There may not be another breadstuff in American recipe history more beloved than Cinnamon Rolls…especially in my family. Often times I would take as my offering to holiday dinners at my mom’s house the beloved Pickens family bread recipe that we always referred to as Grammy’s bread. If not that, then it was cinnamon rolls. Stated so many times, Mom was the best cook ever as acertained by the fact that she could draw 700 or folks to the door of her humble little cafeteria in her home farm town of Orleans, Indiana (pop. 300 then and 300 now)…she always said “Good food will draw them…” and she was right. And from my childhood memories, I seem to recall that she did in fact make cinnamon rolls but this was never a hallmark recipe for her. I don’t believe she cared for the long prep time of yeast doughs so she did not make them often. Lucky for me, bread machines came along so I do all my doughs in mine. I would judge her cinnamon rolls as good but not spectacular as her pies, persimmon pudding and brownies were, for example. They were not the large cream cheese iced pillows of goodness upon which reclines the gooey spiraling goodness of deep dark cinnamon filling made with pure butter only that we make today. This, of course, did not stop me from loving her cinnamon rolls or anything with cinnamon in it like the puddings. So, once established as a young homemaker I began to make cinnamon rolls of my own quite often, and thus many trials of various recipes. . not only by me but many others in my family, and they all make great cinnamon rolls! And who knew that some day there would be an entire chain of specialty cinnamon roll stores that made them up fresh every day at airports and malls…truly oversized and extreme type cinnamon rolls, still warm from the oven. Following below is the best of the best recipes I have come across with a touch or two of my own….one of the fascinations of recipes in America is that our cooks never seem to be satisfied to just accept at face value any combination of ingredients and methodology. Rather, nearly every good cook I have known has a twist or two of their very own, some times a winner, some times not. Our American recipes are fairly simple as a whole, easily lent to variation, so we do experiment a lot, most often with good results. Perhaps you will like my latest, greatest cinnamon roll recipe…

Bread Dough:
1 C. Water
2 T. butter, softened
1 egg
12 g. yeast or 2 packages or 3 t. dry yeast
4 C. flour plus more if dough is too soft or sticky
1/4 C. sugar
2 T. canola oil
1/2 t. salt
2 T. cornstarch

Blend all the above ingredients together well, and knead for five minutes or use dough setting on breadmaker.
Allow dough to rest for ten minutes on floured surface.
Roll out to 15 x 20″ rectangle.

Cinnamon Filling:
1 C. brown sugar
l/3 C. flour
l/2 C. softened butter
l and l/2 T. cinnamon
2 T. half and half.
Mix together well.
Spread over the dough rectangle evenly to edges.
Roll up dough rectangle from long side and pinch up edge tightly so it does not unroll; cut into
12 equal spiral slices and place in 10 x 12 pyrex baking dish which has been greased thoroughly.
Allow to rise till doubled.
Pop into a 350o F. oven, preheated and bake 30 minutes or so, till browned on top.

Cream Cheese Icing:
2 T. softened butter
1 and l/2 oz. cream cheese, softened
/4 C. powdered sugar sifted
1 T. half and half and l/2 t. vanilla.
Spread on cooled rolls.

Interesting Variation: Use 2 T. maple syrup instead of half and half. Refrigerate leftovers, covered with plastic wrap, if there are any.