Mom's Cinnamon Rolls (small Batch)

Mom's Cinnamon Rolls. If there is anything on earth that speaks Home Sweet Home more to the human heart than homemade cinnamon rolls, I would love to know what it is. To celebrate moving into my new home, and Mother's Day which has just passed, I thought I would bake my mom's cinnamon rolls.
And not only would I bake them but I would small batch them. When seven goes down to two and then down to one, small-batching only makes sense. Even so I ended up with six nice largish rolls.
Mom's Cinnamon Rolls are not cinnamon rolls in the common sense of the word. These are easy cinnamon rolls and there is no yeast involved.
Instead they are a fluffy tender biscuit type of cinnamon roll. Flaky, rich and delicious. In all honesty I would have to say that I LOVE these cinnamon rolls better than any commercial cinnamon roll you can buy out there, including the big namers.

I have to say that those ones out there always disappoint me. They never ever come up to the eating pleasure of my mom's rolls. Plus they are very quick and easy to make.
So easy that when my children were growing up we often baked a full size recipe of them for a night treat for them to enjoy while watching TV before bed. Truth there.
These are the cinnamon rolls I grew up on and the only ones which truly bring me joy. Of course I have fancied them up a bit.
Mom only ever made very basic ones. Biscuit dough, rolled out, spread with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon, rolled up, sliced and baked.
I vary on that theme in that I don't roll them out quite as thin as she did. I also like to cream together the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon for the filling.
I probably use a bit more of everything for the filling also. When it comes to cooking I never like to hold back. Basically I like to add an edge to everything without actually going way over the top.

My children always liked it when I added a layer of raisins and nuts to them. I do confess that is a very delicious route to take. Sometimes I even added chocolate chips.
You would not believe how delicious chocolate chips and cinnamon are together. Why, they go together just like peas and carrots! Yum yum!!

I also like to add a delicious honey butter glaze. Sometimes I will add a bit of cinnamon to the glaze as well, which really adds loads of lush cinnamon flavor.
Today I left cinnamon out from the glaze and I cut the recipe down to only six delicious rolls. I gave two to my sister for Dan, and I have frozen two and I enjoyed one with my afternoon break.

Not to brag or anything, but I do believe that this batch turned out better than ever. If you are adverse to using shortening, by all means use butter in it's place. They will be even richer.
Flakier, moreish even. But then again, even with shortening they are basically pretty moreish. You can see from the photos just how flaky and buttery they are.
With just the right amount of cinnamon sugar/buttery filling. I have so many happy memories tied up in these.
One of my earliest memories is of mom making these. I remember one time her friend Irene was visiting for the weekend with her little boy, I think both of our dads had gone hunting for the weekend. Irene decided to make these cinnamon rolls.
This is a very Nova Scotian way of making Cinnamon rolls. Mom and Irene were both Nova Scotia girls, living with their Military husbands in Manitoba, far, far away from home. They both made Cinnamon rolls in the same way
Deliciously, from biscuit dough.
They had met each other at business college and then went on to work together for the Dept. of Agriculture in Truro before each marrying and going their separate ways.
Our oven caught on fire that particular night, and I was sent out to call the fire department. We did not have a telephone in our home. I then wait at the phone box for the truck to come so I could point them in the right direction.
I think I was all of six or seven years old. It was a flurry of activity and much excitement I have to say. We never did get to eat cinnamon rolls that night.
You might could have called them Cajun style cinnamon rolls. Blackened. haha
Its funny the things which stick in your mind. Mom and Irene stayed friends for all of their lives. In fact Irene was just living down the road from here until a few years ago now. I am not sure if she is still alive or not.
As I said, I also used to make these for my own children, very much to their delight. They could scarf down a double recipe in no time at all.
Five kids, three of them boys, will do that to just about anything that is good to eat!! They all also now make these same rolls for their own children, also very much to the delight of my grandchildren.
Oh how I long for the let-down of these Covid restrictions so I can see my grandchildren, maybe have some of them for the weekend. I will bake them some of these and we can pig out on them while we watch movies or play games.
That was something I really missed living in the UK, being able to spend "real" time with the grandchildren. Now I want to make up for lost time, but alas Covid is not co-operating. We are very much locked down at the moment.
Its like we have moved back to square one again and are living like we had to live when this all began. The main difference being we all now have toilet paper, and water and many of the other necessities of life.
The panic buying has stopped. Whew! Last year this time it was really hard to find flour or yeast or, yes . . . toilet paper!
Things are much better that way, this time around. Except we are still missing family and still missing friends.
Still missing our freedoms. But it won't be for long. If we all just do what we are supposed to do and not get silly, we will have our freedoms back before too much longer. I really believe that.
And in the meantime we can all bake cinnamon rolls. Small Batch Mom's Cinnamon Rolls, because we are only small groups for now, and some of us forever.
In any case if you want more than six rolls, you can very easily double the recipe. It will make an even dozen of the softest, sweetest, flakiest cinnamon rolls you ever want to eat!!
They really only are at their best on the first day. Just like regular cinnamon rolls . . . . but you can freeze them quite successfully.
Quick and easy. None of the faffing about with yeasts and risings, etc. Here's to mom, sweet memories and new beginnings!

Mom's Cinnamon Rolls (small batch)

Yield: Makes 6 rollsAuthor: Marie RaynerPrep time: 10 MinCook time: 20 MinTotal time: 30 MinMom used to make us cinnamon rolls using biscuit dough rather than bread dough. We always loved them. I small batched the recipe for the smaller family. These are delicious!

Ingredients

2 cups (280g) all purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup (110g) vegetable shortening
1 TBS sugar
1 free range egg, beaten lightly
3/4 cup (180ml) whole milk
1/4 cup (60g) softened butter
1/2 cup (100g) packed soft dark brown sugar
3 tsp ground cinnamon

Honey Butter Glaze:

1/2 TBS honey
1/2 TBS butter
few drops vanilla
1 cup (130g) icing sugar, sifted
enough milk to thin to a thick drizzle

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350*C/180*f/ gas mark 4. Line a small baking tray with baking paper.
Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl. Stir in the sugar and salt. Drop in the shortening and cut it in with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs.
Beat together the egg and the milk.
Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients, stirring them in with a fork, only adding enough to give you a soft dough that is not sticky. You may not need it all.
Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead gently two or three turns. Pat or roll out to a rectangle that is roughly 1/2 inch in thickness, and approximately 6 by 10 inches in size.
Mix together the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Spread this mixture over the dough evenly.
Roll up tightly from the short edge. Cut into 6 1-inch thick slices. Place them on the baking sheet, cut sides up. Press lightly with the palm of your hand to flatten slightly.
Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly.
Whisk together all of the ingredients for the glaze until smooth. Flick this glaze over top of the lukewarm cinnamon rolls and serve. Delicious!

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