Have I told you about that one time I invited myself over to the Pioneer Woman’s ranch and insisted that she show me how to make her world-famous cinnamon rolls… at which point I twisted her arm into adding pistachios, orange zest, and dark chocolate? Â Yea. Â That happened.
Ree Drummond has been on of my favorite people on the internet for years. The Pioneer Woman blog has taken over the internet, for real. Â I think of Ree as part mentor, part big sister, fellow butter enthusiast, and just an overall inspiring lady. Â She knows how to work a blouse and she’s always smiling. Â Ree is just the best. Â When I invited myself over (like aaalll the way over in Oklahoma), Ree was kind enough to open her doors and feed me macaroni and cheese, cinnamon rolls, and wine.
We had the very best time together!  It rained.  Ree showed me her mom’s famous cinnamon roll recipe.  We laughed. We used an embarrassing amount of butter.  Here’s the Bonkers Awesome episode to prove it!  Please note… I’m trying my best to play it cool, but totally freaking out about being on the ranch.  It would seem that Bonkers Awesome is a series about me freaking out about meeting people who I admire.  Normal.
I just have to say… there are few people in the world who enjoy butter more as I do. Â Ree is one of those people. Â The way she poured the melted butter over this cinnamon roll dough, even I was like dang-girl-dang. Â She was unphased. Â It’s just a lifestyle. If this much butter goes into the cinnamon rolls, I can only imagine how amazingly buttery Ree’s mashed potatoes must be… right? Â The above photograph is a picture of me looking at cinnamon rolls and thinking about mashed potatoes. Â Send help.
Original Photography Shot with the Canon EOS 6D Digital SLR. The perfect multimedia solution.
Melted chocolate, salty pistachios, and fragrant orange all packed into a gooey-centered Ree-inspired cinnamon roll? Â Exactly zero things are better. Â Does this scream Christmas morning to you? Â What if I told you you could make them a day in advance and bake them off Christmas morning? Â Yea… Happy Birthday, Jesus.
I’ve had my eyes on these rolls for years. Â No joke.
They’re equal parts simple and intimidating.
See, Ree mixes her yeasted dough in a big ol’ dutch oven. Â No mixer needed. Â No fancy dough hook. Â Just a big pot and a wooden spoon. Â It’s wonderfully simple.
The only slightly intimidating part of Ree’s recipe is that it’s (for lack of a better hyphenated word) RANCH-SIZED. Â Her recipe makes about 1,476 rolls. Â I’m exaggerating, but barely. Since I live more of a bunglaow-sized life, I’ve cut this recipe in half and made about 16 rolls. Â Much more manageable for me.
Milk, vegetable oil, and sugar are heated in the dutch oven until the milk is warm but not boiling.
Allow the milk to cool to juuuust above room temperature before adding the yeast. Â If the milk mixture is too hot, it will kill the years. Â I like my milk to be about 105 degrees F. Â It’s a balancing act.
After the yeast, in goes the flour!
Time to stir with a wooden spoon. Â This is Ree’s mom’s cinnamon roll recipe, and it feels exactly like a family recipe. Â It’s not fussy. Â I cherish this kind of baking.
This dough is moist. Â We’re going to add more flour after it rises, so we’re great for now!
On goes the lid and off to rest and rise!
I put my pot on the back burner of the stove. Â With the oven and burners off, the top of the stove is still a warm and cozy spot to rest the dough.
I checked my dough after 30 minutes to make sure that it was rising and happy. Â If not… welp… time to start over (I did… it’s cool).
Ree’s cinnamon rolls are pretty flawless. Â They don’t really need a thing… except pistachios, orange, and dark chocolate.
I like to buy salted pistachios in the shell and shell the nuts by hand. Â You’ll get the freshest pistachio. Â (And you’ll get to snack.)
The dark chocolate is chopped super fine. Â We’re looking for maximum chocolate distribution with tiny flecks of chocolate.
Orange for that bright morning fragrance. Â Zest for the rolls and fresh juice for the glaze!
After an hour in the dutch oven the dough is this sort of fluffy.
In goes another half cup of so of flour and a bit of baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
I don’t usually put baking powder and baking soda in my yeasted doughs, but when Ree says that’s what you do… that’s just what you do.
Besides, there’s nothing wrong with a bit of extra insurance when it comes to dough rising.
Ready to roll!
This dough is so soft and easy to work with. Â Dreamy!
Melted butter first, then a generous amount of granulated sugar. Â You can measure the butter and sugar precisely or you can just melt, drizzle and sprinkle.
Ground cinnamon is essential. Â The nuts, chocolate, and orange is just because we can.
