Several months ago, a coworker of mine gave me a gallon of pure maple syrup. She got it as a gift for Christmas and said she’d never go through all of it. In my Vermont crazed mind, I thought I would go through all of it super quickly. You can do a lot with maple syrup! And, I don’t know if you knew this, I love Vermont. (see here, here, and here)

Well, that syrup is still in my fridge, with hardly a dent in it. The truth is, a little maple syrup goes a long way. So it’s time to consciously start chipping away at it, because before you know it, I’ll be in Vermont again, trying to buy more because I’m an idiot.

As luck would have it, since I’ve been on such an egg kick lately I wanted to change up my breakfast situation over the weekend. The logical conclusion is to make pancakes or waffles, yes? But who wants to do that when they can spend several hours making cinnamon rolls with a maple-y cream cheese glaze? Probably a lot of people. But I was dedicated to the brunch shake up, to the carbs, and definitely to the maple syrup.

So, I looked up several different recipes for cinnamon rolls until I found this one on Food52 – one of the best collective food blogs out there – that suited my purpose. I tweaked it here and there and added just a little (sigh) maple syrup to the cream cheese glaze.

I did not use bread flour, but I used the same proportions listed of all-purpose flour and whole-wheat flour. When I make these again, I’ll probably only use all-purpose flour. It’s just easier and in my experience that doesn’t make a very noticeable difference.

I didn’t sift my powdered sugar, which makes me a big ole dummy. Definitely sift your powdered sugar so you don’t end up with lumpy glaze like I did. (If you forget, it’s fine – you won’t really notice it, but visually it’s less appealing and that’s what really matters, amirite?) My glaze was a little looser than the original recipe due to the addition of the maple syrup. I also cut down the powdered sugar; I didn’t want the glaze to be too sweet.

Make sure you have someone to share these with, y’all. You don’t want to be caught alone trying to finish nine massive cinnamon rolls. Trust me. Oh, and any creative suggestions you have for using up maple syrup, throw them my way!!

Cinnamon Rolls with a Maple Cream Cheese Glaze

Adapted from this recipe

Yields: 9 hefty rolls

Ingredients:

For the dough:

¾ cup milk (any kind)

¼ cup boiling water

½ ounce active dried yeast (about a packet and a half)

1/3 cup sugar

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ cup whole-wheat flour

1 teaspoon salt

¼ cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

For the filling:

2/3 cup brown sugar (light or dark – either will work)

3 tablespoons ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened

For the glaze:

¼ cup unsalted butter, softened

A scant cup of powdered sugar

4 tablespoons cream cheese

¼ cup maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. To make the bread dough: In a medium bowl combine the milk and boiling water. Stir them together and then add the yeast and a teaspoon of sugar. Stir together and set aside for 5 minutes.
2. While the yeast mixture sits, place the flours, remaining sugar, salt, vegetable oil, and eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer with the hook attachment (or just use a large bowl and a wooden spoon
3. Once the yeast is activated (check out the above picture for an idea of how it should look), add it to the mixing bowl and mix everything together on a low speed. Let it mix for about 10 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl every now and then. You may need to use your hands to finish it off, and it will still be quite sticky, but try to get it as smooth and round as you can without over-mixing it.
4. Lift the dough out of the bowl. You can either use the same mixing bowl or a fresh one, but either way pour some oil into the bowl and grease it lightly. Add the dough to the bowl, turn it to coat it in oil and cover with plastic wrap. Leave it in a warm place until doubled, about 1-2 hours.
5. To make the filling: In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon and flour. Set aside.
6. To assemble the rolls: Once risen, turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and roll it out into a rectangle measuring about 20’ x 12’, adding flour if you need it.
7. Spread the softened butter evenly over the rectangle and then sprinkle the filling evenly over it.
8. Starting at the long (20- inch) edge of the rectangle, roll the dough tightly into a long log. Cut off the edges to make them even and score along the top of the log every 2 inches so you’ll end up with 9 rolls. Cut each score using a sharp knife.
9. Grease a tray or cast iron skillet and arrange the rolls cut side down. Cover lightly in plastic wrap and leave somewhere to rise for half an hour. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and make your glaze.
10. To make the glaze: cream together the butter, the powdered sugar, the maple syrup, the cream cheese, and the vanilla. Set aside.
11. Once the rolls have risen and the oven is heated, bake them for 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown on top. Set them on a rack to cool for a few minutes. Once cooled, glaze and dig in!