daffy Apple Company). There was Phil’s Mom’s Stollen, Aunt Esther’s Babka and Grandpa Max’s Peanut Brittle. It was at this time Phil and I created Ed & Phil’s Glazed Cinnamon Rolls.
 
Now, before we even get started let me improve your kitchen work habits by reminding you to read all instructions completely before beginning. Do not take short cuts—think quality! And make sure to measure all ingredients and have them at your side before mixing.
 
Prep time:  40 minutes
Proof time:  1 hour + 1 hour or overnight
Bake time:  30 to 35 minutes
Yield: 12 large cinnamon rolls
 
Ingredients
For the Cinnamon Roll Dough
1/4 cup warm water (no warmer than 110⁰F)
1 package active dry yeast (7 grams)
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4-pound unsalted butter, chilled (1 stick)
3 large egg yolks
1 cup whole milk
1/3 cup unsalted butter, chilled
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1/3 cup light or dark brown sugar
Butter (to grease the baking pans—2 cake rounds or 1 rectangle)
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
 
For the Powdered Sugar Icing
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 to 4 tablespoons milk or half & half
 
Directions
To make the cinnamon rolls

1. In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and stir.
2. Add 1 teaspoon of sugar and stir. Allow yeast to dissolve for 5 minutes.
3. Stir together 1/4 cup of sugar, the flour and salt.
4. Cut the stick of butter into small pieces and add to the flour. Mix until there are coarse little lumps of butter throughout.
5. In a separate bowl, combine the yeast mixture, egg yolks and milk. Beat until blended.
6. Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture. Knead until a smooth dough forms.
7. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to ferment until dough has doubled in size; about 1 hour.
8. Butter your baking pans, bottom and sides… either two 9” cake rounds or one 9” x 13” rectangle.
9. Butter Punch down dough and knead for two minutes to pop all the air bubbles. Allow dough to rest for 10 minutes.
10. Divide dough in half and roll out each ball to a 10 x 12-inch rectangle.
11. Cut remaining 1/3 cup of butter into 1/4-inch cubes and place evenly on each piece of rolled out dough.
12. Sprinkle half of the granulated sugar, cinnamon and brown sugar over the first dough rectangle.  Reserve the remaining granulated sugar, cinnamon and brown sugar for the second one.
13. Roll the dough up and divide it evenly by cutting with a thin sharp knife into 1”-1-1/2” slices.
14. Evenly distribute half of the pecans in the bottom of a round cake tin (or all of them in the bottom of the rectangle). Place the slices of dough over the pecans in the baking pan, cut side down, leaving space between the rolls to allow for rising.
15. Repeat steps 12-14 with the second dough rectangle.
16. In a warm draft-free place, allow the dough to rise in the baking pan(s) until doubled (about 1 hour or you can let the dough rest overnight in the refrigerator—see the ChefSecret below).
17. Preheat an oven to 350º F. If you have refrigerated the dough overnight, allow it to come to room temperature before putting it into the preheated oven (about 2 hours).
18. Bake the rolls for 30 to 35 minutes.
19. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before turning out upside-down onto a serving platter; the buns will now have pecans on the top.

 
To make the powder sugar icing

1.  In medium bowl, combine all ingredients until smooth, adding enough milk for desired glaze consistency.
2. Drizzle the cinnamon rolls with powdered sugar icing. Serve and enjoy!

ChefSecret:

• Allowing the dough a longer fermentation time will develop more flavor.
• If you have refrigerated the dough overnight, remember to pull the pan(s) from the refrigerator and allow the dough to come to room temperature before baking. If the dough is cold when put into the oven, the rolls will only be baked on the outside but will be doughy and under-baked on the inside.

#CinnamonRolls #Brunch #Breakfast #StansDonuts #DaffyApple #DaffyFarms #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup #QuarantineKitchen #Covid19

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