I divided the dough in half before rolling it out. Â I don’t have ranch-sized kitchen counters, so dividing the dough in half make it easier to work with, top with goodies, and roll up. Then repeat!
Sliced and ready for an 8×8-inch pan!
A metal pie plate also makes an excellent cinnamon roll baking device. Â I love how they bake together in a round pan.
You were with me this whole cinnamon roll journey. Â You know what’s up! Â These rolls are beautifully soft and they smell of yeasty dough, butter, orange and chocolate. Â I mean… come on! Â The crunchy outsides are as good as the gooey centers. Â I say that as a strict consumer of gooey centers. Â These are all the way delicious.
This dough is forgiving and friendly. Â You can make the dough, assemble and roll pastries, then place them (covered) in the refrigerator overnight until you’re ready to bake them. Â They’ll rise just slightly in the oven, but the cold temperature will halt some of their rise.
It was such a treat to visit Ree. Â It is a super-mega treat to enjoy a little piece of ranch-life in my own kitchen. Â So great!
Pistachio, Orange, and Dark Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls
makes about 16 rolls
adapted from The Pioneer Woman
Rolls:
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 (0.25 ounces) active dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
about 4 1/2 cups of flour, divided
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
scant 2 teaspoons salt
Filling:
1/2 cup (1 stick, 4 ounces) unsalted butter, melted
1/2 to 3/4 cup granulated sugar
ground cinnamon, to taste
zest of 1 orange
1/2 to 3/4 cup shelled and coarsely chopped salted pistachios
4 ounces dark chocolate, finely chopped
Glaze:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For the dough, heat the milk, oil, and sugar in a large saucepan (I used my large dutch-oven) over medium heat to just below a boil. Set aside and cool to warm. Â You’ll want the mixture to be just warm to the touch. Â Not hot at all. About 105 degreess F. Sprinkle the yeast on top and let it sit on the milk for 1 minute.
Add 4 cups of the flour directly to the saucepan. Stir until just combined, then cover with the lid to the pan (or a piece of plastic wrap if your pan doesn’t have a lid), and set aside in a relatively warm place for 1 hour. Â Check the dough after 30 minutes to ensure that it’s rising well. Â If the dough hasn’t risen at all, you may want to start over. Â After 1 hour, remove the lid and add the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and the remaining 1/2 cup flour. Stir thoroughly to combine. Use the dough right away, or refrigerate for an hour before using. Â You can also cover the dough and refrigerate to use the next morning at this stage, or you can continue on to fill and roll and slice the dough before allowing the rolls to rest in the refrigerator overnight.
Place racks in the upper third and center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease 2 pie plates, or 2 8×8-inch square baking pans.  Set aside
To assemble the rolls, remove half the dough from the pan/bowl. On a floured surface, roll the dough into a  rectangle, about 12 x 8-inches. The dough should be rolled fairly thin.
Pour half of the melted butter over the dough. Â Sprinkle generously with half of the sugar, and sprinkle with as much cinnamon as you’d like. Â Next, sprinkle the dough with half of the orange zest, half of the chopped pistachios, and half of the chopped chocolate.
Now, beginning at the end farthest from you, roll the rectangle tightly towards you, finishing seam side down. Â Tuck in the ends if they’re particularly loose and floppy. Â Slice the dough into 8 equal slices and arrange in one of the prepared pans. Â Set aside and repeat the process with the remaining half of dough and place those sliced rolls in the remaining pan.
Allow to rolls to rest for 15 minutes.
Place in the oven and bake for 20 to 22 minutes, or until the rolls are bubbling and golden brown. Â While the rolls are baking, make the glaze by whisking together powdered sugar, orange juice, and vanilla extract.
Remove baked rolls from the oven. Â Allow to rest for 10 minutes then drizzle the glaze over the warm rolls. Â Serve warm (or room temperature, or cold… they’re good no matter what)!
81 Responses
I have also been an admirer of these cinnamon rolls for quite a while, and with “equal parts simple and intimidating” you have summed up my feelings about them exactly! But seeing them here, I’ll take it as a sign from above that these need to happen in my kitchen as soon as possible.
my two favorite bloggers together. Thanks for sharing the video.
This does scream Christmas morning to me!
OMG these look bananas! They look so bananas that I think we should start calling things ‘cinnamon rolls’ when they are bananas. Loved seeing you guys with each other!
Joy – these look incredible. I’m a huge fan of those flavours and make a cake with exactly that combination that I feel you should know about, if you don’t already. It’s from an old issue of Australian Vogue Entertaining – a pear, pistachio and chocolate cake (orange zest is in it too, but I presume that would have made the name too long). It’s well below your skill set but even the most experienced bakers can appreciate something that comes together in ten minutes and comes out of the oven tasting amazing.
https://www.alicebakesacake.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/pear-pistachio-and-chocolate-cake.html
Loving Bonkers Awesome. More please.
