CINNAMON ROLLS - bread machine style

I shared my mother's favorite cinnamon roll recipe some time ago. They were made the old fashioned way, and I know some of you still prefer to make bread and rolls that way. But all that mixing and kneading doesn't work so well with my wrists and the arthritis at the base of my thumb, so I have the bread machine do all that for me. It might take a little longer but it works really well. Some of you have the big stand mixers with the dough hooks and I have an old style one that has them too. I did use it to make bread dough when it was new, but now it is old and the speed is unreliable. I think it has something to do with a rheostat, and not worth fixing since I don't do a lot of baking these days.

I do like making cinnamon rolls the easy way with the bread machine and I found a recipe that I like quite well. Some time in the mid-to-late 1990's I ordered a small bread machine cookbook called "Fleischmann's Yeast Bread Machine Favorites" I don't know if it is still available. I just checked the Fleischmann's Breadworld website and did not see any mention of it, nor is this recipe among the ones they have on the site. But I did see several yummy sounding recipes that I might have to try, so you might like to check it out as well. http://www.breadworld.com

The recipes in this book have amounts for both 1 pound loaves and 1 1/2 pound loaves. My machine makes 1 1/2 pounds. I don't know if you can even buy bread machines that only make the 1 pound anymore. Many of them now make 2 pounds, so if that is what you have, you will have to figure out how to make adjustments, unless it will also make the 1 1/2 pound. If anyone wants the 1 pound recipe, just ask me for it.

Awhile back I got hungry for cinnamon rolls, so I made a pan full. My intention was to blog about it right away, and I remembered to take pictures, although I did not remember until 3 had been eaten. According to the date stamp on the pictures, that was back on April 12. My goodness, time does flit away. You might guess that I got involved again with genealogy research, and when that happens, nothing else matters.

I am rather proud of how uniform I managed to get the slices without measuring before I cut! I also do not roll out the dough with a rolling pin. I just push it out with my finger tips, pushing out any big air bubbles as I go. I start in the center of the dough and work toward the edges.

Later I decided I wanted them a little sweeter, and I was pretty sure I had a can of frosting in the pantry. Sure enough, after a little digging I came up with a can of cream cheese frosting. Perfect! As you can see, I wasn't aiming at making them look pretty, I just wanted them to taste good. And they did! So here is the 1 1/2 pound recipe for the rolls ~~

OLD-FASHIONED CINNAMON ROLLS

DOUGH:
3/4 cup milk
3 Tablespoons water
1 large egg
1/4 cup butter or margarine, cut up
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 1/3 cups bread flour
3 Tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

FILLING AND TOPPING:
1/2 cup coarsely chopped almonds, toasted
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
2 Tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
Glaze (see recipe below)

Add dough ingredients to the bread machine pan in the order suggested by the manufacturer. Select the dough/manual cycle. When cycle is complete, remove dough from machine to a lightly floured surface. If necessary, knead in enough flour to make dough easy to handle. If dough is too elastic, cover and let rest for 10 minutes before shaping. Meanwhile, for filling, stir together almonds, the 1/4 cup sugar, and cinnamon.

Divide dough in half. Roll half of dough into a 9x8 inch rectangle. Spread with 1 tablespoon softened butter. Sprinkle with half of the filling mixture. Beginning at long end, roll up tightly as for jelly roll. Pinch seam to seal. With sharp knife, cut into 6 equal slices. Repeat with remaining dough, butter, and filling. Place all the rolls, cut sides up, into one greased 9x9x2 inch baking pan.

Cover dough and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until almost doubled in size, 20 to 30 minutes. Bake rolls at 350 F for 25-30 minutes or until done. Cool slightly; remove from pan. Drizzle Glaze over warm rolls. Serve warm Makes 12 rolls.

Cycle: Dough/manual cycle.

GLAZE:
Combine 1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar, 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, and enough milk (2 to 3 teaspoons) to make glaze of drizzling consistency.

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Here are some of the changes I made. I often use part whole wheat flour, usually 1 1/2 cups of the total amount of flour, and the rest  is white bread flour. I measure out the 1 1/2 cups plus the additional 1/3 cup white flour. Or I will just use 1 cup whole wheat flour to 2 1/3 cups white. Either way is good and it isn't that noticeable to the eye.

I had planned to use what was left in a package of chopped pecans as that is what I had on hand, but I forgot them.

I do not bother to divide the dough in half and roll out 1/2 at a time. I leave it in one piece, then cut into 12 pieces. I have never tried to get all twelve into a 9x9 pan! As you can see, mine filled the 9x13 Pyrex dish. If any of you try the 12 in the 9x9x2 pan, tell us how it worked, please!

I always let bread do the last rise in a slightly warm oven with the light on and that always works well for me. I turn the oven on at the lowest temp for just a few minutes, and turn it off before putting the bread or rolls in. Leaving the oven light on also gives off a little heat.

As I said before, I used part of a can of cream cheese frosting instead of the glaze.