The Cinnamon Roll Of Your Dreams

Cinnamon rolls are one of the things I miss the most since I've been gluten free. My friend Jasika sent me a link to these cinnamon rolls on iamglutenfree.blogspot.com and they are AMAZING :-) There are step by step instructions and photos here: http://snipurl.com/v8pn4
We made them last night and wrapped them up to bake in the morning. They were so good my husband claims they're better than a regular gluten-filled cinnamon roll!
Make sure to pay attention to the notes. They really do
make it better! And the photo above is exactly how they look - perfect with coffee, milk or tea.

Below is the recipe with the notes from the blogger:
Cinnamon Rolls
Serves 8 or 9

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons shortening (I used butter)
1/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup of milk, room temperature
1 packet yeast (about 1 tablespoon)
1 egg
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup potato starch
1 cup corn starch (someone subbed arrowroot successfully)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 teaspoons xantham gum
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

TO SPRINKLE ON BOARD COVERED WITH PLASTIC WRAP
1 - 2 tablespoons sugar

FILLING (*see Ellen's note at end of post)
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
1/3 cup chopped nuts - optional

GLAZE
¾ cup powdered or confectionary sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
milk to thicken (I used soymilk)

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In medium bowl, combine shortening and sugar. Mix well. Measure warm milk and add yeast to milk. Whisk well to fully dissolve (**see Ellen’s note).

Add milk/yeast to sugar mixture. Add remaining ingredients. Mix very well, being sure to remove all lumps. Dough will be quite soft (***see Ellen’s note).

Take a piece of plastic wrap and lay it out so it covers a 13 1/2" x 13 1/2" square. Sprinkle sugar on the wrap. Lay ball of dough on top of that. Then pull out another sheet of wrap and gently lay over the dough. Pat the dough down into a roughly squarish pancake. Lift the top wrap up and then reposition it. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough in between the two layers of wrap. Occasionally you'll have to lift and reposition the wrap because it gets "stuck" under the edges. You might have to occasionally flip the whole thing over. Make sure that when you're done you've got ABOUT a 13 1/2" x 13 1/2" square of dough.

Remove top piece of wrap. Combine filling ingredients. Spread evenly across dough's surface. (Original recipe poster suggested leaving about a 1 1/2" sugar free edge because when you roll the dough all the sugar shifts and fills this in; otherwise all the sugar spills out).Use the bottom piece of wrap to lift the edge of the dough and start to roll it up forming a long cylinder. Start with the sugary edge, which will be the center of your roll and roll toward the sugarless edge. Cut off or trim up the irregular ends of your "log". Then cut into 8 or 9 slices of similar size, about 1 1/2" wide. Place rolls into a greased round glass pie pan.

Bake approximately 20 minutes, until tops are lightly browned.

Combine powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk to make glaze. The amount of milk you use will depend on how thick you want the glaze to be. Stir until all lumps are dissolved. Drizzle over warm rolls if desired.

Notes:
*I thought the rolls were a bit too sweet, so the next time I make them I will cut the amount of filling ingredients to about 2/3 of what the recipe calls for.
**It seems odd that the recipe doesn't call for proofing the yeast. I decided to cover the milk and yeast mixture with plastic wrap and allow it to at least begin proofing.
***The mixture is very, very soft - I was convinced that I'd made a mistake, but it ended up being fine.