Saturday, August 27, 2011

An Ode to The Pioneer Woman - Maple Bacon Cinnamon Rolls





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Today Ree Drummond better known as the Pioneer Woman aired her first TV show on the Food Network. I hope you caught it cause it was pretty cute. I've been a huge fan of her website, particularly her recipes, for quite a while know.

My absolute favorite of her recipes is the sticky bun or cinnamon roll recipe. I've made a ton of different variations of the recipe such as chocolate chip cinnamon rolls, caramel apple cinnamon rolls, cinnamon chip rolls, and even a pumpkin cinnamon rolls. But today's was inspired by my recent trip to - I made the ultimate in breakfast cinnamon rolls - the Maple Bacon! And let me tell you it was everything I expected and more. I took Ree's original Maple Cinnamon Roll recipe and tweaked it based various maple bacon cupcake and cinnamon roll recipes on the internet - what did people do before Google?!

Before I get to the recipe I need to share my stellar example of parenting. While I was in the middle of making the cinnamon rolls Naughty 1 came into the kitchen and asked for an apple. I told her I didn't think we had any but she should check. She looked in the fruit basket and said no we didn't have any apples "but look how about I have this instead" holding up a bag of veggie chips. I promptly said "No you can't have chips for breakfast because their not healthy" as I crumble bits of bacon on to dough that has been doused in sugar, butter and bacon fat. That's a parenting win if I've ever heard of one.

Maple Bacon Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients:
Rolls:
1 recipe of The Pioneer Woman's Sticky Buns dough (note the recipe I linked to make TWO pans so halve it)
1/2 package of bacon cooked well done, SAVE THE GREASE
2 tablespoons butter melted
1/3 cup sugar
A generous sprinkle of cinnamon

Icing
3/4 - 1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 drops of maple extract
2-3 tablespoons of bacon grease
A splash of left over coffee
A splash of milk

Directions:
Make the dough the night before so it can firm up in the refrigerator over night.
The next morning while the bacon is cooking roll out the dough into a large rectangle. Be sure to use enough flour on your surface or you'll have trouble rolling up the dough.
Once the bacon is cooked mix 2-3 tablespoons of bacon grease with the melted butter, reserve another 2-3 tablespoons of grease for the icing. Add 1/8th of a teaspoon of maple extract to the butter grease mixture, then pour and spread evenly over the rolled out dough. Sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon evenly over the dough. Then crumble 2/3rds of the cooked bacon on to the dough.




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Roll up the dough being sure to make a tight roll. Cut and place into a pan cut side down, not too tightly packed.




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Allow the rolls to rise at least 30 minutes but longer if you can wait (we went to the park for 2 hours while they rose.) The picture is post rising! See the bacon pieces!!!




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Bake at 375 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

While the rolls are baking mix all the ingredients for the icing together. Use your judgement - add more milk if it's too thick, more powdered sugar if it's too thin.




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When the rolls are done baking, pour on the icing and topped with the left over bacon. Send Tanya a thank you note.




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These beauties are a perfect blend of sweet and salty and bacon-y goodness.





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