Aunt Bert's Cinnamon Rolls

Aunt Bert's Cinnamon Roll's

 Scald 1 Cup milk, add:

      5 Tbsp. Sugar

      1 TBsp. Salt

Mix - then set aside to cool.

Dissolve 2 ½ tsp. dry yeast and 1/8 tsp. ground ginger in 1 cup luke-warm to medium warm water. Yeast should start to bubble a little in about 15 minutes.

Put milk mixture in large bowl and let it cool before adding yeast mixture.

Add 3 cups of flour, (I always use Gold Medal All Purpose) beating good. Then add 6 Tbsp Wesson oil (or any kind of liquid shortening). Add rest of flour (about 3 Cups).

Raise once. Punch down dough, cover with bowl and let dough rest for 5-10 minutes.

Lightly dust your counter top with flour. Roll dough into rectangle and brush the top with melted butter,  add  the filling.  Roll the rectangle up and cut 1" slices. I don't usually measure the filling, I just go by feel but below is a low end estimate you should probably double it. 

  FILLING:
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 1/2 tbs ground cinnamon

 I take my huge 17x12x3 pan and spray it with Pam, then line it with parchment paper (the Pam helps keep the paper from curling up and also gets the spots the paper doesn't cover). Then I melt approx. 1/4 cup of butter (more or less) and pour it in the bottom of the pan.  Then I take cook and serve butterscotch pudding powder (DO NOT USE THE INSTANT KIND!) and sprinkly some very lightly over the butter.  (don't over do it, less is more) Place the cinnamon rolls in the pan approx. 1" apart; let rise again.  (typically this takes an hour for me) Bake at 350° until done in the middle. (30-45 minutes is how long it usually takes for me)

ICING:  Usually I take 1 pound box of powdered sugar and mix with 1/8 to 1/2 tsp of maple flavoring then add enough milk to make it runny enough to pour.  Sorry, again I don't measure usually.  Make it to the consistency you like.  After I take the rolls out of the oven, I let them cool 5 minutes then pour the icing over the top of all the rolls. I like to have them just barely iced, it keeps the tops soft and from feeling dry and adds a little kick with the maple.

This batch I accidently put  more icing on them than I usually do but they still taste dandy.  (and usually it's a little runnier too so it's more like a light glaze)  Some people like a cream cheese icing on them but not me. 

Makes approx. 20-24 rolls.  I have a huge 17x12x3 inch pan I always bake the entire batch in. It's by Chicago Metallic Professional.  These always come out perfectly done, not doughy.  I like that they have a little crunch to the crust.  You could make these of course in smaller pans and bake in several batches.  When I am giving these away I use those little square tinfoil pans and I think they held 5.  That was a nice size to give away to friends and neighbors.

I made these for a church potluck once before and I had people hunting me down to get the recipe.  I was asked to make these for the potluck tomorrow by several people after the last time I took a cheesecake and they still couldn't stop talking about the cinnamon rolls, LOL. 

Sorry I am not so good at writing directions.  I use this same basic dough recipe for cloverleaf rolls. I will be making some for THanksgiving and will post a pic then. : ) This recipe is supposed to be almost 100 years old (the dough recipe anyway) and is from my husband's Great Aunt Bert who they think got it from her Aunt or Mother. Don't know if it's true or not but it sounds good, LOL.

Amy in Alaska