Recipe Renovations: Multi-Grain Cinnamon Rolls

In case you weren't aware, Daniel works the graveyard shift. When his birthday rolled around, I wanted to make him something nice for breakfast, but he worked the night before. I wasn't exactly willing to wake up super early and make him something; I'm not a morning person, remember? Instead I decided to have something waiting for him when he got home from work, and cinnamon rolls seemed like a perfect fit. Being the person I am, however, meant that I couldn't just find a cinnamon roll recipe and make it; I instead opted to tweak this recipe into an awesome new creation.

Ingredients for the roll base are the same, except for the addition of 1/2 cup sugar. We will also need ingredients for the cinnamon filling, and frosting. Your new ingredient list should look a bit like this:
4 tsp yeast
3 TBS sugar
3/4 cup warm water
1 cup sweet potato puree
3/4 warm milk
1 egg (slightly beaten)
1/4 cup butter (melted)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups oat flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar

Cinnamon Filling:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Frosting:
1/4 cup butter (softened)
1/4 cup sour cream
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1-2 TBS milk

Our dough procedure is going to start out the same as the original recipe. Preheat your over to 350. (You actually have a bit of time until cooking, and really don't need to preheat yet, but I like to have my bases covered). Foam up your yeast in the water, with the first amount (3 TBS) of sugar. I guess the 'real' term for this is proofing, but that just sounds boring. Once your yeast is nice and frothy, combine it and the rest of the wet ingredients. Add the second amount of sugar and the salt to the wet ingredients, then proceed to add the flours, 1 cup at a time, stirring until no longer able, then kneading the rest in. This should all seem very familiar, if you need more detailed instructions, read the original recipe.

After you have kneaded the ball into a nice soft dough, place it in a warm place and let the magic happen. Once the dough is double it's size, it's time to roll out. We rolled the dough out last time, but this is going to be slightly different. We still want to make a large oval, but since we want plenty of cinnamon awesomeness in each roll, we want the dough pretty thin. Roll your oval to about 1/4 inch thick.

Rolled out dough.

After you have rolled the dough out, you need to prepare the cinnamon swirl goodness. Melt the butter and stir in the rest of the ingredients until well combined. Evenly spread the cinnamon mixture on the rolled out dough, leaving a small border on one of the long sides.

Spread cinnamon mixture.

It is now time to get rolling! The small edge of un-cinnamon-a-fied dough you left is going to help seal the rolls together, so start rolling from the opposite end of that. This means you will be rolling from a long end, not a short one. Once you have a nice long tube, gently press the edge into the roll to seal it up. Make sense?

Cinnamon roll 'tube'.

At this point, we are going to cut our tube into rolls, you can do this one of two ways, with a knife, or with (unflavored) dental floss. I would normally use a knife, just because I am more accurate that way, but since I was cooking on my mother-in-laws pretty granite counter-tops, I chose the latter option. Either way, you are going to want your rolls about 1 inch thick. Place the cut rolls on greased cookie sheets and again set them in a warm place to rise.

Cut and ready to rise.

One the rolls have risen until not quite double, it's time to bake. Place them in your preheated oven for 25-30 min, and go take a jog, (that's what I did), that way when the time is up and a slight brownness starts to appear, so won't feel bad that you are about to eat them.

Prior to baking.

After baking.

Once you have taken your rolls out of the oven, it's time to think about frosting. Granted you could have very easily thought about frosting before now, but hey, go with me here. I know the traditional/logical choice of frosting here would be cream cheese. Cream cheese pairs nice with cinnamon rolls, I know, but I encourage you to expand your horizons and give my sour cream frosting a try. Taste wise, this frosting is a lot like a traditional buttercream. Texture wise, it is closer to a cream cheese frosting. There is nothing 'sour' about it, the powdered sugar kicks that right out of it. It does have a nice creaminess that the sour cream lends to it, plus it has less fat than using butter alone. I probably wouldn't frost a cake with this frosting, it doesn't have the consistency for the that; it has the consistency to sit beautifully atop a cinnamon roll.  Have I convinced you yet? Hope so, because we are going to make it now.


Blend together the butter and the sour cream until nice and smooth. Slowly add the powdered sugar until well combined. Add the vanilla and one tablespoon of milk, beat until you reach a nice spreading consistency, adding more milk if needed.

Prepared frosting.

Spread the frosting generously on your cinnamon rolls.

Set the cinnamon rolls out for your husband's birthday.

Or just eat one yourself.

This recipe is going to make 2 dozen cinnamon rolls, but you may not want that many. I only wanted 1 dozen rolls, so here is what I did. I made the full recipe and froze half of it. To do this, you are going to want to freeze before the second rise, so right after you cut the rolls into shape. Still place them on a cookie sheet, but stick them in the freezer instead of a warm place. You freeze them this way, so that they keep their shape. Once they are mostly frozen, you can transfer them to a large freezer bag to store them. As far as frosting goes, the recipe will frost the 2 dozen rolls, so if you are freezing half of them, you might be tempted to only make half the frosting, don't do it! Make all of the frosting, frost the rolls you made, then scoop the remaining frosting into a plastic bag, place inside the larger bag with the cinnamon rolls and freeze.

Freezer ready.

.When you are ready to bake the frozen rolls, simply pull them out of the freezer, place on a greased cookie and let rise until almost double. This could take a couple hours since they are now frozen. Bake the same as before and frost with your thawed frosting. A little work now, can make easy-peasy cinnamon rolls in the future.

I hope you enjoy this recipe. I think they are fantastic cinnamon rolls, but I also think that you should make them and judge for yourself!