I’ve been baking all my life (give or take). I can bake in my sleep. I can bake along with the best of ‘em.
But I have had the hardest time coming up with a good cinnamon roll.
I’ve tried many different recipes and they always end up being too bready, too heavy, too doughy or too dry.
I just about gave up, figuring I must have the incurable CRBD (Cinnamon Roll Baking Disorder)….
But I tried just one more time.
I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before. Must be because I also suffer from GGDS (Good Grief Duh Syndrome) and sometimes have a hard time seeing the obvious.
It finally occured to me that since my homemade soft pretzels are so, so good…maybe that dough recipe would make a good cinnamon roll. And BOY was I right! Yumm-eee.
It was one proud day when I finally made a good cinnamon roll. And the fact that it was made with whole wheat and honey was an added bonus! Healthy and delicous…what a deal!
So, just in case you also have CRBD (see above to remind yourself what that is if you have GGDS and can’t remember)…here’s the recipe that finally worked for me!
Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls
1 c. water
2 T. yeast
2 t. honey
2 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup honey
4 t. sea salt
8 cups whole wheat flour
butter
salt
Ingredients for the “innerds” of your cinnamon rolls:
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup rapadura (dehydrated cane sugar juice) (you can use white sugar if you want)
1/2 T. ground cinnamon
Melt your butter and set it aside. Mix together the rapadura and cinnamon in a bowl.
Ooey-Gooey Frosting
1/4 cup butter
3 T milk
1/2 t. vanilla
1-2 cups powdered sugar to make the consistency you like
Melt butter. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla, milk and powdered sugar. Whisk together until smooth.
Okay, here’s how to make the dough…
In a large bowl, mix 1 cup very warm water, 2 T. yeast and 2 t. honey. Stir this together and kind of mush the yeast around. Let this sit for a few minutes while you do the next step.
Melt a stick of butter in a large saucepan. Add 1/2 cup honey, 4 t. salt and 2 1/2 cups of milk. Heat this to 120 degrees.
Pour milk mixture into yeast mixture and stir. Stir in 8 cups of flour, 2 cups at a time. (add more if you need it)
Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes. Plop it into a bowl, cover it and let it rise for 1-1 1/2 hours.
After dough is nice and fat, punch it down and knead out all it’s bubbles. Cut the dough in half, setting one half aside.
On a well floured surface, roll dough into a nice big rectangle, about 1/4 inch thick.
Use a pastry brush to spread 1/2 of the melted butter all over the rectangle. Sprinkle 1/2 of the rapadura/cinnamon mixture all over the butter.
Roll up the dough.
Cut into thin slices, about 1/2 inch thick.
Place rolls side by side on baking pan.
Repeat process with other 1/2 of dough.
Allow dough to rise about 30 minutes.
Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown at 350 degrees.
Allow rolls to cool a bit, then drizzle lots and lots of ooey-gooey frosting all over them.
Happy cinnamon roll baking!! Be sure to look through the “Natural Sugar Treats” section of my blog for more great recipes like this one…using great wholesome ingredients to make great treats!
Thanks to Shannon at Rocks on my Dryer for hosting Works for me Wednesday!
Marie says:
You must enjoy torture! I’m sure that’s why you keep posting pictures of those delicious looking rolls! If I wasn’t so busy this week I think I’d actually bake them! I guess I’ll just have to wait a couple of weeks and get a grano(that’s a funny spanish word, slang I’m sure, for when you want something but can’t eat it!)!!
June 17th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Melissa says:
Thanks for the recipe. We can’t wait to try them.
June 17th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Michele says:
They looks so delicious!
I’ve been hoping you would post this cinnamon roll recipe! (I think I have CRBD too…) 
I’m looking forward to trying this one out!
By the way, I have your applesauce bread recipe in the oven right now. I used Apple-Blueberry Sauce. I haven’t had the batter yet, but I licked the beaters, and it was yummy!
Thanks!
Blessings,
Michele
www.frugalgranola.blogspot.com
June 17th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
World's Greatest Mommy says:
Oh, I’m making these tomorrow, for sure! Thanks for the tip.
June 17th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Sonshine says:
Ohhh those look delicious! Adding those to my list of recipes to try!
Lady, you crack me up….CRBD & GGDS!!!
Thanks for the laugh!
June 18th, 2008 at 6:51 am
ames says:
Those look fantastic! I’m looking forward to trying them out (and the soft pretzels!).
June 18th, 2008 at 7:01 am
CC says:
Thank you oh great one! I look forward to trying this!!
Do you have any help more CCCD (Chocolate Chip Cookie Disorder)?
