The Perfect Cinnamon Buns

Description

Every once in a while, I get the craving for a nice gooey, chewy, hot out of the oven, melt in your mouth, awesome cinnamon roll.  A couple of days ago, despite my attempts to resist, that craving really got to me.  For most people in my situation, that would mean a trip down to the closest Cinnabon, but of course I love to bake so instead, I made a trip to my kitchen.  I found a copycat recipe here with nearly 5,000 reviews and a 5 star rating.  With the recipe in hand (well…on my laptop) I was pretty confident that I would soon be stuffing my face with soft puffy clouds from Cinnabon heaven.  Admittedly, the combination of not having access to a bread machine, along with being incapable of following directions lead me to make a few minor adjustments.  These rolls came out amazingly soft, gooey, and wonderful!  Plus the flavor was amazing!  This IS the perfect combination of sweet bread and cinnamon sugar goodness…I promise!  This recipe makes 20 medium/large rolls…I won’t tell you how many I ate on my own.

Dough

1 Cup of warm milk
2 ½ Teaspoons of yeast
1 Teaspoon of salt
1/3 Cup of butter  (melted and cooled)
2 Eggs (room temperature)
4 ½ Cups of all-purpose flour (preferably high protein)

Filling

1 Cup of brown sugar
2 ½ Tablespoons of cinnamon
1/3 Cup butter  (softened)

Icing

3oz of cream cheese
¼ Cup of butter
1 ½ Cups of powdered sugar

How to make these awesome cinnamon rolls

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm milk and let it sit for a couple of minutes.

2. Next, stir in salt until dissolved, then mix in melted butter and eggs.

3. Gradually stir in flour and knead until you get a nice smooth ball (kneading should only take about a minute).

4. Cover the mixing bowl with a damp cloth and let your dough rest in a warm place until doubled (about 1 hour).

5. Once your dough has risen, punch it down and transfer it to a lightly greased work surface.

6. Roll your dough out into a rectangle about 16X21 inches.

7. In a small bowl, mix together all filling ingredients and then spread it over your rolled out dough leaving about a 1/4 inch space along one of the long ends.

8. Starting with the side opposite of the end with the space, roll your dough into a log.  For best results, start rolling in the middle then work your way out to the edges, also try to keep things pretty tight.

9. Gently slice your giant cinnamon roll into about 1 inch thick pieces.

10. Place your rolls onto a lightly greased glass baking sheet and let them rise for about half an hour until they are doubled in size.  (If you are making these at night and want to have fresh baked rolls for breakfast, don’t bother letting them rise now.  Simply put a layer of plastic wrap over the rolls and put them in the fridge until the morning and add a couple of minutes onto your baking time.)

11. Preheat oven to 350⁰F and bake the rolls for about 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

12. Over low heat (or in a double broiler) stir icing ingredients together until combined.

13. Pour icing over the rolls while they are still hot.

Do you think these taste as good as the ones at Cinnabon?