Candy Canes with Cinnamon Rolls

My brother asked me to make something with color.  This isn't easy because Rhodes dough is already kneaded, so to add color you need to figure out a different way than putting it inside the dough.  There probably is a way, but I haven't figured it out yet.  But, since I am the Rhodes Dough Diva, I will.  Just give me time.  Today I decided to make colored candy canes using Rhodes cinnamon rolls.

This is what they come out of the bag looking like.  I thawed mine in the fridge for about three or four hours.

Unroll the roll.....I like that sentence. Once it is unrolled, fold it in half so you have equal sides.  Cut the roll in half at the midpoint so you have equally long strips.

Melt butter and put in about 4 or five drops of red food coloring. If you don't have a pastry brush in your Diva arsenal, you MUST go get one.  Next to a spatula, it is the one tool I consistently use in the bread kitchen.

I found some colored sugar in the cupboard I decided to use.

One of the two strips has more cinammon on it than the other.  With the less cinammony strip (yes, I was an English major), spread the melted red butter all over it on both sides.  Then sprinkle with the red sugar.

Push the painted strip and the regular strip side by side.

Twist and twist.  Remember, you are making a candy cane.  This is a messy process, but look how pretty?....okay, unfocus your eyes and you will see that it looks really pretty.

Form your candy cane on a cookie sheet.  Since you are using sugar, BE SURE to spray your cookie sheet with PAM or some kind of cooking spray.  When the sugar is in the oven, it will carmelize and harden on to your cookie sheet.

Here is what they look like before they went in the oven.  I did a cinammon twist without the food coloring just for fun too.

350 degrees for 20-22 minutes.  I did mine for 25 minutes and it was too much.  I should have checked on them at 20 minutes, but I was watching "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" and seven ax-swinging, dancing red-headed men will throw any Rhodes Diva into a stuporous state.  

Remember the dough is thawed, so it doesn't take as long to cook as when you pop frozen rolls in the oven.

Brush rolls with the included glaze.

These candy canes will last only a minute at your house, as they did at mine.