Some of you may be wondering why there is an image of Michael Scott, branch manager of Dunder Mifflen Scranton, on the beginning of this post. Well let me start by saying that this isn’t actually Sara typing, it’s her husband Eric. If you’re an avid reader of this blog you may feel like you know Sara. You might know she’s obsessed with chocolate and limes. You might know she can’t swallow a plain cherry tomato even if her life depended on it. You might even know she cringes at the word “panties.” However, one thing you might not know is that she’s completely accident prone. Especially in the kitchen. Which is why it didn’t come as too much of a surprise this morning when my dear, sweet wife grabbed the handle of a skillet just moments after it came out of a 500-degree oven. Yeah, ouch. For those of you who are fans of The Office and have seen this famous episode, you know the rest of the story. One clean CT scan later…we’ve determined that Sara’s okay, too. Unfortunately, her hand now has frostbite from sitting in a bath of freezing cold ice all day, so she has asked me to type for her. I assure you that she will quickly recover and be back to writing witty commentary soon…thank goodness for bubble wrap.
The recipe today is awesome. I’m an average guy, so I think it’s awesome because it tastes amazing. But Sara tells me it’s awesome because there’s NO yeast in it. Just a bunch of other random stuff that somehow lets it fake being a real cinnamon roll. No yeast means no rising and no waiting and no nightmares for all of you yeast-o-phobes. You just mix it, roll it, bake it, and eat it. I think even a guy could do it. (And by guy, I’m not talking about the food-blogging guys who are actually reading this post, I’m talking about the average Joe who likes to eat, but probably doesn’t even know where things such as baking soda are even stored in their kitchen. Sara tells me I have to specify this or she’ll get hate mail from hoards of offended man-foodies. For the record, I totally hooked Sara on our first date when I impressed her with my mad cooking skills. Two words: Boboli Pizza.)
Alright, from this point on I’m turning it over to Sara and typing exactly what she says because this is taking way too long with her making me delete all of the inappropriate commentary. (But come on, she actually told me to write something about disliking soggy nuts. Really? You think I can let that one go?)
No Yeast Sweet Rolls
adapted from Fine Cooking
For the dough:
3/4 cup cottage cheese (4% milk fat)
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup granulated sugar
4 Tbs real butter, melted
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
9 oz. (2 cups) flour; more for rolling
1 Tbs. baking powder
1/2 tsp. table salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
Orange Roll Filling:
4T butter, softened
1/2 C sugar
zest from one orange
Orange Roll Glaze:
2/3 C powdered sugar
1 T melted butter
2 T Orange juice
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
In a food processor, combine the cottage cheese, buttermilk, sugar, melted butter, and vanilla.
Process until smooth, about 10 seconds. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda and pulse in short bursts just until the dough clumps together (don’t over-process). The dough will be very soft, probably softer than you’re used to. Don’t add anymore flour!
Scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times just until smooth.
Roll the dough into a rectangle, about 12×15 inches.
Now put your filling on. The pictures below are from when I made the recipe as written in Fine Cooking. We decided we weren’t too fond of nuts inside the rolls themselves because they tend to get soft after baking. I did, however, like the addition of the allspice and cloves. Next time I’ll probably stick to my normal cinnamon roll filling, but still include the extra spices.
After it’s filled, you know the drill. Roll it, slice it, dice and entice it….(totally my husband’s line)
Okay now, forget about cinnamon rolls…my family inhaled the orange roll version. Pretty self explanatory-same drill, just with orange roll filling. If you have a favorite recipe, use it or use my quick version as noted above.
After the rolls are filled and cut. Place them in a pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. The recipe in Fine Cooking tells you to bake the rolls in a springform pan. However, the batch I cooked in a spring form pan were very overdone on the bottom. I cooked my orange rolls in a ceramic pie pan and they were perfect. So I suggest using a glass or ceramic pan vs. a springform pan.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Not gonna lie–I was completely doubtful when these went into the oven. But when they came out? Wow!
When the rolls have a few minutes left in the oven. Whisk your glaze ingredients together. When the rolls are done cooking, let them cool for five minutes. Then spread the glaze on and eat those suckers warm. They are seriously so soft and tender and delicious! You’ll be so surprised.
These are definitely best fresh out of the oven. We had some that sat out all day and they weren’t nearly as delicious. Check out these pictures, you’d never know these were made out of some weird cottage cheese mixture.
See how light and soft they are inside?
As delicious as these are, I don’t think they are a replacement for a normal sweet roll cooked with yeast. However, that’s because it would be like comparing oranges to tangerines. These are super yummy, quick and easy, and you have to give them a shot to see what I mean. I guarantee this dough will come in handy. I’m loving it for the morning hours when I don’t want to get up at the crack of dawn to allow normal rising time. Or for an event where I need something done at a very specific time. Or when I have a craving and need a cinnamon roll NOW not 2 hours from now!
I’d like to try it out in some of these too:
Easy breakfast roll
Kate’s hot pockets
Filled with Kate’s garlic roll filling
Eric here. One last thing. If you’ve ever wondered if Sara really is the young mother of two she claims to be and not some scary old man, some of you can finally know the answer. If you’re in Utah, tune into KSL’s Studio 5 this Thursday (Sept. 17th) to see Sara cooking up a storm. And let’s all pray her hand is functioning by then.
Questions & Reviews
Too funny! I love your blog and can't wait to try these – they look so much better than from a can! Also, I've wanted to ask since you made the pizza rolls – what kind of pan IS that blue one? It's so pretty!
michael scott is REGIONAL manager!
