Cinnamon rolls

I love cinnamon rolls.  My mom used to make them all the time, and I helped her on occasion.  They were pretty labor intensive.  I don't know that I have her recipe, but I'm guessing that she used her regular bread dough recipe for the base.  The fillings varied.  She usually didn't frost them.  Instead, she made "sticky buns".  She would put butter, sugar, cinnamon in the bottom of the pan when she put in the rolls.  Sometimes she'd add raisins or walnuts in the filling too.  I was a big walnut fan, but I think my stepdad liked the raisins.

Anyway, I've never made them before.  Several years ago, some friends from up north were visiting (we just visited them on spring break) and they gave me an America's Test Kitchen cookbook.  I have never made anything from it, but I mentally bookmarked the "quick" cinnamon roll recipe.  This must have been close to 10 years ago. 

Today, I finally made them.  The "quick" part of them is that they are made with a biscuit-type dough, not a yeast dough.  Boy, Paula Deen would be proud...lots of butter.  They took me about an hour or so to make (I had help from my 6 year old).  They are labor intensive, as all cinnamon rolls are, but not very difficult.

Step 1 is to grease the pan and make the filling.
Step 2 is to make the dough, and the liquid is buttermilk and melted butter, so that was pretty easy.
Step 3 is to pat out the dough into a rectangle, no rolling.
Step 4 is to fill and roll.
Step 5 is to cut and put in pan.
Step 6 is to frost.

I didn't much care for the frosting, which also had buttermilk in it.  Too much tang.  Next time I won't use buttermilk in the frosting.

One disadvantage is that they say they are only good for about 2 hours because they are made of biscuit dough.  We'll be testing that out for sure.  Reheating can do wonders I think. 

Last night we had folks over for an Easter Ham Dinner.  Boy, we haven't had people over in forever.  I was too busy cooking, talking, and eating to take pictures.  We had spiral ham, aloo gobi, salad with olives, oranges, and cucumbers.  We snacked on strawberries, crackers, cheese, and hummus before dinner (the couple with the 1.5 year old were WAY late, but that's what happens - you cannot predict naptime).  We had ice cream cones after.  We bought beer for the boys (one of the other women was pregnant too), but not a single beer was drank (drunk?)  Anyway, I think the spouse is going to take the beer with him on this business trip.  We already had 3 beers in the fridge from 6 months ago.