Freezer Friendly Cinnamon Rolls

The freezer isles of the grocery store have exploded with pre-made, frozen biscuits, cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls and bread dough. I can see the appeal- having time consuming items prepped that you can just cart home and bake sounds pretty good, right? It does! But the problem I have is 1) quality of ingredients 2) cost and 3) questionable additions.

I combat the "cons" by making my own, homemade freezer essentials, and these Freezer Cinnamon Rolls are the first recipe I'm going to share. You can quickly mix up the dough and get these into the freezer for later. Pull a few out and you can have hot, fresh cinnamon rolls any morning, noon or night of the week!

I like the fact that I can make cinnamon rolls and then use them for plain cinnamon buns, caramel and pecan rolls, sticky buns and so much more- all with the same, basic frozen dough puck that you end up with with this recipe.

Here is a recipe for dough that I have been using for dinner rolls with really great success. I found it on Pinterest and I've been using the heck out of it. The recipe comes from Is This Really My Life?

Famous Dinner Rolls

• 1/2 cup warm milk
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
• 3 3/4 cups flour

Bread machine directions: Place all ingredients in order listed into bowl of bread machine. Set to "dough" setting and let raise. Remove from bread machine bowl and shape. (Shaping and freezing directions to follow)

Mixer directions: Place the warm water and milk into the bowl of your stand mixer. Add in the sugar and yeast. Let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes. Add in salt, butter, egg and 3 cups of flour. Beat in remaining flour until the dough forms a smooth ball. Knead for 10 minutes. Place in a well oiled bowl and cover with a clean kitchen towel; let rise until double (about 1 hour). Remove from bowl and shape. (Shaping and freezing directions to follow)

Shaping and freezing directions: Roll the dough out into a 9x13 inch rectangle. Spread the dough with 2 tablespoons of butter, then sprinkle with 1/2 cup cinnamon/sugar mixture, you can add more or less cinnamon/sugar filling as desired. Roll up, jelly roll style, starting with the long ends and pinch to close. Slice into 12 equal portions, place on a greased cookie sheet and pop it into the freezer. Let the rolls freeze until solid (about and hour) and then place the rolls into freezer bags.

To Bake: remove desired amount of rolls from the freezer and allow to defrost and raise until doubled in size. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Frost as desired. OR you can place the frozen rolls into a greased baking dish, lightly covered with greased plastic wrap, in the refrigerator overnight. Place the rolls on your counter and preheat oven to 350 degrees. When oven has reached 350, place the rolls inside and bake for 15-20 minutes. Frost as desired.

So, there you have it! I like to double or triple the recipe to make many cinnamon rolls for the freezer and then they are just in there hanging out until I want to bake some off. It's very handy and it's really nice to have these rolls waiting in the freezer for unexpected guests! It doesn't take too long and you can have hot, fresh rolls to serve.




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