Autumn has always been my favorite season, but now that it’s November, I can’t wait for Thanksgiving. Once the leaves start falling, all I can think about is apple pie, hot chocolate and homemade chocolate chip cookies with ice cream. But everyone always seems to forget one of the best flavors out there — maple.

Maple is sugary and sweet and makes a great topping for pancakes, waffles and french toast. But what about cinnamon rolls? I began to think: what if I put a twist on the traditional cinnamon roll and added some of that delicious maple flavor? So I did and they did not disappoint.

These must be, by far, one of my favorite desserts and one of the most fun to bake. As a fun bonus, these are very hard to mess up. Be warned, this recipe only makes 12 maple cinnamon rolls and doubling it is a difficult task due to how much dough you will make, but it is completely worth the time.

For further instructions and ingredients, read below and happy baking.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and feel free to turn the oven light on to watch your cinnamon rolls rise

Dough courtesy of Together as Family:

½ cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon vanilla

1 large egg

1 cup buttermilk

3 cups of flour

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, baking soda, salt, vanilla and egg.
2. Pour in the buttermilk and whisk once more. If you do not have buttermilk, no worries, I didn’t either. Use one cup of milk — any percent — and one tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar. Let it sit for five minutes, then dump the mixture into your dough.
3. Dump in one cup of flour at a time and mix thoroughly with a rubber spatula. Try not to over mix, only stir until the flour has disappeared within the dough. If it is too dry and crumbly, add in a tablespoon of milk or water at a time.
4. Sprinkle extra flour onto a flat surface and onto your hands and knead the dough for two minutes. If you do not know what kneading is, kneading is pushing and squeezing the dough with your hands until it is not sticky and feels like play dough.
5. Use a wooden rolling pin to roll out the dough on the flat surface. Continue to roll until your dough resembles a rectangle large enough to cut into 12 pieces.
6. See filling directions once you have finished.

Sugary, delicious filling courtesy of Together as Family:

2 tablespoons softened butter

⅔ cup brown sugar

¾ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ cup maple syrup

Directions:

1. Use a small bowl and combine the brown sugar and cinnamon together. You may use what ever utensil you want, but make sure you do not reuse any utensils you may have used when making the dough.
2. Take the butter and use your hands to spread the butter across the surface of the dough until every inch of the top side of the dough is covered.
3. Pour the maple syrup over the butter and, again, use your hands to spread the maple syrup across the surface.
4. Dump your cinnamon sugar mixture over the dough and use your hands to spread it across the top. Lightly pat down the mixture so that it sticks to the butter and maple syrup and no loose sugar is left.
5. At the long side of the rectangle (if you rolled out the dough to be 12 x 24 centimeters, begin at the 24 centimeter long side), begin to roll the dough into a tight log.
6. Take a sharp knife and cut 12 pieces out of the log.
7. Spray a muffin tin with a lot of non-stick cooking spray so that the cinnamon rolls are easy to pull out.
8. Put your rolls into the muffin tin and then into the oven and bake for 15 minutes.

Tip: I would suggest putting the rolls on the top rack of the oven while putting an extra cookie sheet on the bottom rack underneath because the butter and sugar tend to bubble over. This way, the cookie sheet will catch any extra filling from falling onto the oven floor.

Maple glaze, courtesy of, An Italian in My Kitchen:

½ cup powdered sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1 tablespoon milk

1. Use a small bowl and combine all of the ingredients. Mix until the glaze is smooth.
2. If your glaze is too thick to be poured, add an extra tablespoon of syrup and two tablespoons of milk. Feel free to add more, depending on how watery you want your glaze to be.
3. Take your cinnamon rolls out of the oven and let them cool completely.
4. Once cooled, take the rolls out of the muffin tin (if you greased your tin heavily enough, your rolls will just slide out) and put them onto a couple of plates. Drizzle your glaze over the rolls and use the entire mixture — do not skimp out. You’ll be sorry if you do because the glaze tastes amazing.
5. Let them sit for a little while as to make sure the glaze sets into the rolls.
6. Eat and enjoy this creative fall-themed dessert.

Have a thought about what I should bake next? Leave a comment about your ideas.

Bake sweets, eat treats and come back for more recipes.