Recipes | On a Roll…Baking Three Versions of Cinnamon Rolls to Celebrate
‘Passion surprises. One doesn’t search it. It can happen to you tomorrow.’ ~Adjani. Today is that tomorrow for me. Sunday morning turned delightful with a mail, congratulating for winning a food photography contest on an online site of a National Daily ‘The Hindu’! And then the happy feet dance begins with baking loads of cinnamon rolls to celebrate the same with family & friends.
The news is a pleasant surprise, more so when I am just beginning to climb, trying to learn the intricacies of food photography & food styling while still standing on the very first step.
Below is my click that won an online photography contest on Shutterbug run by a National Daily ‘The Hindu’. The theme was Breakfast in Chennai. And the guidelines were, “Think out of the box, think eclectic. Explore the varied platter Chennai offers for breakfast. Get clicking!”
I remember this picture of a fusion breakfast recipe which has become a favorite for my children. The recipe uses marinated mini Idlies (steamed rice & lentil cakes) and fresh veggies skewered to give a look of Seekh Kebabs, kind of fun food to please my children. The picture is taken in natural light in my balcony.
Cinnamon rolls are a delight to bake and my children love the whole process of kneading, watching the dough rise and testing their patience till the goodies are out of the oven. We baked three different varieties of Cinnamon rolls on holiday. The fluffy round ones are daughter’s favorite with almost no filling inside.
The rectangular Cinnamon rolls are for son, who likes light fruity filling with no nuts inside. And the last but not the least is the whole wheat cinnamon rolls baked for me and hubby, with lots of assorted nuts and dried fruits.
It was fun baking our hearts out on a holiday. It hardly takes any time to assemble ingredients for cinnamon rolls, the only thing that you need to wait for is the rising time for the dough. But then nothing comes for free and these decadent goodies are worth a wait.
The process of making yeast cinnamon roll is almost same for every recipe, kneading, rising, filling, rolling, cutting, baking and eating… Here are a few pictorial presentation of how these goodies are rolled out….
1. Healthy Whole-wheat Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients;
(12 mini cinnamon rolls)
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 2 tbsp. butter
- 1 tbsp. sugar
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. baking soda
Filling;
- 3 tbsp of mixed dried fruits and nuts
- 2 tbsp. Palm sugar
- 1 tbsp. butter
Method; Grease a rectangular baking tray and pre heat the oven to 190°C.
Take a large bowl and add both the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and mix well with a fork. In another bowl beat buttermilk, butter and sugar with a fork for 10 minutes.
Filling; I added a few raisin, dates, Goji berries, figs, almonds in my filling. Grind all together to make a coarse sticky powder of the filling.
Add the wet ingredient to the dry flour mix and knead into a soft dough.
Sprinkle plain flour on a board and roll the dough into 1/2 inch rectangular shape.
Spread butter with a pastry brush over the rectangular shaped dough. Sprinkle Palm suagr and the coarse powder of nuts and dried fruits over it.
Start folding the rectangular shaped dough from one end till the other end and secure both the sides by pinching them slightly.
Slice the log with a sharp knife or a thread into small roundels.
Place each roll in the greased baking tray (cut side up) leaving equal gap between each roll.
Bake the healthy whole wheat Cinnamon Rolls at 200°C for 20-30 minutes till they turn golden brown from outside. Let it cool completely before taking out the rolls from the baking tray. Serve with tea or coffee.
2. Buttermilk Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
(12 medium cinnamon rolls)
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup Buttermilk + 2 tsp. warm milk
- 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp. sugar
- 1 tbsp. yeast
- A pinch of salt
Filling;
- 2 tbsp. brown sugar
- 1 tbsp. cinnamon powder
- 1 tbsp melted butter/oil
- 1 tsp. lemon zest
Vanilla glaze;
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1-2 tbsp. milk
- ½ tsp. vanilla essence
Method; Grease a rectangular baking tray and pre heat the oven to 190°C.
Add sugar and yeast in lukewarm milk and let it stand for 5 minutes. The liquid become frothy.
Take a large bowl and add 2 cups of All purpose (maida) flour and make a well in between. Pour the frothy yeast mixture in it, add buttermilk, salt, vegetable oil and mix all the ingredients to bind together. Keep adding rest of 1/2 a cup of all purpose flour to make soft dough.
Knead the dough for 4-5 minutes, place it in a greased bowl and cover with a cling film to double in volume for an hour.
Punch the risen dough and knead for 3-4 minutes.
Sprinkle flour on a large surface and roll the dough into a ¼ inch rectangle.
Use a pastry brush to apply the butter on it, sprinkle brown sugar, lemon zest, and cinnamon powder evenly on the entire surface.
Start folding the rectangular shaped dough from one end till the other end and secure both the sides by pinching them slightly.
Slice the log with a sharp knife or a thread into small roundels.
Place each roll in the greased baking tray (cut side up) leaving equal gap between each roll. Keep the baking tray in a warm place for the rolls to rise again for an hour.
Bake the cinnamon rolls at 200°C for 20-30 minutes till they turn golden brown from outside. Let it cool completely before taking out the rolls from the baking tray.
For the vanilla glaze, mix all the ingredients together and drizzle over the cinnamon rolls before serving.
Serve these soft and scrumptious Buttermilk Cinnamon Rolls with tea or coffee.
