Cinnamon Roll Tree

Here's a fun idea for Christmas morning...

Or in our case, Thanksgiving morning. At our house we always have Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast because it's really easy to make them ahead and throw them in the oven when I wake up before I start getting ready to cook everything else. It's special and it's tasty and it holds my family over until the next time to eat!

But there's plenty of time to enjoy this fun treat between now and the end of the year, so here's what you do:

Make a 1 lb loaf of bread dough. I use my breadmaker to make it super quick with easy-clean-up. You could also buy frozen bread dough if you wanted to, but you would need to thaw it out...

Roll out the bread dough on a lightly floured surface into a 12x8-inch rectangle.

In a small bowl, combine 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 Tbsp cinnamon.

Spread 2 Tbsp softened butter over the dough.

Sprinkle the sugar mixture on top of the butter and roll the dough up starting with the long side. Pinch it closed and slice it into 12 pieces.

Arrange in a tree shape (see photo) on a baking sheet. Cover with saranwrap and place it in the fridge overnight. If you are making it for that day, skip this step and just rise the dough for an additional 30 minutes before baking. If the dough has been in the fridge, you may need additional rise time. Just try to get the dough to double in size.

Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes.

Transfer to a serving platter in the same arrangement you baked it in. Top with Cream Cheese Frosting. I use this recipe for my frosting. Yum!

 

Thanks to Taste of Home for the inspiration!