Cinnamon Rolls with Walnuts and Caramel Icing

I was sifting through my collection of recipes for variations of cinnamon buns, and I came up with this one, as it involves nuts.  It was little bit of a variation, so I decided to try it out.  I found the original recipe a tad sweet, so I adjusted the recipe and retried it again, just so that I know that it is the way that I like it.

Ingredients for the rolls:
1 cup milk
¼ cup butter
3 ½ cups bread flour, divided
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 package rapid rise yeast
1 egg
1 yolk

Ingredients for the filling:
3 tbsp. butter, room temperature
¼ cup brown sugar, packed
¼ cup white sugar
¼ cup finely chopped walnuts
1 tbsp. cinnamon

Ingredients for the caramel icing:
2 tbsp. butter, melted
2 tbsp. milk
¼ cup brown sugar
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1½ cups powdered sugar

 

Rolls:  Heat the milk until warm to touch.  Remove from microwave and add the butter. Stir for a minute until butter is melted, then set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine 2 cups of flour, the sugar, the yeast and the salt.  Mix until ingredients are combined.  Add milk mixture to the mixing bowl and work the dough until dry ingredients are incorporated. Add egg and egg yolk and mix until combined.

On a clean surface, sift the remaining flour and incorporated into the rest of the ingredients. Continue to knead until the dough completely pulls away from the surface (approximately 5 minutes).

Coat a mixing bowl with oil and cover with warm damp towel.  Let it rest and rise to double the size.  Approximately 1 hour.

Filling:  While dough is resting, make the filling. Combine brown sugar, white sugar, walnuts and cinnamon.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough with a rolling pin into a 12×14-inch rectangle. With a table knife, spread rectangle with the 3 tablespoons softened butter.

Sprinkle evenly with the sugar/walnut/cinnamon mixture.

Starting at a longer edge of the dough, tightly roll into a log. Pinch seam to seal. With a dough cutter or serrated knife cut log into 8 equal size pieces. Use very light pressure to cut. Place cut side up into prepared pan, spacing evenly. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise until double, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375˚F.

Bake for 20- 25 minutes, until golden and dough in center is done. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes before drizzling with caramel icing. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Icing:  When the rolls are baking, make the icing. Heat the butter and milk in a medium sauce pan.  Add brown sugar and stir to combine to make sure mixture is not grainy.  Take off the heat and add vanilla and powdered sugar and stir till smooth and lump-free. Icing should be fairly thin but not runny. If it’s too thick, add a bit more milk. If too thin add a bit more powdered sugar.

***To freeze, place rolls in freezer uncovered for 1 hour, then wrap tightly with plastic wrap or foil and return to freezer.