Make-ahead Cinnamon Rolls

After the roll making class I taught last week, I've had a few requests for my recipes for overnight cinnamon rolls. I haven't remembered to take pictures when I've made these this year and I don't want to wait to share the recipe until I get around to taking a picture so I borrowed this picture from lanascooking.com. She has quite a few fabulous looking items on her blog and you may just want to check it out. Anyway, this picture mimics what my rolls look like fresh from the oven.




For Christmas a few years ago, we had some amazing neighbors share these rolls with us as a neighbor gift. They put the rolls together Christmas Eve and brought them down for us to refrigerate overnight and bake the next day as part of our Christmas breakfast. The Ruxtons are some of our closest friends. She is a school teacher and so doesn't have much time off ahead of the holiday to prepare gifts. This was the perfect solution. We loved it and quickly requested the recipe. Here is what they shared with us. It's very brief and missing quite a few directions.

Working Girl's Cinnamon Rolls

Dissolve 1 tsp yeast in 3 cups warm water
Add 1 cup sugar
2 beaten eggs
1/2 cup shortening
1 Tbsp salt
10 cups flour
Knead 20 minutes
Let raise 5 hours . . . at 10 pm make into rolls
Let raise overnight
Bake at 350 degrees about 25 minutes

Here are my directions after making this recipe many times.

Place 5 cups of bread flour and 1/2 cup gluten flour in a large bowl or mixer. Add 1 tsp SAF instant yeast, 1 cup sugar, and 2 tsp salt. (I cut this down from the original recipe.) Melt shortening. Add melted shortening (or substitute 1/2 cup vegetable oil) to the dry ingredients. Add 3 cups warm water and 2 beaten eggs. Begin to mix and add additional flour until you have a nice dough. You may not need all 10 cups of flour. Knead until you have a nice dough. Allow to rise for 3-4 hours. Shape into cinnamon rolls. Cover with plastic wrap and place the rolls in the fridge. Pull out of the fridge about 3 hours before baking to allow to rise until double their original size. If you have a rather cool place in your home, you may be able to leave these out rising all night. I've had better luck leaving them in the fridge and then pulling them out at 4:00 or 5:00 am or so when one of my young kids gets me up for something. I have made these using 1/2 whole wheat flour and 1/2 white flour. When I do this, I always add 1 1/2 Tbsp white vinegar to the  dough with the water. It really helps the texture stay light and fluffy.

Here is another one of my favorite recipes for make-ahead cinnamon rolls. You can freeze these ahead of baking or just allow them to rise in the fridge. These directions include more detailed information on the filling for cinnamon rolls and how to roll them. These tips will help you if you are trying the recipe above. You'll have to try both recipes and determine which is your favorite. Enjoy!

Freezer Cinnamon Rolls
4 ½–5 cups white bread flour	Filling:
¼ cup gluten flour	½ cup butter, melted
½ cup sugar	1 cup brown sugar, packed
½ tsp salt	4–5 tsp cinnamon or to taste
1 Tbsp yeast	¾ cup chopped nuts, optional
3 Tbsp dry milk powder	Frosting:
½ cup butter, melted	2 oz cream cheese, softened
2 eggs, beaten	¼ cup butter, softened
1 ¼ cups hot water	1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla	½ tsp vanilla
Mix according to basic bread making instructions.  After completing the kneading process in your mixer, allow to rise for 10 minutes. Roll dough out into a 15x24-inch rectangle. Combine the filling ingredients to form a thick paste and spread over dough. (Chopped apples are delicious in place of the nuts.) Roll up jelly roll style, starting from the long side. Do not roll too tightly or the centers of your rolls will pop up as they rise. Use a sharp knife to mark off 1 ½-inch sections. You can either use a serrated knife to very carefully saw through the roll to make individual rolls or slide a piece of dental floss under the roll and bring the ends up crossing them as you do so. Pull the ends in opposite directions until the floss cuts through the dough forming individual rolls. Place in greased baking pans. Do not pack the rolls in the pan. They need to have space in between in order to allow room for them to rise. Remember cinnamon rolls rise out not up. To bake immediately: Cover with a towel and allow to rise until double in size. After rising they should be touching each other and the sides of the pan. Bake at 350° F for 20–25 minutes or until golden brown. Spread with frosting after cooling slightly and enjoy! To bake in a day or two: Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. They will slowly rise in the fridge. When ready to bake, remove from the fridge and allow to rise a little more, if needed. Then bake and frost as above. To freeze: Cover with heavy duty foil and freeze immediately. They can be frozen for up to 1 month. The night before baking, remove from the freezer and sit on your counter for 10–12 hours to thaw and rise. Then bake and frost as above. To make frosting: Cream butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add powdered sugar and vanilla. If needed, you can also add just a touch of milk to get the consistency you like. You can make the frosting ahead and refrigerate until ready to use.