Cinnamon Rolls and Biscuits & Gravy with Grandma Bonnie

I stayed the night at my parents' house since Grandma's in town and she told me we'd bake cinnamon rolls today. She gets my room whenever she stays over, so I always end up crashing on the couch if I'm not staying at the apartment. Once I woke up, I rolled off the couch and went to brush my teeth. When I walked out, Grandma was already in the kitchen and said, "Your mom said she had some sausage. Why don't we make biscuits and gravy this morning?"
Ohmygoodness. I LOVE Grandma. Andrea and I had just discussed the previous day at Lolo's how we loved biscuits & gravy. I hadn't had it in years, and had never actually made it.
Still in my p.j.'s and sporting my bed head, I started pulling out the ingredients as Grandma listed them off the top of her head. I didn't even realize it was on my Bake-it List until tonight, otherwise I would have lovely pictures for you all.
One note about cooking with Grandma: nothing is an exact measurement. "Just throw some of that in...Knead it some more until it feels right." I can only dream to have that sort of sixth sense someday.
So I learned how to make homemade biscuits and a roux with sausage. We ended up using Trader Joe's sun dried tomato chicken sausage, which had great flavor, but we still had to season the sauce.
Fantastic breakfast. I wish I had proof for you all!
After a short jog, and some sunbathing for Grandma (she has to soak up as much as she can before she heads back to Nebraska) we started her world famous cinnamon rolls. How I had been waiting for this moment.
Warning: You must reserve a full day to make cinnamon rolls. You cannot rush the process; they are delicacies that should not be tampered with.

First you add the flour, sugar, oil, milk, water, salt, eggs, and yeast. It all needs to be room temperature so it can rise properly.

 Then you add some more flour. "Just keep adding till it feels right. You don't need to measure it," says Grandma.

 "How long do you knead it for, Grandma?"

"Oh, forever."

After you knead it for forever, stick it in the microwave to rise. (Don't turn it on.) It's airtight in there & somewhat warm, which helps the process.

 Wait until it's double the size, if not more & knead it down again. Then stick it back in the microwave and do it all over. This takes about four hours. We both got a good amount of sunbathing in today.
Maybe a little shut-eye here and there.

 Now get the pan ready. Grandma said you have to use a metal pan. Glass gets too hot and that's why my mom's always burn.




First type of rolls, we put margarine, Karo syrup, and brown sugar in the bottom. These were the gooey rolls. Then you roll out the dough and sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on them.

 This is my favorite step. After we roll up the dough, we slice it with a piece of thread. It's a little trick my grandma taught me years ago. Slices dough like butter.

 Set them in the pan, like so.

 The next rolls we put margarine, brown sugar, cinnamon, sugar, and chopped walnuts inside. You can sub the walnuts for about anything you want...raisins, pecans, etc. If I recall correctly, we only grease the bottom of this pan. No fancy syrup or anything.

 Rising...again. Told you it was all day thing. Always "double the size."

 <Nutty ones we'll put frosting on.

Regular gooey ones.>

Can't I just eat them already??

 Finally, after six hours of hard labor and a golden tan to prove it, the masterpiece is complete.

Look at these babies. Crispy, sugary coating on top of a warm, fluffy dough. I had to hold everyone back so I could get a picture before they were annihilated.

 And the nutty ones with frosting. Didn't quite make it to the camera in time.

We just left these in the pan and frosted them with a margarine, vanilla, milk, and powdered sugar frosting.

Not gonna lie, might've had more than one.

Might take some back to the apartment, too...

96 Left!!!