We’re about a week and a half away from Thanksgiving so it’s about time I start giving you some holiday recipes, huh? Recently Red Star Yeast contacted me and asked if I wanted to bake up some of their holiday treats to share with you guys. How could I say no? Working with yeast is one of my favorite things in the world and I’m thrilled to bring you some recipes that will hopefully make your holiday meals even better!
We’re kicking the festivities off with the perfect Thanksgiving morning breakfast! It’s just what you need the morning of – a little sweetness before a day filled with savory eats!
I’m not sure whose grandma created this created this recipe but she’s a smart cookie, that grandma. The dough is deliciously sweet and rises perfectly to create light and fluffy rolls. The filling is a fairly standard cinnamon roll filling: butter, sugar, cinnamon, and nuts – all the good stuff, of course. And the glaze, oh my goodness, the glaze. Normally I use heavy cream to thin out glazes but this recipe calls for butter! I cannot even begin to describe how amazing it is. It also includes maple flavoring (you could use syrup if you don’t have flavoring – just use a tablespoon and decrease the butter to 2 tablespoons) and coffee which just puts these bad boys completely over the top.
This recipe makes a ton so it’s perfect if you’ve got a house full of people and if not, it’s easily halved and still turns out perfectly.
For the dough:
- ¾ cup water
- ¾ cup milk
- ¼ cup butter (at room temperature)
- 2 eggs (at room temperature)
- 1½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup sugar
- 5¾ cup bread flour
- 4½ teaspoons yeast
For the filling:
- ⅓ cup butter (melted)
- ½ cup nuts (chopped (I used pecans))
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon
For the glaze:
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon maple flavoring
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 3 – 4 tablespoons hot coffee
- In large mixer bowl, combine 2 cups flour, yeast, ½ cup sugar, and salt; mix well. Heat milk, water and butter to 120F to 130F; butter does not need to melt. Add to flour mixture; add eggs. Blend at low speed until moistened; beat 3 minutes at medium speed. By hand, gradually stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. Knead on floured surface until smooth and elastic, 5 to 8 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover; let rise in warm place until dough tests ripe.
- To make the filling, combine ¾ cup sugar, nuts, and cinnamon; set aside.
- Punch down dough. Divide into 2 parts. On lightly floured surface, roll or pat each half to a 12 x 9-inch rectangle. Brush each part with half of melted butter; sprinkle half of Filling over dough. Starting with 12-inch side, roll up tightly. Pinch edges to seal. Cut into 12 slices. Place in greased 13 x 9-inch pans. Cover; let rise until indentation remains after lightly touching side of roll.
- Bake at 375F for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown.
- Combine all Glaze ingredients; blend until smooth. Drizzle Glaze over hot rolls; cool.
Sheila Thompson says
Can you freeze these?
Tracey says
I love to make cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning. Nothing like a decadent treat to snack on while opening presents, right?
Michele says
Great recipe for Thanksgiving morning. Or even Christmas morning. They came out gorgeous too. Thanks for the recipe!