Prep Time: 6 hours, 00 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 medium white potato
- 1 medium sweet potato
- 2 teaspoons dry instant yeast
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter plus 1/4 cup melted butter plus 2 tablespoons more for glaze
- 1 cup milk
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 5 - 6 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup light brown sugar plus 1/2 cup more for glaze
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons corn syrup
- 1/4 cup cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla or 1 tablespoon rum
- pinch of salt
- 1/4 cup butter for icing
- 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- pinch salt
- 3-4 tablespoons of milk
Preparation:
- Boil peeled potatoes until soft. Mash potatoes thoroughly or run cooked potatoes through a food mill. You should have about 1 packed cup of mashed potatoes. (You can freeze any leftovers in a ziplock bag for the next batch).
- In the bowl of a standing mixer, dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup of warm (not hot) water.
- Place 1/2 cup butter (1 stick) in a heat-proof bowl. Bring milk to a boil, and pour over butter to melt it. Let cool until it is just warm.
- Add cooled mashed potatoes to yeast. Add sugar, eggs, salt, and one cup of flour. Start to mix on low speed with the dough hook attachment.
- Add milk and butter mixture slowly, and gradually add the remaining flour, one cup at a time.
- Knead dough for 5 to 10 minutes, until smooth and stretchy. Dough will be sticky, but not wet.
- Place dough in lightly greased bowl and allow to rise until double in size (about 1 1/2 to 2 hours). Dough can rise in the refrigerator as well, for 4 to 6 hours or overnight. It will rise more slowly, but will be easier to handle when chilled, and the flavor will be more developed.
- Turn dough onto well floured surface. With floured rolling pin, roll dough out into a large thin rectangle, about 3/8 inch thick. If the dough shrinks back to a smaller size, let it rest for 5 minutes and then continue to roll. You can separate the dough into two pieces and roll them out separately if you don't have a lot of counter space.
- Melt 1/4 cup butter. Brush dough with melted butter, but leave a inch wide border all around the edge free of butter.
- Mix 1 cup light brown sugar with 2 tablespoons of cinnamon. Sprinkle mixture generously over buttered rectangle of dough. (Use half of cinnamon sugar mixture if you are working with half of the dough).
- Starting with a long side of the rectangle, roll the dough up into a long spiral. Slice spiral into pieces about 1 1/2 inches wide. Dental floss or string work well for neat slices. Place slices of dough, cut side up, close to one another in a buttered pan with edges, such as a 12 by 18 jelly roll pan. Preheat oven to 425. Let rolls rise in a warm place until almost doubled in size.
- While the rolls are rising, make the glaze. Place 1/2 cup light brown sugar, 2 tablespoons butter and corn syrup in a pot and bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute, then remove from heat and whisk in cream, vanilla or rum, and salt.
- When rolls have risen, bake them for 12 to 15 minutes, until they feel slightly firm. Remove from oven and brush or drizzle the glaze over the rolls.
- Return rolls to the oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes more, until light golden brown.
- While rolls are cooling, make icing. Melt butter and whisk in powdered sugar, vanilla, and a pinch of salt. Add milk until icing has a just runny consistency. Drizzle over cinnamon rolls while still warm.
Makes about 15 large (4 inch diameter) cinnamon rolls, or 24 smaller (2 inch) rolls.
