I decided to be a good wife last night and make some caramel rolls, since for several weeks now my husband has been saying, “You know, some caramel rolls would sure be good.” Since I don’t normally have a ton of time to bake, and since I’ve never made completely from-scratch rolls, I wanted a simple recipe that I could do in a short amount of time. When I found one called “So Easy Caramel Rolls,” I knew I had found a keeper! The recipe I followed can be found here.

Since I’m all about living a healthy lifestyle, I also really liked that this recipe called for refrigerated breadstick dough–not because breadsticks are the ultimate health food, but because I knew I could use smaller breadsticks to create smaller portions for us (if you want, you could also cut the breadsticks in half to create cute mini-rolls!). After all, balance and moderation are the keys to a truly healthy diet (See my diet tip posts here and here)!

Here’s all you need for this recipe:

Topping

• 1/4 cup butter, melted (I subbed light butter)
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans

Filling

• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened (again, I used light butter)

Rolls

• 1 (11 ounce) can refrigerated breadstick dough

Here’s what you do:

Preheat your oven to 375. Combine the first four topping ingredients in an ungreased 9 inch round cake pan. Stir until mixed well, then sprinkle the pecans on top.

In a separate small bowl, combine the tablespoon of sugar and teaspoon of cinnamon and set aside.

Unroll and separate the dough. Spread each strip with about 1/2 teaspoon of the softened butter, then sprinkle the sugar-cinnamon mixture evenly over the top of each of them. Roll them up loosely, then pinch the ends to seal them.

Set the rolls evenly in the pan, then bake for 18-22 minutes, or until golden brown (mine took less time to bake since I used smaller breadsticks to make more rolls).

Remove from the oven and cool for five minutes, then invert the pan over a serving plate and let stand for a minute before removing the pan.

The original recipe also instructs you to “serve warm.” I won’t tell you to do that because I don’t think you will need a reminder at this point–the scent of them baking in the oven brought my husband to the kitchen without me having to say a word. I will, however, advise you to let them cool just enough so that you don’t burn your tongue too badly!

Our verdict: DELICIOUS. So quick and easy, with mostly ingredients we already had. This recipe is a winner for anytime you want a quick treat or have company coming. I think next time, I might try to substitute some honey for part or all of the corn syrup, since the sticky part hardened a little too much for my liking later. I also think we would like the taste a little bit of honey would contribute. Overall, though, there were two satisfied tummies in our household last night, and we will definitely be making these again! Hope you enjoy them too!

Keep in touch, and keep it real!

Justine