Here is the Recipe I use for my caramel rolls. This one takes some time and I usually start them the day before I need them!!
Recipe:
1 1/4 cup Warm Milk
1/2 cup Melted Butter
1 1/4 water heated to 110 degrees
2 tbsp active dry yeast
1 1/4 and 2 tbsp granulated sugar (keep seperate)
3 eggs
8-9 cups AP Flour
2 tsp Cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla
Directions:
Add yeast to water and let it sit for 5 minutes until froth appears and mixture doubles in size. While waiting mix butter and milk in a separate container with vanilla. In a third container add all dry ingredients and 3 eggs. Once yeast is ready add along with milk mixture to the dry and mix with a spatula until a dough forms. Dump dough on a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic. about 8 minutes. Put back into a floured bowl and cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm spot. Allow dough to rest for about an hour or until doubled in size.
Once the dough has doubled in size place it on a larger floured surface. A bigger counter or table will work. Using a rolling pin carefully roll the dough into a rectangle. This will be about a foot wide and 2 feet in length depending on how thin you roll out the dough. You can rub your palm carefully across entire surface of dough to help find any thicker spots. The dough should be completely smooth and you should feel no bumps. Once you are happy with the roll out move on to the filling.
Filling
1 cup Melted Butter
2 tsp Vanilla
1/2 cup Flour
1 1/2 Brown sugar
1 1/2 Granulated Sugar
3/4 cup Cinnamon
pinch of salt
For this step it is best to mix all of the dry in a bowl before doing anything. I like to stir the dry as well to make sure everything gets mixed together equally. Set the dry close to your rolled out dough. Now grab your melted butter and vanilla and carefully pour onto the middle of your dough. Using one hand now spread the butter across the entire surface of the dough. Grab the dry with hopefully your one remaining dry hand and dump onto the dough. Using both hands spread across the butter and entire dough surface. You want to try and evenly distribute across the entire surface. You can again carefully drag the palm of your hand across the entire surface looking for any uneven spots. Now its time to roll the dough, but if your anything like me you need to clean your hands first!
Starting at which ever end your comfortable with you are going to take a corner and start rolling. You should be rolling lengthwise. The trick is really to just take your time and don't pull the dough to much. I like to just roll back and forth like a typewriter until you have one giant log. With a sharp knife cut the log in to 1 1/2 to 2 inch width pieces. You should be able to get 18 rolls for sure. Feel free to cut smaller if desired and push to 24 rolls from this recipe. Now its time for the caramel!
Caramel
1.5 qt Vanilla ice cream
1lb brown sugar
1/2 melted butter
Pinch of salt
I typically just guesstimate this recipe and taste as I go to decide if it needs more sugar. This is basically what you use and if any remains I freeze for my next batch. You can microwave this recipe or place in a pot on the stove and melt that way. Basically either way you choose you want to melt the butter first, then add the remaining ingredients and heat until everything is combined making sure to stir occasionally. There is no need to boil this caramel you just want it warm enough for sugar to dissolve.
Ok so I use those Aluminum Foil Roasting pans because they are a little deeper, but any baking pan will work. If you are using a generic 9x13 I would only place in 6 rolls max. First though you want to put in 3 1/2 to 4 cups of caramel. Then add the 6 rolls to the pan giving them plenty of room to proof. You could experiment with adding more rolls but you would most likely need to subtract caramel to prevent over flow and dirtying up your oven! Now you need to cover the rolls with plastic wrap and let them proof. I prefer to let them sit overnight giving them 12 or more hours to proof. You could find a warmer spot in your kitchen however and speed up the proofing time. You definitely want to get them to double or triple in size.
Once it is time to bake the rolls you need to preheat your oven to 375 degrees. It will take 25 to 27 minutes and I like to check every ten minutes and rotate the pan if they appear to be browning to much on either side. The first couple times you might put a pan under as well to catch any caramel that bubbles out. If you have a thermometer you can check the rolls by tempting the middles. I like to take them past 185 degrees. you could also insert a tooth pick into the dough just to make sure they are done. The time for me has always been fairly consistent for this recipe, but every oven is different so just keep an eye on them. You don't want a raw center but you also want to be careful not to over bake them. Once they are done you simply need to way 5 to 10 minutes for them to cool. If you have a sheet pan you can carefully flip them onto the sheet pan once they are cool.
Now you can kick back and relax and stuff your face full of caramel rolls. This is a big recipe, but it is super easy and very yummy. Just make sure to give yourself plenty of time! let me know how this works for you!!
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