Healthier Cinnamon Rolls

I have been craving cinnamon rolls for a long time now, and my first assumption is that it must have something to do with the cold weather we’ve been having here in Oslo. When it’s cold outside – get warm inside, and what is warmer and more “cozy” than fresh, fluffy cinnamon rolls?

Cinnamon Rolls

1 cup milk (LETT or low fat milk 1%)

6 tbs margarine

6 tbs sugar

8g dry yeast

3 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 large egg (or two small)

1/4 tsp salt

2/3 cup brown sugar

Cinnamon

---

1. In a small saucepan, heat up milk, 3 tbs margarine and 1 tbs of the sugar on low temperature until the margarine has melted and the sugar has dissolved. Once the mixture is luke-warm, add the dry yeast and stir until it dissolves.

2. In a seperate large mixing bowl, put the remaining 5 tbs of sugar in with the 3 3/4 cup of flour and add the salt. Crack in the egg(s) but don’t mix it yet.

3. Pour the milk-mixture into the bowl of flour and mix with a wooden spoon. The trick now is finding the right amount of flour. For my sake the dough was too sticky at this point, so I kneaded a little more and more flour into the dough until it didn’t stick to the counter but DON’T PUT TOO MUCH FLOUR IN! It should stick just barely, but not to the point where you have to peel pieces off the counter.

4. Put the dough back into the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and a towel and let rise for approx. 35min or until doubled in size.

5. Roll out the dough to the shape of a square, about 1 cm thick (0.4"inches). Melt the leftover 3 tbs of butter and pour it over the dough, spreading it evenly all over. Then spread the brown sugar and desired amount of cinnamon evenly across the dough.

6. Roll the dough tightly into a sausage, then cut into desired slices (about 4-5 cm or 1.5-2inches). Place them on a baking sheet and cover. Let rise for 35 minutes in a warm place. Preheat oven at 175*C (350*F).

7. Uncover and bake rolls for approx. 20 minutes or until golden. Remember to let them cool before digging in!

8. Now to the healthy part; take one and put the rest in the freezer!

This recipe is inspired by THIS recipe on Cooking Light, however I ended up doing some of my own twists (which is the recipe I wrote above). If my recipe is anything like the one on Cooking Light these cinnamon rolls are only 234cal, and their recipe included frosting so they might even be less without the frosting (I didn’t make frosting)!

Enjoy!