Arlene’s Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients

Yeast mixture

• 2 packages yeast
• 1 cup lukewarm water
• 1 tablespoon sugar

Dough

• 1 pint milk, scalded and cooled
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2/3 cup shortening, melted (or 1 stick oleo plus 2 tablespoons)
• 2 eggs, well beaten
• 8 or 9 cups flour

Filling

• Butter, melted
• Sugar
• Cinnamon

Steps

1. Stir the yeast, lukewarm water and 1 tablespoon sugar together and let stand about 4 minutes.
2. Dissolve the salt, 3/4 cup sugar and shortening in the hot scalded milk and cool to lukewarm. Add the eggs and the yeast mixture and stir.
3. Add 5 cups of the flour and beat 1 minute with a mixer, until smooth.
4. Add the remaining 4 cups of flour 1 cup at a time and knead into a smooth dough. Keep it softer than bread dough.
5. Place in a large bowl and let rise until double, usually about 1 hour. (Or refrigerate it; see Notes.)
6. Turn out onto a floured board and knead well. Divide into 4 parts.
7. Roll each part into a rectangle about 14 by 10 inches. Spread with butter and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.
8. Roll up and cut into slices 1 1/2 inches thick. Place on a cookie sheet.
9. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes.

Notes

More than one card: Rosie Lee kept two cards for this recipe. The older, well-used one is marked “Arlene’s recipe”; the newer one is a clean copy in her handwriting. Both cards, front and back, are shown below.

Arlene’s card makes it as a refrigerator dough: after kneading, store the dough in a large greased, covered container in the refrigerator (push it down once or twice); it keeps well for 4 days. Two hours before the meal, take it out and knead well, divide into 4 parts, roll each one thin (about 18 inches long and 10 inches wide), spread with melted butter, add sugar and cinnamon, roll up, cut in 1 1/2-inch slices, place on a cookie sheet, flatten them out and let rise 1 hour before baking.

Arlene’s card also has a note in blue ink beside the shortening: “1 stick oleo, 2 tbsp”.

Arlene’s card doesn’t give a baking temperature or time (the bottom edge of its back, “add sugar & cinnamon”, is partly cut off in the scan). The baking time comes from the newer card, whose last line (“Bake 350° 12-15 min”) is squeezed in at the card’s bottom edge.

The same dough shaped as dinner rolls is on the site as Arlene’s Refrigerator Rolls.

Photo: stock photo found online.

Two more cards for these cinnamon rolls turned up later in Rosie Lee’s box, so she kept four cards in all (the last four images below). One stained card adds in blue ink “2 tbsp of bulk yeast from Rutledge” in place of the 2 packages of yeast and “1 stick + 1/3 margarine” for the shortening; it rolls each part to 14 by 18 inches, slices them about 1 1/2 inches thick, places them cut side down on a greased cookie sheet, lets them rise, bakes at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes, makes 30, and says they can be iced with powdered sugar icing. The other card, marked “R L Gross” in the corner, rolls each part to 14 by 10 inches and spreads it with butter, 1/3 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon or more of cinnamon; it says the dough can be refrigerated for as many as 4 days (push it down once) and taken out 2 hours before using, and also makes 30, iced if you like. Part of that card’s front is cut off at the bottom of the scan (after “may need to”), so a line may be missing before the back picks up with “add a little more so as to knead & handle”.

A fifth card for these cinnamon rolls, in black ink, turned up later in Rosie Lee’s box (the last two images below). It calls for 9 cups flour and 1 tablespoon sugar with the yeast; it dissolves the salt, sugar and shortening in the scalded milk, cools it, adds the eggs and yeast mixture and 5 cups flour, beats with a mixer until smooth, then stirs in the remaining 4 cups a cup at a time (“will be stiff”). Let rise in a large bowl until double (usually 1 hour), knead well on a floured board, divide into 4 parts, roll each to 14 by 10 inches, spread with butter, sugar and cinnamon, roll up, slice 1 1/2 inches thick and place cut side down on a greased cookie sheet. Let rise and bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes. The bottom line of that card’s back is cut off on the scan (it starts “makes 30”).

A sixth card for these cinnamon rolls, signed “R.L. Gross” in the top corner, turned up later in Rosie Lee’s box (the last two images below). It has the same ingredients (3/4 cup sugar, 2/3 cup melted shortening, 2 eggs, 5 cups flour plus 4 more) with the directions written beside them. It says the dough can be refrigerated for 4 days (punch it down once); take it out 2 hours ahead so it’s soft, knead well, divide into four parts, roll each thin to 14 by 10 inches, spread with butter, 1/2 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon or more of cinnamon, roll up, cut in 1 1/2-inch slices and place cut side down on a greased cookie sheet, flattening them out. Let rise and bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes. “Can be iced. Makes 30.” The bottom edge of that card’s back (“makes 30”) is partly cut off on the scan.

Rosie Lee’s original recipe cards

Tap the card to see it full size.