Cinnamon Rolls - A Gift From The Heart
There is something truly magical about cinnamon rolls. With a soft doughy texture and a wonderful warm aroma of spicy cinnamon, they are something everybody likes. They feel like the holidays.
I’ve been teaching a lot of cinnamon roll classes lately. In the last month alone, I have taught more than 200 people to make amazing cinnamon rolls. It’s a great skill to have, even if you are new to baking or don’t bake very often. Honestly, if you are going to learn how to bake one thing, cinnamon rolls are a pretty good place to start.
Cinnamon rolls come together quickly and easily, taste amazing, and are endlessly customizable. Once you’ve made the dough, the sky is the limit. You can fill them with traditional cinnamon and brown sugar, add spices like cardamom, allspice, nutmeg, and cloves, or really change it up with a filling of Nutella, peanut butter, apple pie filling, or cream cheese and pumpkin.
In my classes, rather than make one large 9x13 pan of rolls, I encourage people to use two smaller pans. One to bake and eat today and one to tuck into the freezer to bake and enjoy another day. Any day you discover a pan of cinnamon rolls in the freezer just waiting to be baked is a very good day.
There have been a lot of cinnamon rolls in my life. More than we needed to eat.
We began gifting them to our neighbors. We started with people we knew well and soon everyone in our circle was enjoying cinnamon rolls. Then we started giving them to the people we hardly knew - the neighbors we wave at while we walk the dog, the guy that delivers the water, the neighborhood security people, the people working on the nearby construction projects - we’ve handed cinnamon rolls to all of them.
It’s been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.
When we approach with a plate of warm cinnamon rolls, people look so surprised. For me? they ask like they can’t believe it. Yes, for you, please enjoy them. The smile on their face when they smell the rolls makes always my day.
Since we began gifting the rolls, more people smile and wave when we see each other. People I’d never talked to before rush up and tell us how much they enjoyed the rolls. We’ve been invited in to enjoy cups of coffee and glasses of wine. Several have reciprocated with cookies. And we’ve gotten to know and appreciate a lot of people we didn’t know before.
Food is a bridge connecting people and breaking down barriers. And a whole bunch of cinnamon rolls have changed our relationship with the people around us.
So today, let me encourage you to use the recipe below to make some cinnamon rolls for yourself and maybe a few extra to give to someone. It’s a great way to make someone’s day.
With love and cinnamon rolls ~
Chelly
Want to up your cinnamon roll game? Here is where you can find all of our classes.
This is the recipe we use in our classes. You can use it to make an amazing pan of rolls in under 90 minutes. Feel free to use any milk and butter you like - regular and plant-based both work great.
There is a frosting recipe included. I usually don’t make it as I think the rolls are sweet enough without it.
Please don’t skip the step of refrigerating the dough before you form the rolls. You can speed it up by putting the dough in the freezer (or setting it outside if you are somewhere cold) for 10 or 15 minutes. It makes the dough much more manageable.
