Dessert Breads Archives - How Mom Did It

Cake Mix Cinnamon Rolls

Oh boy! Has it been a long time since I’ve posted a recipe here or what? I’ve had an unusually busy two months (lots of changes at ScrapGirls.com), which required my full attention. But things have settled down some and I’m excited to put up a new recipe at last! Woohoo!

So now that I have made my excuses, we are going to move onto a very serious subject: Cinnamon rolls.

My mom and grandmother made great ones. Light. Fluffy. Bread-y enough to fill you up, but not bread-y enough that they sat in your stomach too long. They were also moist enough that they didn’t dry out quickly like the kind you find in bakeries.

Just thinking about those cinnamon rolls makes me long for my grandmother.

Is this her recipe? Nope.

Why am I giving you this particular recipe for cinnamon rolls? Because I found it in a new cookbook I have and because it seemed like it might be a short-cut to cinnamon roll success, I decided to try it out. They are good, but even I have to admit that they just don’t measure up to grandma’s.

I will give you grandma’s recipe another day. Meanwhile, if you are adventurous and want to have a little fun, you can try this one out. If you do, come back and tell me what you think, okay?

CAKE MIX CINNAMON ROLLS

Pick out the cake mix you want to use. I used a white cake mix this day, but a yellow one might do – and may be even better.

Combine 1 yellow or white cake mix with 2 packages of yeast, 1 teaspoon salt, and 2 cups of flour.

Mix in 2 -1/4 cups of hot water.

Stir in 3 cups of flour.

Knead until well mixed.

To knead: Dust your clean counter with flour. Pat the dough into a ball and then push the edge of the dough in towards the counter with the heels of your hand, turning it about a quarter turn each time you push it in. The movement is push, turn, push, turn, push, turn, push, turn…. until the dough is smooth.

Okay. Someday, I need to have one of my family members film me doing this, because it is very hard to describe kneading dough with words!

Put the dough in a greased bowl, cover, and place in a warm spot. Let the dough rise until double. You can tell when it’s ready to go because when you poke the dough with your finger, it leaves an indentation.

Dust the counter and your roller with flour. Roll the dough into a rectangle that it’s about “this” thick. (“This” thick is a technical baking term.)

Melt some butter or margarine in your microwave.

Brush the dough with the melted butter. Note that I am brushing it with a rolled up paper towel. Isn’t that a cool trick? You can throw the towel away once you’re finished.

Sprinkle the dough with some sugar.

Sometimes, I like use some grated lemon or orange peel, as well. I’m a rebel.

Here’s the cinnamon part of the cinnamon rolls: Sprinkle some on.

My husband thinks he is deprived if I don’t add raisins to the cinnamon rolls, so I did. After you sprinkle the raisins on, start rolling the dough up along the long side.

Spray your baking pan with some PAM. (No, I am not related to anyone who makes PAM. I just like it.)

Cut the roll into pieces about like this.

Put the rolls onto your baking pan. You should be able to get 12 on a sheet.

Cover the pans with a cloth and put them in a warm spot to raise. Let rise until doubled.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Cool.

FROSTING

Because cinnamon rolls are already so sweet, I like to drizzle a thin, powdered sugar frosting on them. The super-thick gooey frosting that bakeries use overwhelms me.

Melt some butter in the microwave.

Locate your bag of powdered sugar. If you are talented (like I am), you will open the bag upside down.

Why do I do that?

Beat some powdered sugar into the melted butter. If you add too much powdered sugar, thin it with a little milk. If you’d like, you can add some lemon or orange zest (or a little juice.)

This drizzle frosting is very adaptable.

Drizzle the frosting on the cinnamon rolls. Try to resist eating more than one roll.

QUICK RECIPE

Stir together

1 box white or yellow cake mix
2 pkg yeast
1 tsp. salt
2 cups of flour

Add 2-1/4 cups of hot water. Mix.

Add 3 cups of flour and knead. Put in a greased bowl and let rise until doubled.

Roll out into a rectangle. Brush with melted butter. Sprinkle sugar, cinnamon and whatever else you want on top.

Cut into pieces and put on a greased pan. Cover and let rise until doubled. Bake for about 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Cool. Drizzle with powdered sugar frosting.

Eat one roll. at a time. I dare you.

Banana Bread

This morning, when I went to eat my breakfast, I saw three pathetic bananas staring at me. They were soft and turning black and were perfect for making banana bread.

Before I give you the recipe, I need to share something with you. I won my husband by making banana bread.

Before we married, Gary served a two-year mission for our church in Canada. We barely knew each other at that point, but five days before he left, I ran into him in a bookstore, and he asked me to write to him. I said, “If you write to me, I’ll write back.”

While I was doing this writing (because obviously, he wrote letters to me), I periodically sent him care packages. The first one included a loaf of banana bread. He begged me to send more banana bread, and so I did.

It was only after we were married that he dropped the bomb on me. Sometimes, the banana bread arrived in a rather – oh, shall we say – dicey condition. Occasionally, the bread had mold on it because it took a while for the package to arrive. (This happened during the days when Canada was experiencing postal strikes.)

Ewwwww….

He didn’t care. He liked it so much that he sliced off the bad pieces and ate the rest of it. It’s a wonder he’s alive.

This particular banana bread recipe is good because it is moist without being greasy, and it makes three loaves out of three bananas. I belong to the cooking theory that says, “The more results I can get with the least amount of effort, the better.” Obviously, three loaves are a better return than one loaf because it takes the same amount of time to stir up the batter, no matter what.

LONG RECIPE

Cream together:

1 cup shortening
3 cups sugar

Add and cream together:

2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
2 cups banana (I used three large bananas. This was plenty.)
1 cup buttermilk or sour milk (To make sour milk: Add 1 teaspoon vinegar to one cup of milk. Let sit for a few minutes until the milk thickens up.)

Mix together in a separate bowl. Then add to mixture and stir in until mixed.

4 cups flour
2 teaspoons soda
1 teaspoon salt

Optional: 1 cup walnuts (I didn’t add any because walnuts give me canker sores.)

Spray three bread pans with cooking spray. Divide batter in pans.

As a note: I use a bigger pan than some people would because one of the issues you can have with banana bread. If the loaf is too big (meaning that it will come out tall), the middle won’t get cooked through before the outside is brown enough.

Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 45 minutes. You can tell when it is done if you touch the center lightly with your finger and it bounces back. The edges will be slightly drawn away from the edge of the pan, as well. If the outside is looking brown enough and you can tell the center needs a little more time, turn the heat down to 325 degrees and bake about 5 more minutes.

By the way, this is also how you can tell if a cake is done without poking it with anything, did you know that?