Beary Good Cinnamon Rolls and Recipe

I am fortunate to be surrounded by many talented and creative individuals. One in particular is my neighbor and friend Cindy. My daughter went to her house to play and came home with these…

Super cute, right?!?! My kids were very excited about them and the first thing my husband said when he tasted them was, “Oh, yummmmm!” Noticing that my first and recent attempt at making cinnamon rolls did not get any of those responses, I had to get this recipe. AND Cindy is so awesome that she is letting me share her fun family treat with everyone! I hope you enjoy it!

Cinnamon Roll Bears

“We love making the bears.  I seriously think we make them a few times a month and they never get sick of them.  We usually put faces on also and we didn’t last time.  We have used dough, raisins and craisins to make the faces.  We used to just use a dough ball for the tummy also but I came up with this idea of a cinnamon roll tummy a few times ago and we LOVE LOVE that!!”

Directions:

Cinnamon Rolls

• ½ c. milk
• ½ c. cold water
• 1 Tbsp. yeast
• 4 Tbsp. sugar
• ¼ c. shortening
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 egg
• 3 c. flour

Scald milk (make hot but don’t boil) then cool to lukewarm with cold water.  Add yeast and sugar.  Let yeast rise 5 minutes.  Add shortening, salt, egg; mix.  Add flour slowly, beating well.  Knead dough as it gets thicker – knead 5-10 minutes . . . really (it will make rolls SOFT)!  Don’t add too much flour – keep dough soft.  Place in greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled; about 1 hour.  Roll to ½” thick.  Spread with melted butter and sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon (how ever much you like).  Roll into a log and cut into slices – 10 to 12.  Place on a greased cookie sheet. Add bear accents (head, ears, arms, legs, etc.) Let rise 1 hour. Add face accents (eyes/mouth with craisins or raisins), if desired. Bake at 375º for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown on top.  Let cool.

Frosting

• 2 c. powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 Tbsp. butter or margarine
• cream or milk to reach desired consistency

Melt butter and add powdered sugar and vanilla.  Slowly add drizzles of cream or milk to your desired consistency.  Frost when rolls are mostly cooled.

Thanks Cindy!

ENJOY!!!