PW Cinnamon Rolls

A couple months ago my friend sent me this link for Pioneer Woman's chocolate chip cookie sweet rolls. She hadn't tried them but knows I like chocolate chip cookies and thought I should make them. Well..I did.. and sadly they were not good. They looked great but definitely not something I would make again or give to someone. Or even care to consume myself.

First of all I was upset about the fact that the yield for the recipe says 24 rolls so I was debating if i I wanted to do a half batch or full and decided to do the full batch since I was going through all the effort anyway. THEN proceeding through the recipe it says cut the dough in half and use the other half for something else or make a double batch. What?? (The recipe for the dough for the chocolate chip cookie rolls and the cinnamon rolls are the same, but just worded differently in the directions for the posts). The yield should not say 24 if it's really double that. I'm glad I decided to wait to see how the chocolate chip rolls turned out before using the other half of the dough because I ended up tossing them all! (Except the one I tried.) And also, I followed the directions and amount exactely for the icing and that was another failure. There was way too much liquid, it was like water, even after adding a bunch of extra powdered sugar, then just decided not to waste anymore ingredients on it.

At that point I was glad I had another batch of dough in the fridge even though I had to go through the process again of making more rolls. I made her cinnamon rolls but decided not to make her maple icing to go with it. First of all I didn't have maple flavoring and didn't want to buy it just for this. And second I don't care much for maple icing, I prefer regular good ol' cream cheese frosting on cinnamon rolls. The cinnamon rolls turned out great, it was just a long, frustrating process to get to them! Usually I wait until the rolls have cooled and then frost them but this time I did it while they were still warm so it was more like a glaze. I think I like the thick frosting better, but both are good!

Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Frosting (Go here for the cream cheese frosting that I used)

Pioneer Woman

Ingredients:

1 quart Whole Milk
1 cup Vegetable Oil
1 cup Sugar
2 packages Active Dry Yeast
8 cups (Plus 1 Cup Extra, Separated) All-purpose Flour
1 teaspoon (heaping) Baking Powder
1 teaspoon (scant) Baking Soda
1 Tablespoon (heaping) Salt
Plenty Of Melted Butter
2 cups Sugar
Generous Sprinkling Of Cinnamon

MAPLE FROSTING:
1 bag Powdered Sugar
2 teaspoons Maple Flavoring
½ cups Milk
¼ cups Melted Butter
¼ cups Brewed Coffee
⅛ teaspoons Salt

Directions:

Mix the milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a pan. Scald the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point). Turn off heat and leave to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour. When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but NOT hot, sprinkle in both packages of Active Dry Yeast. Let this sit for a minute. Then add 8 cups of all-purpose flour. Stir mixture together. Cover and let rise for at least an hour.
After rising for at least an hour, add 1 more cup of flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir mixture together. (At this point, you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it – overnight or even a day or two, if necessary. Just keep your eye on it and if it starts to overflow out of the pan, just punch it down).
When ready to prepare rolls: Sprinkle rolling surface generously with flour. Take half the dough and form a rough rectangle. Then roll the dough thin, maintaining a general rectangular shape. Drizzle 1/2 to 1 cup melted butter over the dough. Now sprinkle 1 cup of sugar over the butter followed by a generous sprinkling of cinnamon.
Now, starting at the opposite end, begin rolling the dough in a neat line toward you. Keep the roll relatively tight as you go. Next, pinch the seam of the roll to seal it.
Spread 1 tablespoon of melted butter in a seven inch round foil cake or pie pan. Then begin cutting the rolls approximately ¾ to 1 inch thick and laying them in the buttered pans.
Repeat this process with the other half of the dough. Let the rolls rise for 20 to 30 minutes, then bake at 375 degrees until light golden brown, about 15 to 18 minutes.
For the frosting, mix together all ingredients listed and stir well until smooth. It should be thick but pourable. Taste and adjust as needed. Generously drizzle over the warm rolls.