Start your New Year with these cinnamon raisin rolls fresh from the oven, and you will be sweet like these rolls for the entire 2010…

When I baked these rolls, my house was filled with the aromatic and mesmerizing aroma of cinnamon. I couldn’t help but keep inhaling all the aroma that I even forgot to exhale. Cinnamon rolls are my favorite, the flavor of cinnamon is really addictive that I can just live on cinnamon rolls for few days, no kidding. I’ve never tried making cinnamon rolls in my kitchen, as I thought it was kind of tricky to make the perfect rolls. So I always get these from Cinnabon, which are usually found in the shopping malls. But, couple of days ago, I suddenly had the craving for these rolls, it was on a late snowy night. In order to fulfill my late night cinnamon roll craving, I didn’t have any other choice but to bake it in my oven. I found a really good recipe for making these and without any further pondering I got indulged in baking. It wasn’t that hard as I thought, but had to wait an hour long and an extra 45 minutes for the dough to rise. Finally, when I curiously had the first bite of this roll, I felt that the wait was absolutely worthy. I had 3 rolls in a single sitting and this kind of abated my craving.

Cinnamon rolls with the hint of raisins and topped with the vanilla-sugary glaze on it was beyond my taste buds expectation.

Cinnamon Raisin Rolls:

  • Recipe Courtesy: Rachael Ray
  • Preparation: 45 Min(plus rising)
  • Bake: 25 Min

Ingredients:

For making the Dough:

  • Dried Yeast- 1/2 ounce( 2 envelopes)
  • Lukewarm water-1/2 cup
  • Milk- 3/4 cup
  • Butter, melted-7 tbsp
  • Granulated sugar-3/4 cup
  • Egg, large-1
  • Salt- 1tsp
  • All purpose Flour- 4 to 4 1/2 cups
  • Light Brown Sugar-1 cup
  • Ground Cinnamon- 2 tbsp
  • Raisins-3/4 cup

For making the Sugar-vanilla  Glaze:

  • Confectioners sugar-2 cups
  • Milk- 3 tbsp
  • Vanilla Extract-1/4 tsp

Preparation of the Dough:

  • Combine the yeast and lukewarm water and set aside for 10 minutes.

  • In a small saucepan, heat 3/4 cup milk over medium-low heat.
  • In a large bowl, combine 4 tbsp melted butter and the warm milk.

  • Using a standing mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix the dissolved yeast into the milk-butter mixture on low speed.
  • Mix in 1/2 cup granulated sugar, the egg and salt.

  • Add 4 cups flour, 1/2 cup at a time, and mix until smooth.

  • If the dough is sticky, add up to 1/2 cup more flour.
  • Knead the dough on a floured surface for 5 minutes.
  • Place in a bowl, cover with the plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

  • Stir together the brown sugar, the remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar and the cinnamon.

  • On a floured surface, roll out the dough to form a 12-by -24-inch rectangle.

  • Brush with the remaining 3 tbsp melted butter and sprinkle the brown sugar mixture and raisins on top.
  • Starting with the long side, roll up the dough jelly roll style, then cut into 1- inch slices.

  • Place in greased baking sheets, let rise for 45 minutes.


  • Preheat the oven to 350F. Bake the rolls until golden, about 25 minutes.

Making the Vanilla-Sugar Glaze:

  • Stir together the confectioners sugar, vanilla and remaining 3 tbsp milk.
  • Drizzle this glaze over the rolls taken from the oven, serve warm.

Tips:

  • Knead the dough until really smooth for 5 minutes so that the resulting cinnamon rolls will be soft.
  • Drizzle the Vanilla-sugar glaze according to your needs, the more the tastier.