Recipe For Cooking Cinnamon Christmas Trees

Toaster Oven Yeast Breads :: Sweet Yeast Bread

Cinnamon Christmas Trees

Makes approximately: 2 trees (16 rolls each)

Basic Sweet Dough
3 1/2 to 4 C. flour, divided
1 pkg. RapidRise Yeast
1 tea. salt
1 C. half-and-half or light cream
1/4 C. (1/2 stick) butter
1/3 C. sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/2 tea. vanilla extract or flavoring

Filling
2 Tbsp. butter, softened and divided
1/2 C. sugar
1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
Pin. ground nutmeg (optional)

Topping
3/4 C. powderedsugar
1 Tbsp. milk
Red and green candied cherries, halved

Basic Sweet Dough: Sift 2 C. of the flour, yeast and salt into a lrg. mixing bowl; stir until well blended. Place half-and-half, butter and sugar in a saucepan; heat until butter is nearly melted. Let cool to 120 to 130 degrees F.

Add half-and-half mixture to flour mixture; beat well. Add egg and vanilla; stir until blended. Add 1 C. flour; stir until thoroughly incorporated. Gradually add enough of the remaining 1/2 to 1 C. flour to make a soft dough that is rather sticky.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead 3 min., or until the dough is a consistent texture. Cover with a slightly damp towel and let rest 10 min.

Divide dough in half. Roll one half on lightly floured surface into a 14 x 12-in. rectangle. Spread 1 Tbsp. of softened butter on dough, leaving a 1/2-in. border around the edge.

Filling: Combine sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg; sprinkle half this mixture over butter. Roll up dough from long side, jellyroll style; pin. seam to seal (brush edge with a little water if necessary to make it stick). Repeat with remaining dough and filling.

Construct a tree shape from each log: Cut a 2-in. piece from one end of the log and reserve. Slice the rest of the log into 15 slices. Line a cookie sheet with foil and grease well. On the short side of the cookie sheet, center one slice cut side down. This is the top of the tree. Add
2 slices, sides touching, below the first slice, then add 3 more rows of slices to form a tree shape. Complete the tree by centering the 2-in. slice, seam side down, below the last row to form the trunk.

Repeat with second cinnamon roll log. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free place 45 min., or until nearly doubled.

About 15 min. before end of rising time, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake trees 15 min., or until lightly browned. If trunk is browning too fast, cover with foil for the last few min. Use foil to move trees from cookie sheets to wire racks. Cool thoroughly.

Prepare topping: Combine powderedsugar and milk in a pastry or plastic zip-type bag; cut one corner from bag. Pipe mixture on trees to create garland. Garnish with cherry halves.