3. Date & Honey Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients;
(10 medium cinnamon rolls)
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 tbsp. active dry yeast
- 1 tbsp. sugar
- A pinch of salt
Filling;
- 12 soft and juicy dates
- 2 tbsp Honey
- 2 tsp. of butter
- 1 tsp. Nutmeg powder
Method; Grease a rectangular baking tray and pre heat the oven to 190°C.
Add sugar and yeast in lukewarm milk and let it stand for 5 minutes. The liquid become frothy.
Take a large bowl and add 2 cups of whole wheat flour and make a well in between. Pour the frothy yeast mixture in it, add buttermilk, salt, vegetable oil and mix all the ingredients to bind together. Keep adding rest of 1 cup of all purpose flour to make soft dough.
Knead the dough for 4-5 minutes, place it in a greased bowl and cover with a cling film to double in volume for an hour.
Punch the risen dough and knead for 3-4 minutes.
Sprinkle flour on a large surface and roll the dough into a ¼ inch rectangle.
For the filling; Blend dates and honey in a blender to make a paste. Use a pastry brush to apply the butter on it. Spread the Dates and Honey paste evenly over the surface and sprinkle nutmeg powder over it.
Start folding the rectangular shaped dough from one end till the other end and secure both the sides by pinching them slightly.
Slice the log with a sharp knife or a thread into small roundels.
Place each roll in the greased baking tray (cut side up) leaving equal gap between each roll. Keep the baking tray in a warm place for the rolls to rise again for an hour.
Bake the cinnamon rolls at 200°C for 20-30 minutes till they turn golden brown from outside. Let it cool completely before taking out the Date & Honey Cinnamon Rolls from the baking tray.
Check out the following sites for more recipes of Cinnamon rolls, Joy of Baking and KingArthur Flour. And here is an old recipe of walnut and honey filled Cinnamon rolls on Lite Bite.
Notes;
- You can replace the whole wheat flour with all purpose flour to get more soft and fluffy cinnamon rolls.
- Fillings in each recipe could be adjusted according to your taste.
- The dough with the yeast can be refrigerated overnight to make fresh cinnamon rolls for breakfast.
- Use Palm sugar as a filling for a wonderful nutty flavor and healthy treat.
Congrats dear… The winning clicks looks awesome and all the cinnamon rolls look so delicious
Congrats on the win my dear!! and many more to come! That photo is AMAZING 🙂
And what a delicious way to celebrate 😉
This looks Yum but surely its going to add lots of calories to my body…
It would be helpful for people like me if you could also figure out the nutritional values for all your posts..
just imagining how useful it could be.
@Shashank, The recipes on Lite Bite have lesser calories than the traditional versions of the same recipes. I appreciate the suggestion, but am at loss of time at present with so many things going around which include unplanned long hours of photo shoots. Will keep this in mind. Thanks for your concern.
Congrats Sanjeeta!
What a success, I d be dancing happy feet as well. =)
That winner recipe sounds brilliant to me, I would have never got that idea.
Lovely cinnamon rolls as well, I would choose the Dates and Honey one first, because I hadn’t tasted this flavors together yet in a cinnamon roll.
Congratulations, Sanjeeta….
Congrats Sanjeeta! I love that shot 🙂
Cinnamon rolls are a great snack to have on hand. unfortunately my daughter is not a great fan so if I bake them I end up eating all of them 🙁
First of all – CONGRATULATIONS! You are amazing and you know I love your photography! Love the winning photo! Secondly – you’re killing me with this post! I have a weakness for cinnamon rolls an all of these look delicious! I could eat a pan full in one sitting! I will definitely be making a pan of one of these recipes. Now to decide which one! I am curious however – your “Buttermilk Cinnamon Rolls” is the only recipe that does NOT have buttermilk. 🙂
@MJ..he..he..you are right I missed out the buttermilk and mentioned just the milk..updated.
We love cinnamon rolls! These cinnamon rolls look fantastic, I love esp. the date and honey flavour.
Congratulations Sanjeeta,
These cinnamon rolls look delicious!
Congrats Sanjeeta! You work really hard for food photography and styling and you deserve much more. Wow you are so generous to give us 3 different cinnamon rolls recipes!!! Well the hardest part for readers is to choose which one to make. LOL.
Congratssss dear 🙂 You are rocking 🙂 Lovely way to celebrate the occasion 🙂 Keep it going 🙂
Congrats girl! Very well deserved. I really liked the composition as you said looks like sheek kebab.
What a lovely way to celebrate the sweet news? Yummy rolls.
Cinnamon rolls look delish, Sanjeeta! I love both the pics, the first and second. Congrats!
congrats sanjeeta. i have wanting to make the cinnamon rolls from a long time. after seeing your post and pics, i am motivated to make them soon.
Whenever I feel a need for motivation and inspiration, I visit this space of yours. Loved the prize winning click. Will try the cinnemon rolls very soon :)! Hugs
Not one, two but three versions? Sanjeeta you keep busy girl! My son’s absolutely favorite I just started making them in the last year or so. Congrats on the winning Sanjeeta.
Im just getting into baking with yeast and have been looking for the perfect, perfect, gooey ooey wonderful recipe and you have given me some good ideas!
Cinnamon rolls are my most favorite, a weakness. So seeing three different recipes sounds fantastic to me! Beautiful, Hugs, Terra
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