Cinnamon Rolls

I love the smell of St. Cinnamon's or Cinnabon. If I'm in a mall, the smell is just arresting and makes me crave the delicious, soft, gooey and moist cinnamon rolls. I rarely enjoy this treat, but yesterday I had a lazy day and decided to get my hands dirty and take a stab at making my own.

Our whole loft smelled de-li-ci-ous. The cinnamon wafted through our home, creeping into every nook and cranny; it was wonderful! The cinnamon rolls themselves were really good and now I have an understanding just how easy they are. With the rise times, they do take awhile, but you can prepare the dough a day in advance and then slap on the butter, let them rise for a bit and then throw them in the oven in the morning for a brunch treat. So delicious and extremely impressive.

Ingredients

Dough

• 3 cups flour
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp active dry yeast
• ¼ cup warm homogenized milk
• 3 eggs
• ¾ cup butter cut into 12 pieces

Cinnamon Butter

• 1 cup light brown sugar
• ¼ cup flour
• 2 ½ tsp cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• ½ cup butter, softened
• ¾ cup pecan halves, toasted, if desired

Glaze

• 1 ½ cup icing sugar
• 3 tbsp whipping cream

Directions

Prepare the dough. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt. Set aside.

In the mixer bowl, stir together the yeast and milk. Let stand until the yeast begins to foam – about five minutes. Add eggs. Mix in flour mixture ¼ cup at a time until combined.

Using your dough hook, add butter, one piece at a time, incorporating each piece before adding the next. Continue kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Cover and let dough rise for 1 ½ hours until doubled in size.

Prepare the cinnamon butter. Place brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt and mix until smooth.

Uncover dough and punch down several times to work out air bubbles. Turn dough onto a floured surface and roll into an 18x11” rectangle.

 

Spread cinnamon butter over surface evenly and sprinkle with ground pecans.

 

(I didn't have any pecans, but this is where you'd add them)

Starting with a long side, roll dough up jelly roll style and cut into 12 equal pieces and place cut side up in a pan.

 

(um, they didn't all work out!)

Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for another 45 minutes until doubled in size.

 

Bake at 350 degrees until rolls are golden brown – about 35 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.

Prepare the glaze. In a small bowl, whisk together confectioner’s sugar and whipping cream. Add water until desired consistency is achieved.



Drizzle glaze over cinnamon rolls.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Recipe from The Mixer Bible


Download a printable version of the Cinnamon Rolls recipe