In case Alton Brown, or Rachel Ray, or Jaime Oliver haven’t burned it into your head yet, here’s a news flash, kids love to cook. Really they just love to make a mess and sprinkle flour around, eat raw dough, and stir things for about 3 seconds, but THEY think it’s cooking. And in some cases, simple stuff like breakfast foods, they actually ARE cooking.
Let’s talk about making some cinnamon rolls with your kid on a Saturday morning with no directions, barely enough ingredients, and no recipe using dough from Friday night pizza night.
Step 1: Friday night make some simple pizza dough, get some sauce and cheese and declare FAMILY PIZZA NIGHT.
Yes you can enjoy pizza night along with a couple SoCo Manhattans or some wine for your lady or fella.
Step 2: On Saturday morning tell your kids you’re going to surprise (mommy, daddy, girlfriend, boyfriend, grandma, etc) with some super secret breakfast.
Kids also enjoy surprises.
Step 3: Roll out the dough.
If you had the dough in the fridge all night you probably should have gotten up 2 hours before and set it on the counter to warm up. If you forgot, like I did, you can stick it on an heating vent or something. It’ll get a little hard and bloat all up but you shouldn’t have forgotten to let it warm up. Anyway, let the kids roll it out to 16-inch pizza size.
Step 4: Spread butter or margarine (something that comes in a tub) around on the dough.
Spread the butter around but leave the last inch or 2 unbuttered so it’ll stick together later when you roll it up. You’ll see what I mean down in step 10. The rolls might start to unroll. Something soft works best, that’s why I suggest a tub of butter-like substance. If you got up to let the dough warm up on the counter you could also get a stick of butter out and let that soften on the counter as well.
Step 5: Sprinkle sugar around all over the butter.
I’m not sure there’s a lot more to say about this step except, guess what, your kid is going to make a mess with the sugar getting it all over. Just let it go for now.
Step 6: Sprinkle cinnamon around
Not TOO much, not too little, just enough. This will have to be your moment of Zen when you FEEL it’s enough.
Step 7: Roll up the dough.
The rolling it up is what makes it a cinnamon roll, get it? Roll it up tight and at the last part that probably shouldn’t have been buttered should stick to the backside to hold it all together.
Step 8: Chop up the roll and put on a cookie sheet
I sprayed the cookie sheet with some spray, butter-flavored probably, maybe canola, doesn’t matter, just don’t use olive oil.
Step 9: Make frosting.
For some reason I remember that you can just make frosting with powdered sugar and milk. Start with putting sugar in a bowl and adding tiny bits of milk until it’s something that can be drizzled.
Step 10: Cook them for like 15 minutes on 325 or 350.
I’m not sure of the temperature, but I pretty much think everything usually bakes at like 350 right? Isn’t that always on cookie or brownie directions? See how mine kinda opened up? I think that’s why you don’t butter the whole thing, the last bit probably would’ve stuck together if it wasn’t buttered.
Step 11: Drizzle and eat.
Mmmmm. Almost all home made.
4 Comments
Theolyn
Pete, nice to see that you haven’t lost your wit! :) “Your moment of Zen when you FEEL it’s enough…” “Everything bakes at like 350, right?” Great job on the blog! We met once or twice when you came to town to see a Run DMC, Beastie Boys or somesuch concert. Theddi
Pete Fazio
I remember you. That must have been 1987 Together Forever tour. Geez. Well please help spread the word. This will be fun. The daily email of posts is going to be your best friend, go sign up. Who doesn’t want a daily dose of Pete and Marty?
Mick Lovin
Awesome ~ thanks for the idea!! I have my daughter every other weekend & last week we made s’mores. she just wanted to microwave them, but that’s not proper marshmallow burning etiquette… I fired up the charcoal grill with a little bit of briquettes & we made them as closed to over a camp fire as we could muster… she loved it!!
for her next visit, I got some more marshmallows & some rice crisp cereal… gonna have to make 2 batches because I like peanut butter in mine (sometimes I question if she is my kid) LOL.
I’ll save the cinnamon roll idea for the next time around!! Love this site, stumbled across it via Facebook on Black & Decker’s page! :D
Pete Fazio
The cinnamon rolls are really easy. You can also use a tube roll of crescent rolls (the kind that pop open) and just sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon on them before you roll them up into rolls. Plus she’ll love whacking the tube on the edge of the table til it pops.