I love a good recipe! But what I love even more is sharing a great recipe with my baking friends. Here’s where you’ll find some of my favorites that I use in my own kitchen and with my own family. Enjoy!
Cinnamon Roll Biscuits
Here’s my recipe that won the Hometown Dessert Challenge on episode one of Next Great Baker Season 4.
I started making biscuits when I was three, standing on a chair next to my momma in the kitchen on Saturday mornings. So biscuits have a special place in my heart. Over the years as I became a mom myself, I wanted to make cinnamon rolls for my family, but rarely had the time. I saw a recipe that used biscuit dough for a cinnamon roll, and tweaked it to suit my standards. Over time, it became a family favorite. And when we had to pick a recipe for the Hometown Dessert challenge, this was a natural choice. I’m so glad we did!
The secrets to this recipe lie in the use of low-gluten flour (2 grams per serving; I use White Lily plain flour myself), cold, unsalted butter, and of course, as every good baker from the Mountain South knows, buttermilk. And hang on to the Vanilla Glaze recipe. It’s so easy and versatile. I use it for glazing homemade Danish, Kolache cookies, and Monkey Bread. Substitute fresh lemon juice and zest for the vanilla and cream, and you have a tart, intense glaze that is perfect for Lemon Pound Cake…or a spoon!
Cinnamon Roll Biscuits
3 cups of plain biscuit flour (a soft wheat variety)
1 ½ tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
1¼ cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons melted butter
½ cup sugar with 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon mixed together
Vanilla Glaze
1 1/3 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons melted butter
2 teaspoons corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons cream or milk
Grease well a 10 inch round pan and preheat oven to 425°F.
Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together.
Using a large grater, shave the cold butter into the dry ingredients and use a pastry blender to cut the butter into the flour.
Add buttermilk, reserving some of it and stirring in just enough with a fork so that the dough forms a ball when mixed. Do NOT over mix the dough.
Turn out onto a well-floured surface (silicon mat works great!) and gently roll out into a rectangle about 10 X 15 inches, with the long side facing you.
Brush surface with melted butter and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar, all the way to the edges. Roll up like a jelly roll and seal the edge where it comes together. I roll out the dough on a silicon mat, and lift up the back edge of the mat to help form the roll. The dough will be a bit fragile. Make sure your dough is floured well underneath. A bench scraper can help you free it if it sticks in places, as you roll it up.
Using a very sharp serrated knife or dental floss, cut 1½ slices and place cut side down into the pan.
Bake in oven for about 25 minutes, or until golden brown on top. Cool for five minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a plate, top side up.
While rolls are baking, combine ingredients for vanilla glaze, adding as much cream or milk as needed for desired consistency. Drizzle glaze over warm rolls and serve immediately. Makes 10 rolls.