Oh these look SO good!!!
YOur hubbys writing is just hilarious!!!Feel better!
I admit I am a yeast-o-phobe. It scares the crap out of me. I try it from time to time but its probably the one reason I dont make my bread from scratch. (believe me, I've tried, it just never turns out very well)
MMM.. orange. Im excited.
Sara I hope you feel better, definitely know how that feels and I went ouch when I started to read that.
Eric.. I would definitely not be able to hold back with the soggy nuts comment. LOL.
Charna
Very funny post! It's always fun to hear what food blogger's other halves think of their cooking/blogging/etc! Sorry to hear about your hand, Sara! This sounds like the perfect recipe for me – I always want last-minute breads/rolls but don't have the time to wait for them to rise. I will give this a try next time!
I am so sorry about your hand, Sara–burns are SO not fun! (and I am speaking from experience. Aloe vera and tea tree oil helped me)
I'm NOT a yeast-o-phobe, but these look awesome. Sometimes you just need a quick homemade treat (which sometimes doesn't go together). My husband and I have been dessert-free for 2 1/2 weeks (trying to cut back in the three week space between kids' birthdays), but guess which dessert recipe I'm trying on Sunday–these look divine!
These look really good and easy too! Congratulations on the Studio 5 segment. I love that show and will be sure to set my DVR and tell all my friends to watch too. Hope your hand feels better soon!
I can't wait to try these! I am so excited to not have to wait for them to rise! I hope your hand feels better quickly!
Your blog is AWESOME! I love it! I can't believe I just found it today. Keep up the great work and the amazing recipes! BTW, I feel as if I can smell the orange cinnamon rolls through the computer screen. I hope your hand feels better, Sara!
So sorry about your hand, that is the pits! Your hubs was hysterical, I thoroughly enjoyed this post. And I can't wait to see you on Studio 5. I love that show!!
I love that my word verification is "fanism" I'm definitely a fan 🙂
Hope your hand gets better quickly Sara! It was you who needed the bandaid at Maceys too, wasn't it?
Sorry about your hand Sara, but it was pretty amusing to have your husband type the recipe. THe Cinnamon/orange rolls look easy and delicious. Looking forward to trying it!
I have a no-rise dough recipe and it is so easy and yummy! I'm anxious to try this one too! Thanks!
Bwahahahaha. . .
Seriously – this post made. my day. I just want to die right now – laughing.
But not before I devour a pan of those rolls.
No yeast?? for real?? You ARE magic, Sara.
I hope your hand heals soon! I will try to watch on Thursday. I did Studio 5 once and it was so fun. Everyone is so nice. You will be GREAT!
delurking to say i hope your hand heals quickly and your husband is very entertaining!
love your blog. keep up the good work!
hah!! please have him guest more often, complete with dirty jokes. cant wait to try the rolls.
Oh yikes!! Feel better Sara!! These sounds amazing. I love yeast less cinnamon rolls 🙂 I love when John does guest blogs for me, to fun. I say bring in all the husbands to make us laugh every so often 🙂
Wow, great food and entertainment too! I read your blog all the time, but have never commented; have tried all kids of receipes though. ( I love lime too!) Can't wait to try these rolls, and your husband is hilarious. Not to say you aren't funny as well!
You are the bestest Eric. So funny…. and you can cook too. I am impressed. Ron does a killer job of supporting me… but as for cooking… there he's not so great (you should see him "scramble" eggs…shudder).
Speaking of Ron… I am pretty sure he could polish off this entire pan of no yeast sweet rolls in one sitting (with a gallon of milk).
Feel better Sara!
YEEOUCH! Here's to getting better quickly.
Great job on the post Eric and for being a good hubby 🙂 these sound amazing!
Hey! Who knew Eric was so funny??? Total suckage about the hand, though. I'll have to see if I can watch the Studio 5 thing online somehow. OH, and totally appropriate picture since The Office finally starts back up this week. Wahoo!
Oh, and yeah, the rolls look yummy. I will have to be trying them.
Oh, no! I'm so sorry that you hurt your hand. I hope you'll be feeling better soon.
I enjoyed the post from your husband. Make sure he knows that plenty of men can cook, and not all women can cook. So, gender has absolutely nothing to do with one's cooking abilities. So, your hubby could definitely make this yummy-looking dish for you one day! 🙂
I'm sorry to hear about your accident! That was sweet of your hubby to type the post though 🙂 I am a yeast-o-phobe so this recipe would be right up my alley. Thanks for posting it 🙂
Sorry about your accident- sweet hubby for filling in.
The rolls look amazing.
Kuddos to hubby for writing your post and sharing his gift of "wit" with us!! So sorry to hear about your hand, hope it feels much better today. GREAT recipe!! I'm definitely trying this one, especially with no yeast. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for including us yeast-o-phobes in your recipe share…Husband gets props for writing and for having an excellent sense of humor. You get props for being 100% awesome.
And be grateful it was your hand on a skillet and not your foot in a George Foreman grill!
Best. Post. Ever. Seriously, Eric should be a guest typist more often. I'm still laughing… I saw the first line on facebook and I knew immediately what picture of Michael Scott was going to be there when I opened the blog LOL.
But really, these look/sound amazing. I just might have to make some tomorrow!
Oh and feel better, Sara 🙂
I totally agree!!! Eric, you’re hilarious!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sara, I hope your hand feels better soon!!!