Honey-wheat oatmeal rolls {with cinnamon honey butter}

I've actually been making versions of these rolls for awhile {rolls, loafs, stuffing}, since I taught myself to bake bread.

Its kind of a mixture between this recipe, and this one. The quick-cooking oats give a great texture, and the honey adds a wonderful sweetness that is subtle and understated. I'll admit, its pretty hard to not eat this straight out of the oven {especially when you can smell the cinnamon butter}! For those of who you have been blessed enough to go to Texas Road House and eat those rolls, these are similar. A bit more dense, and not as yeasty, but hearty and delicious in their own way!


Ingredients:
1.25 cups warm water
1 cup hot water
1 package dry active yeast
2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon honey {divided}
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 tablespoon salt
1 cup quick cooking oats
2 cups whole wheat flour {I SWEAR by King Arthur Flour}
1.5-3 cups bread flour
1 stick butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:
Combine honey, yeast, and warm water in a bowl.
Let sit until the water gets foamy like this:

In the meantime, combine hot water and oats {this isn't an exact science; you just want the oats to get wet and soggy}.
When the yeast water is ready add the olive oil, salt, and oats.
Add the whole wheat flour and stir {I do this 1/2 cup at a time}.
Now add the bread flour a 1/2 cup at a time until it's hard to stir with a spoon.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and add more flour by kneading until you have a ball of soft but not sticky dough.
Knead the dough for about 3-5 minutes.
Place dough into an oiled bowl and cover with a damp towel.
Let sit for approximately 45 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.
Form dough into long log and cut into small pieces to roll into balls {remember that they'll double in size again!}.
Place dough balls into buttered pan/pyrex:

Cover pan with damp towel and let rise for about 30 minutes {ish}.
While you wait, combine butter, honey and cinnamon by stirring and preheat oven to 425 degrees.

When your rolls look like this brush butter over the tops.

You can see the butter smeared over the tops!

Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.

Note: Two in the top left corner look weird because my mom doesn't like honey butter. So they're dry.

Try not to eat all of them immediately!

Enjoy!