Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls

There are times in your life to eat healthy, which I would say is MOST of the time in this house. Then there are times when your husband tells you that the one thing he misses from the pre gluten free days is a good warm cinnamon roll. Of course the kids are always willing participants, so online I went in search of somebody elses idea for cinnamon rolls, because FRANKLY.. I was at a loss. I do believe I have found the mother ship folks. These went together in about 30 minutes of prep work, no need to even rise. Popped them in the oven and WALAH!!! the best darn cinnamon rolls that my husband says he can remember tasting. Even better than the wheat variety according to him. So, with valentines day fast approaching, what better time to bake up these SWEETS for your SWEETIE. Mine loved them and you know they say there is no better way to a man's heart than through his sweet tooth. So, I am allowing this one indulgence for all of you out there who might like to go off the health wagon for the day. Enjoy.

Cinammon Rolls (recipe from http://www.iamglutenfree.blogspot.com/)

Serves 8 or 9

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons shortening (I used butter)

1/4 cup sugar

2/3 cup of milk, room temperature

1 packet yeast (about 1 tablespoon)

1 egg

1/4 cup canola oil

1/2 cup potato starch

1 cup corn starch (someone subbed arrowroot successfully)

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 1/2 teaspoons xantham gum

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

TO SPRINKLE ON BOARD COVERED WITH PLASTIC WRAP

1 - 2 tablespoons sugar

FILLING

1 cup brown sugar ( actually cut this down to 1/2 cup and had leftovers)

1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon

1/3 cup chopped nuts - optional

GLAZE

¾ cup powdered or confectionary sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

milk to thicken (I used soymilk)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In medium bowl, combine shortening and sugar. Mix well. Measure warm milk and add yeast to milk. Whisk well to fully dissolve. Add milk/yeast to sugar mixture. Add remaining ingredients. Mix very well, being sure to remove all lumps. Dough will be quite soft. Take a piece of plastic wrap and lay it out so it covers a 13 1/2" x 13 1/2" square. Sprinkle sugar on the wrap. Lay ball of dough on top of that. Then pull out another sheet of wrap and gently lay over the dough. Pat the dough down into a roughly squarish pancake. Lift the top wrap up and then reposition it. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough in between the two layers of wrap. Occasionally you'll have to lift and reposition the wrap because it gets "stuck" under the edges. You might have to occasionally flip the whole thing over. Make sure that when you're done you've got ABOUT a 13 1/2" x 13 1/2" square of dough.Remove top piece of wrap. Combine filling ingredients. Spread evenly across dough's surface. (Original recipe poster suggested leaving about a 1 1/2" sugar free edge because when you roll the dough all the sugar shifts and fills this in; otherwise all the sugar spills out). Use the bottom piece of wrap to lift the edge of the dough and start to roll it up forming a long cylinder. Start with the sugary edge, which will be the center of your roll and roll toward the sugarless edge. Cut off or trim up the irregular ends of your "log". Then cut into 8 or 9 slices of similar size, about 1 1/2" wide. Place rolls into a greased round glass pie pan. Bake approximately 20 minutes, until tops are lightly browned. Combine powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk to make glaze. The amount of milk you use will depend on how thick you want the glaze to be. Stir until all lumps are dissolved. Drizzle over warm rolls if desired.