Semi Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

I am not one to turn my nose up at pre-made ingredients for the most part. Being a self proclaimed gastronome doesn't mean I have to be a biatch, lol. They are usually tasty and save you a lot of time in the kitchen. Don't get me wrong, the 100% made from scratch thing is usually better, but sometimes I just don't have time or patients for that (usually the patients). I have come across a couple of pre-made items that weren't that great, so I just don't use them. I'm not as semi homemade as Sandy is from Food Network, she must do all semi homemade so she has time and money to make those lavish "tablescapes", lol. Not knocking it, they are beautiful and the food usually looks yummy, but sometimes I think she cuts to many corners. My favorite semi homemade products are marinades and season blends, and now frozen dough. I made two recipes this weekend with the dough; these and Cheesy Garlic Pull Apart Knots.

I consider these cinnamon rolls semi homemade since I used pre-made frozen bread dough and canned cake frosting, but the rest was all me. I often make the canned cinnamon rolls for breakfast on the weekends, the boyfriend loves them, so I decided that I could do one step better and make these. I was going to make my own frosting, but had some frosting in the cabinet (honestly don't know how this wasn't already eaten by now since a spoon of frosting is a guilty pleasure of both mine and the BF. Don't judge us, lol.) In all, it took about 30 minutes to prep these. The lack of a rolling pin was definitely the reason it took longer. Somehow the glass I was using just didn't to the job as fast, duh. I could have let these proof for longer, but I was hungry and ready to eat. They came out perfect and now will be a weekend staple in our house.

Semi Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

• 1 loaf frozen dough, thawed and proofed
• 1/4 stick salted butter, melted
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1/2 can vanilla frosting
• 2 tbsp half and half or milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• Flour for rolling out dough

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease 9 inch pie pan with melted butter.
3. Clean counter top and cover with light layer of flour.
4. Roll dough out to be 1/8 thick, about the thickness of a nickle and about 15 inches in length. Just eye ball it, doesn't have to be exact.
5. Brush dough with melted butter to cover the entire surface.
6. Mix sugars and cinnamon until well blended.
7. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture over the dough until all used.
8. Starting from one end, roll the dough as you would a jelly roll until completely rolled up.
9. Cut into 1 inch pieces and press down lightly to flatten. You only want them lightly flattened.
10. Put in cake pan, they should all be touching.
11. Cover with a warm towel (lightly moisten with water and put in microwave for 30 seconds) and let proof on counter top for 30 minutes.
12. Bake for 25 minutes.
13. While rolls are baking, mix cake frosting, half and half or milk, and vanilla together Consistency should be runny, but still have some texture. If too runny, add more frosting. If not runny enough, add more half and half or milk.
14. Remove rolls from oven and remove from pan. 
15. Ice immediately. You can either leave them all touching and ice or pull apart and ice individually.

Tips and Tricks

• If you would like to make your own frosting, use this recipe
• 1 cup powder sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp milk
• Add all ingredients and mix until blended.
• Cream cheese cake frosting would be amazing to use.
• If you like nuts, finely chop pecans or walnuts and add to sugar and cinnamon mixture before you cover dough.
• If you like your rolls a bit more cooked on the outsides, place rolls on a cookie sheet, not touching and bake for 20 minutes.