Alice
Joy, I made these rolls last night and baked them this morning for some law school friends as a finals study break. They were utterly amazing and turned out great even though the only milk I had was coconut milk. The flavors were out of this world, and never have cinnamon rolls been more deserving of the term “bonkers awesome” than these. I was testing them out for Christmas morning brunch – they definitely made the cut. I have been following your blog for a few years now, have your cookbook (the single lady chocolate lava cake is absurd), and basically love everything that you do. I felt I had to comment on this recipe to say just how fantastic I think you are. You make baking accessible to everyone and inspire us all with your beautiful pictures! Thank you so much for making me into a great baker and encouraging my obsession with butter and flour! Can’t wait to see what you do next.
This whole encounter between you and Ree feels just like when The Jetson’s met the Flintstone’s. Mind blown. Love. love. love.
I made these last night and after a lot of praying over the dough to rise they turned out amazeballs!! Seriously so delicious!! I’m going to post about them later today : )
Love, Em
theromanticrealist.net
Could you roll these the night before and bake in the morning?
Joy these are gorgeous – I want to make them for my family for Christmas morning breakfast but one question – throughout, you’ve just said “flour”. All-purpose plain flour? Or is it something else? Help!!
My husband and I put these together for Christmas brunch with the family and I gotta say, while they didn’t look a beautiful as yours, they tasted AMAZING with all those fun flavors and variety of textures! Everyone loved them and it was a fun recipe to try! Thanks!
How did it take me THIS long to tune in to awesome bonkers on ulive.com o.0
In a totally not creepy at all way you have the cutest voice ever! To finally hear the actual voice behind your beautifully written blog posts, man oh man! It is soo, dare I say, awesome :-) keep talking joy! I want to hear that voice all day!
OMG, on my to make list! Thanks for the step by step pics! <3
I have just made these, they are amazing. My boyfried told me that they are over the top – in a good way. :) Totally right.
I made these today. They were so easy for a yeast sweetbread and they were quickly eaten. I ommitted the orange zest and pistachios. I also made a cream cheese topping with vanilla paste. Very yurmmy. Thanks for the recipe!
I absolutely love everything about this video. It’s edited so beautifully! You two are so funny :)
Hi Joy, i stumbled across your blog some time back and I really liked how you illustrate your baking with pictures. I was always skeptical when it comes to following recipes from blogs as I have had some pretty bad experiences. But I made these gorgeous buns today, and you have found yourself a faithful follower. The buns were DELICIOUS! So soft and fluffy. I never thought I could overcome my fear of yeast. This is an absolute keeper. I made a batch tonight and am going to make another one tomorrow morning. I CAN’T THANK YOU ENOUGH FOR THESE BABIES!
Those look SO good!! I hope I can make these in the next couple of days!!
I’m soo jealous!! And I love the photos of you two together, cooking away! I just posted a comment on my blog that All Things are Better with Chocolate – and this recipe REALLY shows how true that is – awesome recipe. (Once again, I’m going to try to Pin it – hope this time I get a photo of the recipe…)
(It’s seems the problem using Pinterest is on my end.) I LOVE YOUR BLOG – delicious recipes, great photography and excellent writing!! When I started my little food blog, I had absolutely no idea that I’d ‘meet’ so many fun and interesting people !
https://happyhomemadecupcakes.blogspot.com.au/2014/07/dark-chocolate-cinnamon-rolls.html
I didn’t know when I bought yeast at the store that there are different types! What I had was bread machine (aka rapid rise) yeast, not active dry as the recipe suggested, so I had to adjust accordingly. The yeast bottle warned to not directly put the bread machine yeast into liquid so, to the dry flour, I added my yeast, stirred it in evenly. Then TO the flour + yeast mix, I added the warmed liquid (used 2% milk + grapeseed oil + sugar) mixture. I stirred until combined and then followed the recipe from then on, with zero patience to refrigerate the dough! Oh, except I had no choco chips or pistachios so I used raisins and almonds instead. LASTLY I halved THIS recipe and it all fit into one pie pan perfectly. Needless to say within 15 minutes of making it = all gone. Just going to say that if I ever have an opportunity to impress someone, this recipe is EVERYTHING.
I have been eyeing these rolls on here for 2 years waiting for my moment, and OH MY GOD they are just so good. I was a little intimidated that I may have to start over (I’ve never made fresh dough) but I watched the temperature like a hawk and thank goodness I didn’t have to. I love the combinations though this seems perfect for putting whatever you want inside. Thank you Joy for making time with my family even more awesome.