Easy Breezy Morning Cinnamon Rolls!

And now for a change of pace. Don't worry, pumpkin, I still love you. But I opted to not add pumpkin to this particular recipe experiment since, for me, cinnamon rolls are more of a Christmas morning treat. In fact, every Christmas morning for at least four years now, I've made cinnamon rolls for breakfast--a late breakfast after our family's opened all our presents because, well, even gooey, delicious cinnamon rolls take a backseat to presents.

The recipe I use for Christmas involves a biscuit dough instead of a yeast dough so you don't have to wait for the dough to rise. Simple, short, and sweet. But last week I happened to see a freshly made, already packaged pizza dough at Whole Foods that looked awfully tempting. I wondered, could I make cinnamon rolls with pizza dough? It has been done before. As soon as I found out that the pizza dough was actually whole wheat (the only kind of pizza crust I don't feel guilty about eating, and such a rarity to find!) I was sold.

Taking the filling recipe from my Christmas Morning Cinnamon Rolls (since I know from four years experience that those always turn out awesome), I created Easy Breezy Morning Cinnamon Rolls that might just become my new Christmas morning bun. And also possibly an item for the next bake sale. Since cinnamon rolls are so much fun to make (you get to roll them up!), I took pictures of the entire step-by-step process so next time you want to bake cinnamon rolls you can know exactly how to put them together too!

P.S. Your house will smell amazing.

Ingredients:

Flour (for dusting)
1 package whole wheat pizza dough (though any kind of pizza dough will work)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon melted butter
Nonstick cooking spray

Directions:

1.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread flour on a wooden cutting board or surface of your choice for rolling out your dough, creating a thin layer to keep the dough from sticking. Dust your rolling pin with a touch of flour as well. Then roll your pizza dough into the shape of a rectangle, slightly larger than 9x13 inches (see picture below). It should be about 1/4 to 1/8 of an inch thick.

2.) In a large bowl, combine the sugars, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Add the melted butter and stir until the mixture resembles wet sand. Spray your dough rectangle with just a touch of nonstick cooking spray, then sprinkle the sugar mixture on top evenly, patting it into the dough. Be sure to reserve a little bit of sugar mixture for the pan.

3.) Using your fingertips, roll your dough rectangle into a log shape slowly and carefully so that it stays together and doesn't stick to your floured surface. Crimp the edges together to seal the log and then flip it over so the seal is on the bottom.

4.) Cut with a serrated knife into 8-16 pieces depending on the size of your log and how thick you want your cinnamon rolls to be. I like to cut my logs in half and then cut each half in half until I get at least eight pieces, but this time I somehow ended up with 14.

5.) Spray a round 9-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray and dust the bottom with the remaining sugar mixture (you may need two pans if you end up with 14-16 rolls). Place up to 8 cinnamon rolls in each pan, flattening them just slightly. You can arrange them with one roll in the center and seven around the edges. Make sure they don't touch and have enough room to expand while baking. Then bake approximately 18 minutes, keeping an eye on them so they brown but don't burn. Cool at least 10 minutes before icing.

Icing Recipe!

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons soy creamer (or milk product of your choice--milk, half and half, and buttermilk also work)
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1.) Carefully pour your powdered sugar in a bowl (powdered sugar always makes a mess when I use it). Add the soy creamer or milk product of your choice and the vanilla. Stir to combine then drizzle over cooled cinnamon rolls.

I've had problems making icing in the past since it used to end up tasting too much like powdered sugar for me. But using a thicker milk product (soy creamer or buttermilk instead of milk or soymilk) and adding vanilla really turns this icing into the perfect match for your cinnamon rolls.

With only one tablespoon of butter in the filling, soy in the icing, and whole wheat dough as the base of the rolls, you can actually count this breakfast treat as relatively healthy (as you nom on the gooey bottom of the roll and lick up all the frosting). So go on, have another one. Christmas is still two months away. You'll have plenty of time to make more for your family and friends then.

The gooey bottom of the roll.