Review: I Love Cinnamon Rolls!

Summary: Create comforting swirls of gooey cinnamon goodness with I Love Cinnamon Rolls!.

Nothing says comfort food like a batch of cinnamon rolls fresh from the oven. Here you'll find 50 recipes for a variety of sticky buns everyone will love, from traditional favorites such as Orange-Toffee, Pumpkin Streusel, or Coffee-Maple Glazed Cinnamon Rolls to more exotic flavors, such as Moroccan Rose Petal Cinnamon Rolls or Szechuan Pepper Cinnamon Rolls with Fresh Ginger Glaze. Also included are traditional recipes from Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, France, and other countries.

Best of all, the eight dough recipes and the variety of fillings and glazes allow you to mix and match recipe parts and devise your own special creations. There are even whole wheat, vegan, and gluten-free doughs so no one has to miss out on these tempting treats. And don't be daunted by thinking it takes too much time and effort. Bakers of every skill level are covered with recipes for easy, no-knead, and bread machine doughs. There's truly something for everyone to love in I Love Cinnamon Rolls!. -- Andrews McMeel

A few weeks ago, you might have seen that Beth Fish Reads and Bermuda Onion both reviewed an enticing cookbook titled I LOVE CINNAMON ROLLS! by Judith Fertig. I absolutely love cinnamon rolls; and when they both had success with their individual recipes, I knew I wanted to try one for myself. Admittedly, I was a bit reluctant since these recipes are from-scratch ones. No frozen bread dough here!

However, I couldn't help but be excited by I LOVE CINNAMON ROLLS!. In fact, the author's passion about this subject matter is infectious. She begins the Introduction by stating, "I love cinnamon rolls. Wholeheartedly. Passionately. Devotedly. And I'm not alone." That's for sure! She continues by sharing pretty much anything you'd ever want to know about cinnamon rolls -- from the the history of cinnamon rolls, to the anatomy of them, to the ideal cinnamon roll pantry, to an overview of how-to-make them.

And then there's the recipes! Oh my! I was certain I gained a few pounds just looking through this cookbook. The author begins with eight different recipes for cinnamon roll dough from easy to the not-so-easy (in my opinion!) The author says that these recipes can be mixed-and-matched for dozens of different cinnamon roll recipes. She even includes one that is no-knead, as well as vegan, whole wheat and gluten free ones. I think these options actually brought this cookbook to the next level for me. The author really does prove that cinnamon rolls are for everyone (well.... unless you can't have sugar!)

The next chapter (and maybe my favorite) is titled Easy Cinnamon Rolls. (I actually focused my efforts here since this entire roll-making process was new to me.) Then comes Old-Fashioned Cinnamon Rolls, No-Knead Cinnamon Rolls, Thin Strudel Dough Cinnamon Rolls, Vegan Cinnamon Rolls, Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls, Gluten-Free Cinnamon Rolls, and Danish Pastries. Believe me when I say there are so many delicious sounding recipes that it's easy to get overwhelmed when you are just trying one.

I decided to start with the Yummy Glazed Cinnamon Rolls. This recipe makes nine very large cinnamon rolls, and it's considered an easy recipe. The dough is only kind of/sort of homemade -- it's starter is a box of hot roll mix. Having said that, it still contains yeast and has to rise so it's not entirely "cheating" like using frozen bread dough would be. (Although I'm not entirely convinced that you can't take many of the recipes in this cookbook and start with a loaf of frozen bread dough to save time!) These cinnamon rolls were adapted from a Ree Drummond, aka the "Pioneer Woman," recipe and the key is a maple/coffee glaze. I thought they were delicious and they were relatively simple to make. I was quite proud of my effort because the cinnamon rolls genuinely looked like "real" cinnamon rolls.

Naturally, there were some amazing traditional recipes in this cookbook, but there were also some rather unique ones. Just check out these recipes: Pineapple Upside-Down Cinnamon Rolls, Szechuan Pepper Cinnamon Rolls with Fresh Ginger Glaze, Mexican Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls, No-Knead Pumpkin-Cinnamon Pullaparts, Going Bananas Vegan Cinnamon Rolls, and Carrot Cake Cinnamon Rolls with Pineapple-Cream Cheese Frosting.

If you are a lover of cinnamon rolls, then you won't want to miss I LOVE CINNAMON ROLLS!. It not only has a little something for every traditional cinnamon roll fan, but it also offers many unique variations for those fans who want to spice up their cinnamon rolls!

Thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy of this cookbook.

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