A Meeting Without Breakfast is Boring

Good Morning! 

I suppose I am still trying to get in your good graces because I'm giving you a recipe before Friday so that you will forgive me for the two Fridays when I didn't post. 


In grad school it is important that your committee like you. I mean REALLY like you. After all, they hold your graduation in their hands. I decided that for our first unofficial committee meeting we needed breakfast! I made a mix between a cinnamon roll and sticky bun. Please, y'all, help me name them??

I hope you enjoy them! (I forgot to start taking pictures until I was about half way done.)

Untitled Breakfast Rolls

 Rolls

1 cup warm water (about 110 degrees)
1 pkg. active yeast
3 cups flour, divided
2 TBSP shortening
4 TBSP sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. salt

Dissolve yeast in warm water in a big bowl. Add half of the flour and the rest of the ingredients. Mix it up really well. Add the other half of the flour. Now, cover it, and just let it rise. I let mine rise in a warm oven (about 80 degrees) with a pot of boiling water in the oven with it. Breads rise better when it is really humid and warm. Let the dough rise until it doubles in size. (It's less than an hour.)

Filling

1 stick butter
1 cup brown sugar
5/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
fistfull of cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp + shake of black pepper
shake of salt
half of a capfull of vanilla
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp. cocoa powder

Melt the butter in a saucepan. It will start to boil. Let it boil for a bit. Add the brown sugar while it is still on the heat. Cook it a bit more. It will get thick and wonderful. Add all of the other ingredients except for vanilla. Add the vanilla once you take the pan off of the heat. Let it cool completely. When it cools, it will become pretty stiff and tacky. This is good. 

By now, it should be about time to take a gander at your dough. If it is bigger, you did good. Take it out of the warm, humid place it was hanging out, and dump it out on a floured surface. Knead it. Add as much flour as you need to add to make it less sticky. It is quite a sticky dough, but it is a delicate little dough so be sweet to it. Knead it until it is elastic and soft as a baby's bottom.

 Roll it out in a square. I rolled mine to be about 1/2" thick. 

Now, sprinkle the dough with cinnamon, then add the filling.

It is tough but spread it out all over the dough. You won't regret it. 

Roll the dough like you would for a jelly roll. If you don't make jelly rolls, roll it so that you have a long log (start rolling from the long side). Wrap it up and throw it in the freezer until you need it again. 

Now the good part.

Caramel Pecan Topping

1 stick butter
1 1/3 cup sugar
Milk
Pecans

Melt a stick of butter in the same saucepan as before. Rinse it out a bit first! 

Once it is melted turn the eye temperature to high and add about 1 1/3 cup granulated sugar. Stir this stuff constantly. 

It will eventually turn a pretty golden color and until it does, keep stirring. Basically you're burning sugar. Just a light burn like a crispy overcooked state on the bottom of the dinner rolls. When it gets to the lovely golden shade, take it off of the heat. Start adding a big of milk or cream or whatever you have. Slow is the key. You just want to add a bit and stir. Add a bit and stir. Let it hang out off the heat for a bit while you start chopping a couple handfuls of pecans. 

Chop the pecans. They don't have to be pretty. I left mine in pretty big chunks. 

In a glass dish, add the pecans and pour the caramel topping in the bottom. No need to really grease the pan. Get your big roll of dough. Cut it into chunks. I probably made about 7 gigantic rolls. You can make more of less. It's up to you. Add the rolls on top of the caramel sauce. 

Here's where you make these things your own.

Overnight directions: 
Cover your dish. Throw it in the fridge overnight. It will do its second rise in there. In the morning, take it out and let it come to room temperature. This takes about 30 minutes. 

Now directions:
Put the pan back inside your delightfully humid and warm oven for the rolls to rise a second time. Take them out of the oven once they have gotten nice and fluffy. 



No matter how you let them do their second rise, preheat your oven to 375. Cook the rolls for about 20 minutes if they are gigantic like mine or until they brown on top. For smaller rolls, cook for about 15 minutes or until they are golden. 

When you take them out, flip them over and serve! Yumm!!

God bless those families who lost loved ones on this day so many years ago.


Remember that pretty is as pretty does. 


-McKenzie 








9/20/12-Update: 

To make this a bit simpler, buy frozen bread dough. Let it thaw, and follow the instructions from rolling out the dough. This will cut the time down by a lot for those of you on the go.