Cinnamony Sweet

I had a request via facebook for Grandma Jean's cinnamon roll recipe. Since she published it her church's cookbook I assume it's safe to share :)

Tomorrow we are having cinnamon rolls before Sunday school and several different ladies in the church are contributing. We love Grandma's rolls so I thought I'd create a yummy batch for all the Altic/Rice clan.

1/4 c. warm water
3 pkg yeast (1 pkg = 2 1/4 tsp)
1 Tbsp of sugar
Pinch of ginger
1 1/2 cups warm milk
1/2 c sugar
3 eggs
1 Tbsp salt
6 Tbsp Crisco or margarine (I prefer butter flavored Crisco)

Combine first 4 ingredients and let set 10 minutes. Combine milk, sugar, eggs, salt and Crisco. Add yeast mixture. Add about 3 cups of flour (I use Gold Medal Bread flour for a lighter roll) and mix well. Let rest and then add enough flour to make a soft dough (about another 3 cups). Turn out on floured surface and knead til smooth. Let rise until doubled. Roll 1/2 out into a rectangle. Smear with softened butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon (I eyeball this until it looks good and bad for you). Roll up and cut in 1" slices (a pizza cutter is AWESOME for this). Place in greased pan and let rise about a hour. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes. It yields about 2 dozen rolls.

Once they're baked and somewhat cooled off I like to ice them with a basic powdered sugar icing. I dump an entire bag of powdered sugar into my Kitchenaid Mixer and then add 2 tsp vanilla, 2 Tbsp butter and then milk until it's the right consistency. Then I just goop it all over the tops of the rolls. If you wait until they're too cool the icing just sits on top. We like to put it on when they're warm enough to melt the icing.

Let me know what you think! They take a lot of time but it's time well spent :)