Back in October 2018, I was five months pregnant. During that time, I got a real craving for creamy soups and cinnamon rolls. And when I say cinnamon rolls, we wanted the real, full fat, high carb, crazy amounts of sugar, deal. I looked around on the internet and found several cake mix cinnamon roll recipes that seemed easy enough for this tired, preggo momma. So one weekend in early November I made a recipe I found on the internet. We had an outreach in the village of San Francisco that evening and we took the rolls out there. They were such a big hit that the next day at church, people that weren’t even at the outreach service were asking me when I would be making them again, or if I would teach them how to make, “Los Roles”.

About a month later, Pastor Candelario and his family invited us to lunch at their house. After we accepted their invitation I asked him and his wife, Carmen if after lunch I could teach her how to make the cinnamon rolls. They readily accepted and were very excited! After we had our lunch on that day, I asked Carmen if she was ready for me to teach her, her daughter, and her daughter in-law how to make the rolls. She asked me to wait a few more minutes, and then people started to show up. My little three person class quickly turned into ten or eleven people crammed around the pastor’s dining room table and nine children running about. But the class was fun, despite my limited spanish, extreme nervousness, and the fact that it was so cold it took the rolls twice as long as normal for them to rise. Everyone really enjoyed sampling the fruits of our labors, as well.

Over time, I have tweaked the recipe here and there, to make it what it is today!

LOS ROLES or Cake Mix Cinnamon Rolls

makes 18-24 rolls

INGREDIENTS

1 box Cake Mix (yellow or white are our favorites, but chocolate is pretty good, too)
1 pkg. active dry yeast (2¼ teaspoons)
2½ cups warm milk
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
5 cups all-purpose flour

FILLING

1 1/4 cups butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, packed
cinnamon
chopped pecans if desired

INSTRUCTIONS

In a large liquid measuring cup, measure out 2½ cups warm milk. It should be a little warmer than tepid to the touch. Pour in the packet of active dry yeast. Add to the yeast one spoon of cake mix and stir. Let it activate and foam up, should take about 5-7 minutes.

Once yeast is active pour into a large bowl. Add cake mix, salt, vanilla and flour. Stir until well mixed. (you can use a stand mixer if you desire, but I don’t have that option, so I use a really big metal or wooden spoon). Knead dough together, just for a minute or two.

Spray a large bowl (I use the one that I mixed it in) with cooking spray and place dough inside. Cover with saran wrap or a dish towel. Let sit in a warm dry place (I frequently just put our bowl of dough in the car and shut the door) until doubled in size., It should only take about 30-45 minutes, but I’ve had it take two hours to raise on a really cold day (no heat inside). Remove dough and place on a clean floured surface. Roll out into a large rectangle shape.

Smear 3/4 cup of softened butter over top. Next evenly sprinkle, distribute and rub brown sugar over top. Next sprinkle with desired amount of cinnamon. If you desire to add pecans, do so at this time. I like to COVER my dough in toppings so that you can’t see it, except for very small strip on each of the long sides. If that means using more butter and sugar, please feel free to do so.

On one of the long sides, roll up to make a long and skinny log. Slice into even rolls. It should yield 18-24 rolls depending on how thick you slice them. I’ve actually made as many 27 rolls from one recipe.

Using 1/2 cup butter liberally grease two 9×13 baking pans. Place rolls 12 to 15 rolls to a pan into the butter. When I cut my log into slices a lot of the goodies fall out, so I put those pieces on top of the rolls once they are all in the pans.

Cover with dish towels and let cinnamon rolls rise in the pan in a warm, dry place, about 30 minutes or an hour, until they have doubled in size.

Bake at 350°F or 210°C for 15-20 minutes. When the top of the rolls start to look dry, they only need about an additional seven minutes. Serve hot or let cool. Your choice.

There are a couple of variations that you can do to these:

After you liberally grease the pans with butter, you can sprinkle more brown sugar and pecans (if desired) in the bottom of the pan to make sticky caramel cinnamon rolls.

If you really want to clog your arteries, I’ve also brushed the tops of these with melted butter when the tops started to look dry and then baked the additional seven minutes

Maybe it’s just our climate (high desert), but we have found that these don’t keep well overnight. The logs can be made in advance, though, and freeze well (we haven’t kept them in the freezer any longer than three weeks). Just thaw overnight in the refrigerator, slice, let rise, and bake as instructed. **Because they are coming out of the fridge instead of at room temperature, they will need to rise longer. You could also attempt to cut the recipe in half… or just take some hot fresh cinnamon rolls over and get to know your neighbors.