Oh my ever-lovin' goodness. I am so ridiculously proud of myself this time I can't contain it. I made The Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls and orange marmalade rolls this weekend. Can I just brag for a minute about how "okay" I was with the crazy mess this made of my kitchen? You would be, too. It's the most delicious mess I've ever seen and it made me giddy.
And I think that picture was taken after R & I licked up half the sugary-orange-y-melted-butter off the island. See that streak up the middle? A finger swipe.
Because PW's recipe says to cut off the uneven ends, I did what she said. So would you if you followed her blog! And because I'm such a frugal gal, baked up those uneven, untidy, messy-looking, not-pretty-enough-to-serve-to-company pieces of rolls, and ate half of them meeself to test the recipe (gave R the other half - arent' I a saint?) Uh, Ree? You're my new BFF.
After greasing and sugaring them down, rolling and slicing them, they rose for about a half hour on the range, out grazing with Marlboro Man's Mustangs. Uh, sorry, mind wandered. And actually, the orange rolls didn't rise that much. Hm. Not exactly sure why. Was the dough too warm by then? The cinnamon rolls rose just fine, though. I made two pans of cinnamon and then one orange marmalade, and I thought I rolled the dough for the first pan of cinnamon too thick, and so then I rolled the dough for the orange ones too thin. Grrr. Over compensated. Since this is my first experience with actual yeast-raised homemade dough, I gave myself a little slack. Even after using a 1/2 cup too much flour and forgetting the salt. Jeez, when will I ever be able to follow a darn recipe?
But, not even the extra flour or missing salt could ruin this dough. It was amazing. I could hardly get my camera out while there were still rolls in the pans (one of the cinnamon roll pans was already empty, except for the delicious sticky yumminess in the bottom). Oh, and for those folks who have or will actually make this recipe, I reduced the temp to 375 per the advice of Ree's guest blogger, Deb from Smitten Kitchen, and baked them for a full 18 minutes, if not a bit longer. Soft, gooey, golden on top, and freakin scary awesome. It was a very good thing that we had ten hungry souls at home that morning to share them with. Or I'd be buying R & I (and our dog, Breezie) a whole new wardrobe.
Breezie helped with the dishes, as you can see. She's such a sport. It was the maple syrup and coffee in the frosting that got her to help, I'm sure. Thank you, Ree, my new BFF. (HUGS from Michigan!)
In front we went all out orange - when the sun starts to go down the begonias are almost electric! These two planters on either side of the garage include coleus, licorice and dracena. Oh, and more dusties (because somehow we ended up with a thousand of them.) Along the driveway we went with a huge contrast to the house and planted all blueish-whites and they ended up being my favorites.
We also planted a whole slew of herbs including three different types of basil - yes, three - you should see them all. Helllllooo spaghetti pesto! What's in your garden/window boxes/hanging planters this year? Oh, and if you're in some lush tropical setting, please refrain from commenting about all your delicious exotica because, remember, I'm in Michigan, and my one lone rubber house plant likes being an only child, hogging all the skylight sun for itself. Thank you. xo ~ K
