Cinnamon Rolls

One of our family’s favorite breakfast foods are cinnamon rolls. There is something warm and inviting about them, gathering the family around the kitchen table with hot coffee and fresh orange juice. Although there are some VERY good bakery made cinnamon rolls out there, you rarely get that fresh baked warm out of the oven experience. Which is why I love to make home made cinnamon rolls … but I don’t love the time it takes!

I have tried several recipes over time and never found THAT ONE recipe that I had to keep making over and over. Until a wedding planner I follow on IG posted a photo of his cinnamon rolls and kindly shared the recipe. OMG, where has this recipe been?! It is by far the easiest, least time consuming and simplest cinnamon roll recipe I have ever tried!! And they are SOOO good!

AND the real reason I decided to try this recipe was because it specifically says to plan to make them the night before and refrigerate overnight and bake in the am! Perfect bc I certainly don’t have time to make the cinnamon rolls from scratch AND bake them all at once in the morning!

I made a few tweaks to the recipe to fit my family’s food sensitivities and I used my own icing recipe. On a side note, there are several great ways to make cinnamon roll icing so I will share the one I used and then in a later post, I will share another option.

You can find the original recipe that my IG friend shared with me here and below is the recipe with the tweaks I made.

INGREDIENTS FOR CINNAMON ROLLS:

2 TEASPOONS ACTIVE DRY YEAST

1/2 CUP LUKEWARM WATER

1 CUP UNSALTED BUTTER
2/3 CUP BAKERS GRANULATED SUGAR
1 CUP WHOLE MILK
1 1/2 TEASPOONS SALT
2 TABLESPOONS VANILLA EXTRACT
4 LARGE EGGS
6-7 CUPS ALL PURPOSE FLOUR ( I like Bob’s Red Mill)
2 TABLESPOONS CANOLA OIL

FOR FILLING:
3/4 CUP PACKED BROWN SUGAR
8 TABLESPOONS GROUND CINNAMON
1/2 CUP UNSALTED BUTTER, MELTED

ICING:

8 OUNCES CREAM CHEESE
1/2 POUND POWDERED SUGAR

1/2 cup milk + more for desired consistency

DIRECTIONS

In a small bowl, sprinkle yeast over lukewarm water and set it aside.
Cream the butter and sugar for seven minutes. Add the yeast
mixture, milk, salt, vanilla, eggs and 5 1/2 cups of flour.
Add the remaining flour 1/4 cup at a time, adding flour just until the dough mixture is no longer
sticky. The dough will begin to form a ball in your mixer and it should become springy to the poke of a finger. Use coconut or vegetable oil to lightly coat a stainless steel bowl ( I have found stainless steal is KEY. Do not use glass.) and transfer dough to the bowl, tossing so the outside of the dough is lightly coated in oil. Cover with foil and let the dough rise in a warm spot for two hours. (In other recipes it has said to cover with plastic wrap or a warm damp towel but foil seemed to be key to this recipe’s success!)

While the dough rises, melt the butter in a small sauce pan.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and brush it with some of
the melted butter. Once the dough has risen, roll out the dough on
a floured surface into an approximate 14 x 24” rectangle. Brush the
dough with melted butter and generously sprinkle with
cinnamon and sugar. Cut the dough into 1-inch strips and
individually roll each strip. Place rolls on prepared baking sheet,
brush top and sides with additional melted butter, cover and let rise
overnight in the refrigerator.
In the morning, preheat the oven to 350F and let rolls come to room
temperature (about 30 minutes.) Bake for 20-25 minutes or until
golden brown.
While the cinnamon rolls bake, prepare the icing by mixing the cream cheese and powdered
sugar in a stand mixer, gradually adding the milk until light, fluffy and desired icing texture.
Allow the rolls to cool for a few minutes and then spread the icing over the cinnamon rolls. (You can make the icing the night before and store in a freezer safe ziplock bag … when ready to use, cut a small corner off and pipe onto cinnamon rolls. Freezer safe ziplocks are stronger than regular ziplocks and won’t bust open)

enJOY!