June 18th, 2008 at 10:54 am
Jenny B (aka Mother Hen) says:
I’m pretty sure I have both of those disorders. Do you suppose there’s a government program for us sadly disabled folks that will provide a new
Suburban and annual vacations to Aruba? Hey, stranger things have happened.
But, seriously, I’m gonna try the recipe next week. Thanks!
June 18th, 2008 at 10:58 am
Frances says:
Thank you so much for sharing the recipe and pictures. I’ve emailed them to myself for future use. I’ve never tried making cinnamon rolls, but yours sound like just the kind I want to try.
June 18th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Jendeis says:
Looks and sounds delicious. I like that I could use the whole wheat dough to say that it went with our Weight Watchers’ plans.
June 18th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Audra Krell says:
Thanks for sharing the fruit of all your hard work. The pictures are beautiful, makes all the difference when we can see the finished product!
June 18th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
lindsay edmonds says:
Yum! Thanks Laura for another good healthy recipe! I love your like-mindedness!
Lindsay @ Passionatehomemaking.com
June 18th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
jayme says:
Oh MY WORD!!!!!!!!!! You can make cinnamon ROLLS with the pretzle dough?????????????????????????
And I thought the pretzles could’t get any better.
You make my life better.
June 18th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Donna says:
You know me and my sweet tooth…I could not resist giving this recipe a try today!?!?!
WOW! SOOOOOOOOO good! I love the butter in these, adds alot of rich flavor!
Every last one of these are gone, (I saw to that)! I blogged about it if you wanna have a look!
Thanks so much for sharing this with us!
June 19th, 2008 at 12:56 am
The Happy Housewife says:
Laura-
Do you make these in the morning, or can you make them ahead of time? My kids wake up starving at 7 am so I can’t imagine waking up at 5 to start the cinnamon rolls.
Toni
June 19th, 2008 at 6:51 am
Melanie says:
Help! I need baking 101. I tried these, and they barely rose. What kind of wheat flour do you use, b/c your pics look more white than wheat? My sweet daughter assured me that they would love them even if I wasn’t pleased with the results.
Thanks!
June 20th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Becky says:
Thank you for this! My kids have been BEGGING me to make cinnamon rolls ever since their grandma made some for them a couple months ago. I’ve never actually tried making cinnamon rolls before, but you type out all the steps so nicely that I will definitely give it a shot! I know my kids will be thrilled! (And wheat, too! HOORAY!!)
June 20th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Becky says:
I finally got around to using your recipe today, and took these babies to a dinner party. They went over very well, and I really enjoyed them, too!
I don’t know if I ended up over-kneading the dough, or if this is particular to whole wheat, but I found it incredibly difficult to roll the dough out into rectangles. It kept trying to snap back into its original shape. It took a LOT of effort. Even still, once I finally got them rolled out and into the pan, they did end up turning out nicely soft, instead of being tough like I was afraid they would be.
June 30th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
dana says:
Hi Laura,
someone once shared with me an easy way to cut cinnamon rolls, and I thought I would pass it on. If you use a non-minty dental floss and wrap it around the log, then pass each end of the floss pass eachother it works to have the perfect cinnamon roll slices.
July 30th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Jerri says:
great looking recipe. thanks for sharing. my husband loves cinnamon rolls, and I know he’d love for me to make some “non-canned” ones.
July 31st, 2008 at 10:37 am
Trina says:
I am so excited to have this one! making cinnamon rolls should be easy! For the topping my sister always lightly browns her butter before you mix it and whoa! it is heavenly! Thanks for this one!
August 27th, 2008 at 9:11 am
Tamie says:
We made the dough for these last night, then put them together for breakfast this morning. They were delicious! Thank you for sharing the recipe!
I only had 4 cups of whole wheat flour on hand, so ours were half whole wheat and half all-purpose flour. And I used regular sugar. AND I doubled the frosting…
YUM!!!!!
September 1st, 2008 at 9:37 am
Crystal says:
Laura.. I make mine using my bread dough recipe and brown sugar *Usually i make extras and freeze them not baked in pans for later use but Hubby seems to have used the last batch last weekend and *gasp* didn’t tell me* but my grandmother makes THE BEST Cinnamon Rolls.. she uses her recipe for homemade biscuits and rolls it out puts the innards on the dough she uses dark brown sugar and then rolls back up cuts them bakes them and makes this fluffy cream cheese frosting.. ummmmmm Ok Pregnant Lady cravings now kicking in..lol Almost as good as her doughnuts *Which she will only make at christmas.. beleive me we count down to doughnut day in Our family.. Its the only time she uses her deep fryer ..they are sooo good.
September 2nd, 2008 at 6:17 pm