Ready with Sweet Rolls

Dec
6

I think Ross is going to be home soon. I don’t know exactly when, because he’s not allowed to tell me, but he’s given me a few hints. Ross has been out to sea for several months, and often his way of telling me that he’s coming home is to walk in the back door. I like to be ready with some goodies. I’ve got a few fruit pies in the freezer, and I’ve got cookie dough tucked away. He’ll be glad to see fresh venison from this year, too, even if he didn’t get to do the hunting. And my latest project, this week, was to put away some cinnamon rolls.
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You can see my Overnight Cinnamon Rolls recipe here, but I decided to do things a little differently this time. I used the cinnamon-sugar filling and the drizzling icing from that recipe, but I used my Homemade Croissants recipe for the dough.

When I finished with the rolling and chilling, I divided the dough in four sections, rolling each section out to sprinkle on the filling then roll up to slice into sweet rolls. Each section made 8 sweet rolls.
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I used four pie pans, for a total of 32 sweet rolls. (You could also use two 13 x 9 pans.)
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I just like looking at sweet rolls, don’t you?
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They look so decadent. And delicious.

I wanted to eat them all. Immediately. But. I let the rolls rise then put one pan in the fridge to bake in the morning and three pans in the freezer to bake in the misty near future when Ross walks in the back door. (Let frozen rolls thaw before baking.)

Jennie, our house guest for awhile this fall after her house burned down, has moved back to town, but she was here spending the night to pick up the rest of her things she’d left here. And because I miss her and beg her to come for supper sometimes. I got up early and baked a pan of the sweet rolls for them before school.
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They pretty well demolished the pan before I remembered to even take a picture of the finished baked rolls.
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But that’s okay. That’s what they’re for—the demolishing is the best part. And I’m ready–with rolls. Are you? They’re a really good make-ahead project when you know you have a lot of other cooking and baking and activities coming up. If you don’t have a sailor maybe walking in your back door, Christmas morning is coming! Get ready with rolls!

*****

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Comments

  1. ladybird_1959 says:

    Glad to hear Ross is going to get home, possibly! Will he be able to make it home for the birth of the babies? I hope so!

  2. bumblebee says:

    Good Morning to you!!! OH, these DO look SCRUMPTIOUS!!!! Mmmm… wish I could have some right now. I was wondering if your “house guest” was still there. How nice she still comes over to visit and enjoys your yummy meals. 🙂 I bet you do miss her.
    I hope Ross comes home soon. Please give him a hug and THANK him for me!!
    I have a question? Are there any pictures of BP on the new calendar? She was such a beautiful cow. I miss her.
    Thank you SO much for you, your wonderful blog, and all your recipes. I come here at least once a day to visit. I just LOVE hearing about your farm, animals, family and all your news. Blessings to you and your family. HUGS to all of you! Thanks for being there!!!! :snoopy: :woof:

  3. mamajoseph says:

    Question/problem: Whenever I do the make ahead cinnamon rolls, the filling oozes out while they are sitting out waiting for the oven to preheat and makes a mess during the baking. What am I doing wrong? Not rolling them tightly enough? I refrigerate them before they 2nd rise; they rise pretty well all the way overnite in the fridge. Tips?

  4. Bonnie S. says:

    Suzanne,

    I am wondering if you might share about the process of putting fruit pies into the freezer. I am a slave to crumble topped apple pies at both Thanksgiving and Christmas. I get up early and make them fresh for the day. I am looking for an easier wasy. I have done some research on the internet and am confused by the various methods. Could you share how you prepare them, to what step you prepare them to, and how you wrap them for the freezer? Also, are you of the thaw or no-thaw school before you bake them? This is IMPORTANT stuff around the holidays and I knew you would know! Thanks so much.

  5. mamajoseph says:

    Oh my cow, Suzanne! Cut back on the butter??!!! Anything but that. I bake in a glass dish; maybe that’s it.

  6. Joell says:

    :happyflower:
    Thank you for this, what a great idea, may I ask where you purchased the pans with the lids?

  7. Joell says:

    :happy
    Suzanne, thank you–I love this web-store.

  8. Bonnie S. says:

    Susanne!

    Please help! I am in the midst of this recipe and am a little confused. I am using the croissant recipe for the dough. On Step 4, after I have chilled the dough for 4 hours and shaped it into 4 sections for the rolls and actually filled the rolls with the sugar/cinnamon filling, is this when I let the dough rise? Do I let all four pans rise BEFORE I freeze or refrigerate? How long? I know that the dough has to rise at some point, I am just confused as to when. Thanks so much! Bonnie

    • Suzanne McMinn says:

      Bonnie, you can’t go wrong! You choose when to freeze them. Whatever works for you. If you freeze them before letting the rolls rise, take them out the night before and let them sit overnight to thaw and rise. You can also let them rise and then freeze them–then let thaw and bake when ready.

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