Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls

I have no less than 18 cinnamon roll recipes bookmarked on my computer. Eventually I'll try them all...

So far there have been Maida Heatter's Cinnamon Rolls, and Food Blogga's Blueberry Rolls, and Cook's Illustrated Sticky Buns.

Then there's Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls. You know I had to try them. Anyone who unequivocally claims that they're cinnamon roll is the best - well, how could I resist?

I made them once as written, and then tried them with butter replacing the oil. It was a slight difference, but I think the recipe made with butter tastes just a bit better.

These are some of the easiest I've made, with no unusual ingredients, except maybe the maple flavoring used in the icing. The addition of leavenings (baking soda and baking powder) was a new concept for me. The dough is easy to work with and delicious. Seeing all the blog posts on these cinnamon rolls tells me that this recipe works - they all look identical!

As Ree says, don't skimp in the icing - let it pour all over. It's a good thing!

Are they the best?

Hmmm...I've never met a cinnamon roll I didn't like, but I'll have to try the other 18 recipes to know for sure... do you have a favorite cinnamon roll recipe? Please share! There's always room for one more cinnamon roll recipe!

Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls

from The Pioneer Woman Cooks

Makes about 24 rolls

Ingredients:
1 quart whole milk
1 cup vegetable oil or butter
1 cup sugar
2 packages active dry yeast (5 teaspoons)
8 cups (plus 1 cup extra, separated) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon (heaping) baking powder
1 teaspoon (scant) baking soda
1 Tablespoon (heaping) salt
1 cup butter, melted or warm room temperature
2 cups Sugar
Generous Sprinkling Of Cinnamon
_____
MAPLE FROSTING:
1 pound Powdered Sugar
2 teaspoons Maple Flavoring
½ cups Milk
¼ cups Melted Butter
¼ cups Brewed Coffee
⅛ teaspoons Salt

For the dough:
Mix the milk, vegetable oil (or butter) and sugar in a pan. Scald the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point). Turn off heat, transfer the mixture to a bowl of a heavy duty mixer, and leave to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour. When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but NOT hot, sprinkle in both packages of Active Dry Yeast. Let this sit for a minute. Then add 8 cups of all-purpose flour. Stir mixture together using paddle attachment. Cover and let rise for at least an hour.

After rising for at least an hour, add 1 more cup of flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir mixture together. (At this point, you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it – overnight or even a day or two, if necessary. Just keep your eye on it and if it starts to overflow out of the pan, just punch it down).

When ready to prepare rolls: Sprinkle rolling surface generously with flour. Take half the dough and form a rough rectangle. Then roll the dough thin, maintaining a general rectangular shape. Drizzle 1/2 cup melted butter over the dough, or if using room temperature butter, you can spread it all over the dough with your fingertips or the butter wrapper. Sprinkle 1 cup of sugar over the butter followed by a generous sprinkling of cinnamon.

Now, starting at the opposite end, begin rolling the dough in a neat line toward you. Keep the roll relatively tight as you go. Next, pinch the seam of the roll to seal it.

Spread 1 tablespoon of melted butter in each of 4 round foil cake or 9" pie pans, or two 9x13 pans. Then begin cutting the rolls approximately ¾ to 1 inch thick and laying them in the buttered pans - you should get about 12 rolls from each half of dough.

Repeat this process with the other half of the dough. Let the rolls rise for 20 to 30 minutes, then bake at 375 degrees until light golden brown, about 15 to 18 minutes.

For the frosting:

Mix together all ingredients listed and stir well until smooth. It should be thick but pourable. Taste and adjust as needed. Generously drizzle over the warm rolls.