Alright people, I’m about to let you in on a huge secret! These rolls are coveted in my community… people pay gazillions of dollars for these little honeys (ok that’s an exaggeration, but I do sell a TON of them thru the holidays). And, the truth is, they are easy. Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy! All it takes is a bread machine, a little time, and roll pin. See.. easy! All you have to do is plop the ingredients into your bread machine and set it to the dough setting and let it do all the work for you! Have more than one bread maker, as I do? You can produce these en mass, as I have done in the picture above. And truly, it takes the same amount of time to make 2 dozen or 10 dozen… just depends on how many bread machines you can get working for you.
I’ve also included the options to make the basic roll recipe into orange rolls, dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls, or an apple braid. As you can tell, this recipe is super versatile. You pretty much fashion them into whatever bread item you want to make. I also use this recipe to make buttery white bread, cinnamon pull aparts, cinnamon raisin bread, monkey bread… the options are endless. So, here’s just a few to get you started.
Make these throughout the holiday season and you will become the star of each and every dinner party, Christmas breakfast, Thanksgiving celebration, or family event! Seriously, and you’re welcome!
Shannon’s Best Ever Rolls
Basic Roll Recipe
- 1 2/3 cups Water
- 2 Tablespoons Butter
- 4 2/3 cups Flour
- 2/3 cup Sugar
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 1 rounded Tablespoon yeast
In the chamber of a bread maker add all ingredients except the yeast. Stir around to blend sugar into mixture. Add yeast.
Set bread maker to “dough” setting… wait for cycle to finish (should take about an hour and a half)
When cycle is complete, turn out dough onto a board sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, and shape to desired type of roll.
Cinnamon Rolls
Cinnamon mixture:
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup cinnamon
- ½ cup flour
Mix the above ingredients in a bowl
In a separate bowl melt 1 stick butter
Divide dough into 2 even sections. Roll out one section(using Pam) into a rectangle. Brush with butter. Sprinkle with ¼ cup cinnamon mixture. Roll up and cut into rolls. (Should make about 9 pieces) Repeat with second section of dough (So entire batch makes 18 rolls)
*At this point dough can be frozen or baked. See baking instructions.
Dinner Rolls
Divide dough into 3 equals parts. Roll into circles and cut into 8 crescent shaped pieces. Roll into crescents. *At this point dough can be frozen or baked. See baking instructions.
Orange rolls
Follow basic roll recipe, except add the zest of one orange to the dough ingredients.
Then divide dough into 2 equal parts. Roll into rectangles, and cut into 12 strips, vertically. Tie strips into knots, tucking ends under to form rosettes. *At this point dough can be frozen or baked. See baking instructions.
Apple Braid
Divide the dough into 2 equal parts. Roll each part into a rectangle, keeping the middle section of the rectangle at double the thickness of the side sections. Brush middle with butter, and sprinkle with ¼ cup cinnamon mixture. Then top with sliced, peeled apples. Cut the sides diagonally and fold over each other in a braid. See illustration. * At this point dough can be frozen or baked. See baking instructions.
Glaze for Cinnamon rolls and Apple Braid
1 stick butter, melted
8 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
milk to desired consistency
Glaze for Orange Rolls
1 stick butter, melted
8 cups powdered sugar
orange juice to desired consistency
* both of these glazes can be poured into plastic bags (in 1 cup portions)and frozen with the rolls, then left on the counter to defrost while the rolls are baking. Then just snip a corner off the plastic bag and pipe onto rolls.
Baking Instructions for Rolls:
Place rolls onto a jelly roll pan that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Allow rolls to rise for a couple of hours or longer, covered by a dish towel until the desired volume is achieved.
Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes, or until tops are lightly browned.
If you have chosen to premake the rolls and freeze them, there are 2 baking methods:
Quick Method
- Remove rolls from freezer & place in a 9×13 pan that has been sprayed with a non-stick spray (Pam.)
- Leave on counter to rise for 1 hour.
- Leave bag of glaze on the counter to thaw.
- After an hour, place the rolls in a 200 degree oven for 20 minutes.
- Remove rolls from oven and reset temperature to 375 degrees.
- When oven reaches 375, put rolls back in and bake for
12 minutes for dinner rolls or orange rolls
15-18 minutes for cinnamon rolls or apple braid,
until tops are golden brown.
- For rolls with glaze (orange, cinnamon, apple braid. Snip the bottom corner off the glaze bag, and pipe glaze onto warm rolls
Overnight Method (this is what I prefer):
- Remove rolls from freezer & place in a 9×13 pan that has been sprayed with a non-stick spray (Pam.)
- Leave on counter to rise overnight.
- Leave bag of glaze on the counter to thaw.
- Bake rolls at 375 degrees for
12 minutes for dinner rolls or orange rolls
15-18 minutes for cinnamon rolls or apple braid,
until tops are golden brown.
- For rolls with glaze (orange, cinnamon, apple braid. Snip the bottom corner off the glaze bag, and pipe glaze onto warm rolls.
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