Cinnamon Caramel Pinwheels

Mmmmmm. I'm home for Thanksgiving! With everyone home and an amazingly well stocked kitchen and a post-college wind-down cold Ugh. I've basically lost my voice, but I can still bake as long as I wash my hands all the time. And no coughing or sneezing.

But listen up, y'all, 'cause these pinwheels are poppin'. A thick, buttery, brown sugar caramel sauce envelops the bottom (and later becomes the top) of a pan of light, fluffy, quick-baking, biscuit-dough cinnamon rolls. No separate glaze to make, just melt it together in the microwave and dump in the pan before the rolls go in.

This is the only picture of the finished rolls that I could, with a good conscience, show you. The others look like a pile of brains.

There are a lot of ingredients in this recipe that you might not keep in stock. Buttermilk, sour cream, and cake flour. Luckily, these are easily substituted for and the results were great. I used greek yogurt for the sour cream (not for health--there's so much butter in these it wouldn't make much of a difference--but because it's what we had). One Fage is a cup, which is exactly what this recipe calls for!
I also used some milk and a squeeze of lemon juice for the buttermilk, and flour with a teaspoon of corn starch for the cake flour.

Soft soft dough with warm, chewy caramel soaked in. Sweet sticky rolls for a decadent breakfast!

Cinnamon Caramel Pinwheels
yield: 9 rolls

Ingredients:

• 4 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar

• 2 cups minus 1 tbsp all-purpose flour 
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup sour cream or greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup buttermilk (or just shy of a 1/4 cup milk plus a squeeze of lemon juice)

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon (you could probably use more, they weren't that strong with this amount)
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Method:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degress and put a rack in the middle. Make a parchment paper round to fit in the bottom of a circular cake pan, then grease the whole thing with spray. 
2.  Put honey, butter, and brown sugar in a microwaveable bowl or measuring cup and microwave until melted and easy to stir. Stir to combine, pour this glaze in bottom of prepared pan. Rinse this bowl (we'll use it soon).
3.  Sift together flour, cornstarch, 1 tbsp sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt (Note: kosher salt is much less dense than table salt, so use less than the recommended 1/2 tsp if using normal table salt!). In the same bowl in which you stirred together the glaze, mix 6 tbsp melted butter, the sour cream or yogurt, and the buttermilk or substitution. 
4.  Put half of the flour mixture aside in an extra bowl, then add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix gently to combine. Then, add in the remaining flour mixture, and mix (hands help here) to form a shaggy dough. Dump out on a clean counter and knead a few times until it comes together.
5.  In a small bowl, mix 1/4 cup sugar and the cinnamon. Press the dough out approximately into a 12x9" rectangle and brush with the 1 tbsp melted butter, leaving 1 inch on one of the long edges for sealing the dough. Sprinkle the butter completely with cinnamon sugar and roll up the dough, starting at the edge that doesn't have the 1 inch margin. Roll as tight as possible, and seal by pinching the dough together at the end. 
6.  Cut dough into 9 pieces (about equal) and lay in pan with two rolls in the middle and seven rolls around the perimeter. Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden and firm to the touch. Let rest 5 minutes, then flip onto a serving plate and remove the parchment. Serve warm!

Recipe from Fast Breads, via Serious Eats.