Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls

I guarantee you that by in the morning, I will weigh five pounds heavier than I do right now, and I don't even care!!! (Good attitude, right??) For dinner tonight, I made Gluten Free Calzones and I will just say, YUM! It's something we do not have very often and it's something my 15 month old, inhales! She loves them! Before I even had decided that we were having GF Calzones for dinner, I had already begun the process of Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls. I haven't had a GOOD cinnamon roll in over four years (I have had a frozen one, YUCK) and I was not expecting anything spectacular tonight. I do not get my hopes up about my recipes anymore because too many fail. Well, in my opinion, they fail. My husband loves eating crumbled up cookies that don't come off the pan, and actually our friends Cord and Emily loved those cookies too!! Oh well, back to the cinnamon rolls. I didn't have my hopes up, but man oh man, when they came out of the oven, my hopes were up and I was on cloud 9!!!!

The other day, we went by Whole Foods and I grabbed a bag of Pamela's Bread Mix and Flour Blend. That's the best decision I've made in a while!! I was looking at the recipes on the back of the package and decided the cinnamon roll was going to be first on my list!

*As always, I am telling you up front that this recipe was not created by me. This recipe is from Pamela's Products Inc. I used their recipe to make these cinnamon rolls but I changed a few things to make them better (in my opinion).*

There are four different recipes inside this one recipe. You have a recipe for the actual dough, the yeast, the filling, and the glaze. I will go one by one and break it down easier than the way Pamela's did. I will also go in order of how I did everything!

**You need two sticks of room temperature butter.**

Yeast:
1 packet of active dry yeast (or 2 1/4t)
1t sugar
1/2c warm water

Place 1/2 cup of warm water in a small bowl (or a 1c measuring container) and dissolve the 1t of sugar. Add in the packet of yeast and combine with a fork. Let it sit for about five minutes until "foamy" (as Pamela's said). While the yeast sits and gets all foamy, get the filling ready.

Filling:1 stick of unsalted, room temperature, butter
1/3c sugar
1/8c brown sugar (my addition)
4t cinnamon (I added that 4th teaspoon)
1/3c of raisins &/or pecans (I did not do this step because of my little girl, but I don't think 1/3c
        would be enough. I would probably at least do 1/2c.)

With a handheld mixer, combine the stick of room temperature butter, 1/3c sugar, 1/8c of brown sugar, and 4t cinnamon. Sit the mixture to the side.

Rolls:3 1/2c Pamela's Bread/Flour Mix
1 egg, large
1/4c and about 2T Milk (recipe called for 1/4c water, really!?!?)
1 stick of room temperature butter
1T of Orange Zest (optional, I didn't have an orange, so I didn't)

The recipe says to use a heavy duty stand mixer, but shockingly, I do not have one. If anyone would like to donate one to me, I would be absolutely 100% ready and willing to accept it!!! :) (The kitchen aid light blue/tealish color would match my hand mixer, for anyone who wanted to know!!!)

I have a Ninja Kitchen System so I just used the bowl and the dough attachment to mix my dough. It worked ok. (First time I had used the dough attachment) So, if you have a ninja or a stand mixer, it all works the same. Use the whisk attachment on your stand mixture if you are going to use that, if you are going to use a ninja, use your hand mixer to combine the butter and egg then transfer to the ninja.

Combine the stick of softened butter with 1 egg, and orange zest, if desired. Then slowly add in 1 1/2 c of Pamela's Mix. Add the milk, "foamy" yeast, and the remaining 2c of Pamela's Mix and combine until well incorporated. Once incorporated, place ball of dough on a large sheet of parchment paper. Roll the dough between two sheets of parchment paper, into a large rectangle, about 1/4" thick. Peel off the top layer of parchment paper and spread the filling all over the dough. Spread evenly and make sure you get all the way to the edge.

**This is where Pamela and I are different. Apparently she would rather have done all this work and only get 5-6 cinnamon rolls out of all this effort. In other words, they rolled the short end, to the short end. I on the other hand, refuse to do all this work and get ONLY 5-6 cinnamon rolls. I rolled long end to long end and ended up with a smaller cinnamon roll (exact same size as Pillsbury) and 16!!! 16 Cinnamon Rolls!!!!!**

So, now that I got that off my chest, let's get back to it. After you have spread the mixture evenly, and all the way to the edge of your dough, begin to roll your dough from long end to long end. To get the roll started, lift the parchment paper, and fold 1/4" over itself. It will be a breeze to roll from there. Once you have rolled your dough, you are ready to cut! Get a very sharp knife, I used a big chef's knive and it worked great. Cut rolls about 3/4"-1" thick and place in a greased 9x13 baking pan, about 1/2" apart and 1/2" from the edges. I ended up having a full 9x13 pan and a loaf pan with a few rolls in it.

Now to the hardest part...
Place the pan to the side and let the dough rise for 60-90 minutes. This right here is why I ended up making calzones for dinner!!! Side Note: My dough did not rise. :(

Glaze:
1c powdered sugar
3T milk (recipe called for water, YUCK)

3/4t of vanilla

Combine ingredients in a bowl and mix with a fork. Cover and place in the refrigerator until time to glaze cinnamon rolls. Placing the glaze in the refrigerator helps to thicken it, so it's perfect for a hot cinnamon roll!!! This recipe gives you almost 1t of glaze per roll.

It's almost time to reward your patience!!! Pre heat your oven to 350 degrees and bake for 20-25 minutes. When rolls have been out of the oven for a few minutes, glaze and share!!!
Or eat them all... I won't tell!!!

*This recipe may sound complicated, but I promise, it is much easier than it sounds!!