It is to my great shame that I took my family for granted for many years. I deeply regret the years spent focused on myself more than them.

They are, all of them, crazy, unique, frustrating, complicated and wonderful. So whenever I have a chance to spend time with them, I jump at it. This does not happen nearly as often as I’d like, since we are spread out from State College, PA to Great Falls, MT.

But occasionally the stars align and we are all able to get together in one place, as will happen this coming week when we gather at Glacier National Park.

The State College contingency (my brother and his bride) will be stopping by on their way out to Montana and I will be hitching a ride with them. Since we are not due in Glacier until next week, they are spending a couple of days here. This gives me a reason to haul out recipes for tasty foods that I don’t usually take the time to prepare.

Here is one of my longtime ab faves, with a maple-y twist. I found the base for this recipe, of all places, at About.com
Of all the cinnamon roll recipes I’ve tried over the years, this by far surpasses all the others. With my modifications ;-) , I recommend it highly.

Maple Sweet Rolls with orange cream cheese icing

Ingredients:

For Dough
1½ packages (about 3¼ teaspoons) dry yeast
¼ cup warm (90° F- 100° F) water*
½ cup butter
¼ cup granulated maple sugar **
1½ teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 egg
4 to 5 cups sifted bread flour
* When making yeast bread, it is best to use filtered water. Sometimes trace chlorine in tap water causes yeast to be less effective.
**This stuff is so good it brings tears to your eyes, unfortunately the expense might also make you cry. In an upcoming post, I will explain how you can make your own maple sugar.

For Filling
½ cup softened butter
1 to 2 cups-ish granulated maple sugar

For Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
1 oz softened cream cheese
1Tbs softened butter
1 tsp orange zest
1 Tbs orange juice
1 cup powdered sugar

Here we go!
1) Add the warm water to the yeast and soak 10 minutes.
2) Cut up butter into ½ cubes and place in a large bowl.
3) Scald milk then pour over the butter.
4) Add maple sugar and salt and cool to tepid.
5) Beat the egg for about a minute in a small bowl.
6) Add the dissolved yeast and beaten egg to the milk mixture.
7) Add 4 cups flour adding one at a time beating after each addition.

Dough will be soft yet firm enough to handle. If the dough is just too loose to handle, you may add up to ½ cup more flour, 1 tsp at a time, until you can pick it up. Note: Your hands are going to get messy here; just deal with it. Don’t go adding a ton of flour just to make the dough easier to work.

8 ) Knead on floured board until elastic and smooth. You may sprinkle the board with flour as you knead, but sparingly; only enough to keep the dough from sticking to the board.
9) Round dough into a ball and place in a large oiled bowl and let rise for about an hour or until doubled in size.
9) Empty dough onto a floured board and roll into a rectangle roughly 12″ x 16″.
10) Spread softened butter evenly over the dough.
11) Layer a generous amount of maple sugar on top of the butter.
12) Roll dough in jellyroll fashion.
13) Using a very sharp knife, cut off slices about 1 to 1-1/2 inches thick.
14) Place slices in a greased 9″ x 13″ baking pan. Let rise until rolls fill the pan generously…about another hour.
15) Bake in a 350° F oven about 15 – 20 minutes.
16) remove from oven and frost with orange cream cheese icing while rolls are still warm

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
1) Cream butter, cream cheese and orange zest together
2) Mix in powdered sugar until blended. The mixture will be stiff.
3) Beat in orange juice until icing is smooth

Special thanks to Mark and Annette for giving me a reason to make these wonderful rolls.