Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls

I'm always searching for and creating new recipes.  I'm not the best at creating recipes when it comes to bread products and baking.  I haven't quite mastered how all these different flours work together.  So many times when it comes to baking recipes I search for them on other people's GF blogs.

I found this blog called "I Am Gluten Free" the other day and found a recipe for Cinnamon Rolls.  These rolls are AMAZING!!  No lie...fantastic.  I made them the other day when my family was in town (all who aren't gluten free) LOVED them.  This is definitely a recipe I will make again and again.

I agree with the blogger of this recipe - these are so friggin' good.  These are as good (if not better) than the ones you get at the mall....oh you know which ones I'm talking about and yes I am saying they are as good if not better than them!!!   The original recipe was a little too sweet soooo I cut back on the filling a bit.   The original recipe is listed below with a link to the blog I found it on.    You have to give these a try...super easy recipe with awesome results....trust me you won't be disappointed, I promise!

Cinammon 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) (*see Ellen's note at end of post)
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 confectionery sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
milk to thicken (I used soy milk)

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.