Mini Cinnamon Rolls

I have been away for a bit, guest posting over at Meg the Grand about sewing. It had nothing to do with cooking, but I did cook. This is what I made, and they did not last long. One of the sewers literally inhaled these. I say literally, because after eating a few of them she placed one in her mouth and inhaled sharply. She then started making frantic gestures that we assumed were choking panic signals. It turns out she just wanted more cinnamon rolls crammed into her mouth. It's how she wanted to go, and I respect that.

Today is Superbowl day. I don't care. I do not follow football and neither does Megan, unless it's the Steelers. I used to watch the Superbowl for the commercials, but now you can view those online even before the Superbowl. Still, there are a lot of people who have parties and make massive amounts of food for this happening. I'm all for that. Most of the food made tends to be salty in nature. Things like pigs in a blanket, cheeseburger dip, nacho platters, and-for the more discerning pallet-deep fried sea salt. I thought it would be nice to put up something both sweet and insanely easy to make. Let me repeat, easy. If you have just suffered serious brain injury, this is the recipe for you.

MINI CINNAMON ROLLS:

1 tube croissant roll dough ($1.29)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter ($1.99 for 16 oz.)
Sugar to taste ($2.59 for 4 lbs.)
Cinnamon to taste ($0.99 for 2.5 oz.)
1 cup powdered sugar ($1.49 for 2 lbs.)
1 1/2 tablespoons hot water

I made a mention in my last post using croissant roll dough about how much I dislike this stuff. Well, here I am posting about it again. Yeah. It works for this recipe, and making actual croissant dough is a pain in the ass. So, preheat the oven to 350. Take the dough out of the tube and line up 4 of the croissants side by side. Pinch all the seams closed, then flip and do the same to the other side.

Roll out the jointed triangles to 1/4". Now, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a small dish. Coat one side of the dough with the melted butter. Not all the melted butter, just enough to get the cinnamon and sugar to stick. Now, get the cinnamon and sugar to stick by putting it on the dough. Use however much you want. If you like a sweeter cinnamon roll, use more sugar. I would go with about 2 1/2 tablespoons (as I like the icing to bring the sweetness).

Roll up the dough into a tube and cut it into 8 equal pieces. Now do the same to the rest of the dough from the tube.

Put the rolls in a mini muffin tin and pop them in the oven for 15 minutes. If you don't use Aldi roll dough, follow the baking instructions on the can.

Photo credit: Mina Kang (Korean girl with a camera)

While the rolls are baking (15 minutes) you can make the icing. Mix the other 2 tablespoons of butter and powdered sugar in a bowl. Add the water 1 tablespoon and then 1 teaspoon at a time until creamy and workable. I like to dip the rolls into the icing when they are done. You can either wait for the rolls to cool or dip them while warm to have the icing melt into the roll. 

Photo credit: that Korean girl I mentioned earlier

That's it. The first time I made these they lasted less than an hour with Megan and I. The next time, they lasted a few minutes. We keep buying more roll dough just to make these.