Name: Grandma's Caramel Rolls
Prep time: 150 min
Cook time: 30 min
Ingredients: Dough (See my oat bread recipe); 1 Stick Room Temperature Butter; 2-3 Cups Brown Sugar; 1/2 Cup Cinnamon; 1/3 Cup Cream; 3 Tbsp Oil

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Let’s not kid ourselves. These aren’t healthy and I can’t imagine how to make them healthy. So let’s indulge in a little comfort food, shall we?

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In my family, caramel rolls are not a recipe that gets written down. The first time I have a clear memory of making caramel rolls from scratch, my mom packed us up in the car and we drove three hours to visit my Grandma Betty. She showed us how it was done and we left with a recipe in our heads.

To share this recipe with you, I actually had to video chat with my mom to confirm amounts. She watched through my iPod Touch screen as I poured cream over top of brown sugar and cinnamon to make the gooey caramel topping. “A little bit more,” she said. I held the screen over the pan. “Look right?”

I had to make them two more times (I mean I probably didn’t HAVE to make them two more times but if you’re gonna keep making something, may as well be caramel rolls) so I could turn those instructions of “sprinkle it until it looks like this, to “add 1/3 cup”.

My Grandma Betty isn’t around anymore but any time I make these I always think of her. I think about my family and how recipes are passed down from moms and grandmas. I smile as my daughter, nine months old at this time, is getting to try her first bite of caramel roll. Sticky fingers and a huge smile, she is getting to have something from her great-grandma, even though she’ll never meet her.

I hope these rolls bring you the comfort of a grandma’s kitchen, and I hope you make them with your daughters.

Ingedients for Caramel Rolls

Dough (See my oat bread recipe)
Room Temperature Butter
Brown Sugar
Cinnamon
Cream
Oil

Supplies

Rolling Pin
Parchment Paper
9×9 or 13×9 cake pan

How to Make Caramel Rolls

I’m cheating a little bit here and for the first part of the recipe I’m going to send you to my recipe for Oat Bread. Admittedly, this is not the dough recipe from my Grandma, but it is the bread I like to bake which happens to also make a darn good caramel roll. If you double the bread recipe you’ll have enough for two loaves and a 9×9 pan of rolls. If you make the recipe as is, just for rolls, you’ll get enough for a 13×9 pan. (Visit the blog post for detailed instructions on the dough, I also have the straightforward recipe below.)

Follow those instructions through to the first rise.

Once your dough has completed the first rise, you are going to shape your loaves and/or make your rolls.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Take whatever size pan you are using and add butter. If a 9×9, I use about 3 tablespoons. Double it for a 13×9. Then coat the bottom with brown sugar. You shouldn’t be able to see the bottom. For a 9×9 this is 1 generous cup.

Next, drizzle 1/3 cup of heavy cream across the top.

Place your pan in the warming oven.

While that gets all melty and delicious, grease a clean counter top with oil or butter. I don’t use flour for this as it can make your rolls too dense. The oil keeps them light and adds a bit of crispness to the edges that is divine. I most often use olive oil but whatever oil you have on hand is probably fine.

Grease up your rolling pin and roll out the dough into a large rectangle, not paper thin but pretty darn thin. The thinner your dough is rolled, the more layers your rolls are going to have.

Next, take 1/2 stick of room temperature butter (double that for a 13×9) and smear it all over your dough. We want a thin, even layer all across your dough. I just use my hands. If your hands are dry, rub that butter in before you wash it off your hands.

Next, generously coat the dough with brown sugar. You can do a light sprinkling if you want to cut back the sugar, but I usually coat it so you can still see the dough underneath but not much. For a 9×9 pan we’re talking about 1.5-2 cups of brown sugar. Double that for a larger pan.

Sprinkle cinnamon across the whole thing. Again, this is to taste. I sprinkle so it has a light dusting

Starting on a long edge, start rolling the dough into a long, tight tube. You want to keep the roll snug, and it is easiest to roll it towards you.

After you have a big ol’ dough log, you are going to make your little roll slices.

I personally like to use floss for this step. Take a very big piece of floss (mint works, it won’t make minty rolls) and loop either end around your pointer fingers on each hand. Slide the floss under your roll, criss-cross the floss ends, then pull tight. I make my slices about 1.5-2 inches thick.

You could use a serrated knife for this too but I think the floss is easiest.

Grab your pan out of the oven. Stir the contents with a rubber spatula until it looks smooth and caramely. If it is too runny looking, add a few tablespoons of brown sugar and stir again. If it is too thick, add a tablespoon or two of cream and stir. I can tell mine is about right if I drag a rubber spatula across the bottom and the caramel holds in place for a few moments before slowly gooping back into place.

Take each roll you have made, place it in the caramel sauce of your pan, cut side down. Do this with each one so the pan is full.

Cover the rolls with a damp towel and let them rise for an hour or so.

Place a baking sheet that is larger than your rolls on the lower rack of your oven. This is to catch any caramel run-off.

Put your rolls in the oven and set a timer for 30 minutes.

Remove your rolls after your timer goes off, and let them sit for about 10 minutes.

While they are resting, place a piece of parchment paper on a rimmed cookie sheet. After the ten minutes is up, take a butter knife and run it around the edge of your rolls. This will keep them from clinging to the pan. Place the cookie sheet and parchment paper upside down on your rolls, then flip them.

This always feels like a somewhat daring act but bring out your inner Julia Child and flip with confidence!

And there you have it!

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