Melted. Sweet. Goodness.

VoxTalk readers, I present one of my family’s most coveted recipes. I trust you all; I feel good about our friendship. So I decided to share our Christmas morning tradition with you.

This cinnamon rolls are small, gooey, sticky, sweet, caramel-y, melt-in-your-mouth little nuggets of goodness. I literally am more excited about eating these cinnamon rolls than opening gifts on Dec. 25. Sorry, Santa.

Here is the recipe:

• Sauce glaze:
• 5 tbl. butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)
• Rolls:
• 2 cans Pillsbury crescent rolls
• 3 tbl. (more or less) softened butter
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tbl. cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Melt butter for the glaze in a 9 x 13 Pyrex or similar baking dish in the oven.
3. Add the brown sugar and water. And nuts, if you like nuts. Which I do not. Whisk the glaze together and set aside.
4. Clean off a large work area, such as a counter space. The next steps need to be done as quickly as possible because the crescent rolls are easier to roll and slice when they are cold.
   

   Masterpiece in the works.

5. Open the crescent rolls and gently unroll them onto the counter. Separate the crescent rolls by rectangles. There will be two triangles per each rectangle and four rectangles per can. I’ll do the math for  you: there will be eight rectangles laid out on your counter from the two cans.
6. You will need to gently close the seam of the two triangles for each rectangle of dough. Do this by pinching softly, but don’t break the dough or press too hard. It’s okay for the seam to still be visible and seam-like.
7. Spread the softened butter onto each rectangle. Cover each in a light layer.
8. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture evenly onto each rectangle. Be sure to go almost to the edge of each, and don’t create any hills or mounds of sugar. That will get messy when it’s time to roll and cut them.
   

   Seal in the sugar.

9. Well, it’s time to roll and cut the rectangles. Starting at one of the shorter ends of the rectangle, roll it gently all the way until the end. Some of the sugar may fall out, and some of the seams may not hold together all the way. It’ll be okay, I promise.
   

   Four rolls of greatness.

10. Use a sharp knife to cut the rolls into four pieces each. It makes it easier if you cut the roll in half, then cut eat of the halves in half.
11. Transfer each mini roll into the glaze pan. Be sure to put the cut side down and hold the wrapped layers together as best you can. These will stay together for the most part, but you may have a few that want to flap open and let the sugar fall out.
12. When placing the rolls in the pan, spread them out so that there are about seven rolls of four rolls. There will be four extra rolls to squeeze along the side. It is important that the rolls have space to expand while they bake.
    

    These will fluff and caramelize before the baking is done.

13. Bake the pan and rolls in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the entire roll is golden and fluffy.
14. Resist eating the rolls at this point! There’s still more to come!
    

    The rolls have fallen onto the foil.

15. This is probably the hardest step. Lay out a long sheet of foil on your cleaned-off work space (That wasn’t the hard part). While the pan and rolls are still hot and fresh from the oven, you have to flip the pan over and let them fall out onto the foil. Hold the pan so that your thumbs are on the bottom of the pan (I feel like I shouldn’t have to say this, but to be safe: Use pot holders!) and the rest of your fingers are gripping the top. When flipping, do it away from you to avoid hot, sticky splashes on your nice (Designer? I have high hopes for our readers.) clothes. Flip the pan quickly and let it fall onto the counter, trying your darnedest not to slam your fingers. The good news: The cinnamon rolls are so sticky-sweet that they probably won’t go flying through your kitchen during this step. Instead, it can take a few seconds for the rolls to fall onto the foil once flipped.
16. Eat now or let cool and freeze for a later date when you need to impress people at a bruncheon.

Some thoughts I had while baking:

Hooooomygoodness.

-Be sure to flip the pan while the rolls are still hot, my mother warns. If not, the rolls won’t “release” onto the foil.

-I don’t know how, but the cinnamon rolls have this caramel flavor. Actually, now that I think about it, that’s probably from the butter-sugar glaze. Whatever, it’s unbelievable.