Dixie's Cinnamon Rolls (No Yeast)

I love cinnamon rolls.  I love from-scratch rolls or from-can rolls, I'm not picky.  I love those great big rolls from bakeries that are as big as your head.  And I love, above all else, the aroma of cinnamon rolls emanating from my oven while I wait, salivating, for them to emerge in all their cinnamony glory.

I also love making delicious food quickly and through minimal effort.  Work smarter, not harder; that's my motto.  If I can find a way to make a recipe that would normally be twenty steps long with twenty different ingredients five steps long with about 5 ingredients, I'm all about it.  My recipe for cinnamon rolls is a perfect example of that.

This recipe evolved from my post-pregnancy, nursing-mother need for monkey bread.  It had been years, nay decades, since I had made or even consumed monkey bread and yet the craving was so strong it was destined to become a reality.  I dreamed up a recipe of my own after browsing through several via pinterest and whilst making them I realized that I could easily transform that recipe into cinnamon rolls.  The next week I tested my theory and Dixie's Cinnamon Rolls were born.  And they were good.

The recipe is simple; you basically just make a batch of from-scratch biscuits.  Roll out the dough, slather it with sugar and cinnamon, roll it up and divide into 8 little slices of heaven.   Whip up a simple glaze and you're done.

Dixie's Cinnamon Rolls (No Yeast)

2 cups AP flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons sugar

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup vegetable shortening

1 cup milk

1 tablespoon white vinegar

⅓ cup applesauce (or 1 snack cup)

½ cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

½ cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon milk

¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Spray a round cake pan with cooking spray, set aside.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt in a large bowl and mix well.  Add shortening and, using a pastry cutter or fork, cut the shortening into the flour mixture until evenly distributed.  Mixture should resemble coarse crumbs and hold together when pressed between your fingers.

Measure 1 cup of milk and stir in 1 tablespoon of vinegar (you may substitute 1 cup of buttermilk here and leave out the vinegar).  Add milk to flour mixture and stir, lightly, until dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.

Lightly flour a pastry board or flat work surface, then scoop dough onto the surface.  Sprinkle with flour and begins to flatten and fold dough.  Sprinkle with flour whenever dough begins to stick to hands or work surface.  Repeat flattening and folding until dough is no longer sticky.

Sprinkle lightly with flour and roll dough into a rectangular shape until it is about ¼ of an inch thick.  Spread applesauce evenly over dough leaving a gap at the edges that is approximately ½ an inch.  (The filling will expand and fill that gap when the dough is rolled up.)  In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.  Sprinkle sugar mixture evenly over the applesauce.

Working from the long side of the rectangular, roll the dough into a long log shape.  (If some of the filling oozes out this is fine.)  Using a serrated bread knife or a length of string (or floss) cut the log at it’s center.  Next cut each half in it’s center and then cut each quarter in half.  You should end up with 8 evenly sized rolls.

Place the roll, cut side down, in the prepared cake pan.  There should be seven rolls arranged around the eighth roll in the center.  There will be gaps between the rolls, this is fine as they will expand as they bake.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the tops of the rolls just begin to brown.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine powdered sugar, milk and vanilla.  Stir well until smooth.

Remove rolls from the oven and immediately drizzle with icing.  Let cool slightly and serve warm.

You're welcome :)

Click HERE for a printable version.