Christmas Morning Cinnamon Rolls

Scald milk in a sauce pan over medium heat. Remove from heat and stir in vegetable shortening until melted. Stir in sugar and salt. Set aside to cool to lukewarm (about 10 minutes).

While milk mixture is cooling, dissolve yeast in the lukewarm water in a large bowl. Let yeast sit about 5–10 minutes (until milk mixture is cooled).

Add milk mixture and eggs to the yeast mixture. Add 3 1/2 cups of the flour and mix well. Add remaining 3 cups of flour and knead until mixture is smooth, about 5 minutes. Cover dough with a towel or plastic wrap and let rise 1–2 hours, until doubled in size.

Grease two 9-inch round cake pans.

Combine brown sugar and cinnamon for the filling.

Divide dough into 2 and roll one of the halves out on a well floured surface until it is 12×18 inches. Brush a thin layer of melted butter over the dough and sprinkle on half of the filling. Roll the dough, so you end up with a log 18 inches long. Cut into 12 pieces. Place pieces in cake pan, with a little space around each roll so it can rise again. Repeat with the second batch.

Let rolls rise about another hour.

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Bake rolls for 20–25 minutes, or until golden brown.

Combine icing ingredients. Once the rolls are slightly cooled (about 15 minutes), you can drizzle the icing on the rolls.

Notes:
1. To help the dough rise (especially when it’s cold), I turn my oven on to the lowest temperature for about 5 minutes then turn the oven off. Then I put my dough in the oven to rise. Make sure to take it out before you preheat the oven to bake!!
2. You can freeze the rolls once they are cooled but before you put the icing on. To do this, remove the rolls from the pan after they are cooled and wrap in plastic wrap (I also wrap with aluminum foil after the plastic). To serve, defrost in the refrigerator and top with icing. If you want them warm, you can reheat them in the microwave or in the oven prior to topping with icing.
3. Rolls are best eaten fresh, but can last a couple of days (but they really won’t make it that long!).