These are amazingly easy to make and make your house smell incredibly good while you are doing so. Admittedly, though they are a force for good, even their super power aroma while baking was not a powerful enough force to blast L. from his adolescent slumber/stupor. Then again, neither does the alarm held right up to his ear.
I tend to make these when I have leftover dough from something else but it is a good enough recipe to make on its own rather than as an afterthought. They make for a good festive breakfast and people will be amazed and complimentary of your culinary prowess. Since the dough is very resilient, I tend to make the cinnamon rolls the night before, leave them in the fridge overnight and cook them while I am making coffee and organizing the rest of breakfast.
Recipe
Makes 12-16 rolls (8 if you are greedy)
1 batch of bun dough, here
2 tsps to 1 1/2 Tbsps cinnamon depending on how much you like it
3/4 cup crushed walnuts
1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup brown sugar
Sprinkling of sea salt
Follow the instructions for the bun dough linked above up until the moment of the second rising and the shaping of the buns.
At the end of your first rising, lay the dough out on a lightly floured board. Press out into a square shape. You can use a rolling pin for this but I tend to just use my fingers. Do not overwork the dough and do not press/roll it too thin (about a cm is good)
Spread the butter over the dough. Cover the surface with the remaining ingredients. I tend to keep a light touch with cinnamon as I find it overwhelming but most Americans seem to enjoy a more cinnamon-y taste than I do so you may want more than my scant 2 tsps. You can substitute pecans for walnuts if you want. You can add more sugar if you want the rolls sweeter than I might. You can omit the sugar entirely and use 3/4 cup of chocolate or butterscotch chips instead. The sky's the limit!
Roll the dough up lengthwise into a fat sausage and seal the seam lightly with your fingers. Using a sharp knife cut the dough into pieces; I can usually manage anywhere between 12 and 16 pieces depending on how high I want the finished rolls to be.
Place the pieces side by side in an ovenproof container. I use a layer cake tin; keep in mind that you want the pieces to fit snugly into the container. Cover with a wet tea towel and allow to rise again for a couple of hours before baking (or at this juncture place in the fridge until you need them - also covered with a wet tea towel).
When ready for baking - preheat oven to 400. I have cooked the refrigerated version directly from the fridge as well as after having them come to room temperature. If you have the time to let them come to room temperature they seem to rise a little higher during cooking but straight from fridge to oven works as well though you may have to add an extra 5 minutes or so of cooking time.
Bake for 25-35 minutes until the dough is golden brown on top and the sugar has caramelized and oozed out of the rolls a little. Allow to rest in the tin for 10 minutes and then invert onto a serving dish. Tear off warm rolls as desired.