This is one of the easiest recipes ever, and produces absolutely perfect cinnamon rolls every single time. It’s also very basic, so feel free to play around with it by adding things like nuts, peanut butter, Nutella, or maple icing – it’s all good.
To me, though, the simplicity is what makes these so great: made as described below, they’re more of a lightly sweetened breakfast bread than a dessert, and just one or two make a fantastic anytime snack.
What you need:
2 cups flour (plus more for sprinkling)
4 tbsp shortening
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
About half a cup of butter
Brown sugar
Cinnamon
What you do:
1. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
2. Use a pastry cutter or two knives to cut the shortening into the dry ingredients (keep going until you get a pebbly texture).
3. Add the milk and mix well.
4. Turn the batter out onto a floured surface and knead twenty or so times, and then pat into a rough rectangular shape. Roll to about 1/4″ thick with a floured rolling pin (if the batter is too wet, just add more flour until it holds together well and doesn’t stick to the surface or rolling pin).
5. Spread thickly with butter, and then sprinkle over brown sugar and cinnamon. I didn’t put quantities above because this is really to your taste – put on more if you’d like them to be very sweet, less if you’re looking for a simpler taste.
6. Roll lengthwise into a long roll and cut into 1″ pieces.
7. Place rolls on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake at 450F for 12-15 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.
Click here for Crunchy Nutella & Peanut Butter Cinnamon Rolls.
