I've wanted to make cinnamon rolls from scratch for as long as I can remember. Rolling out dough and filling it with tons of butter and brown sugar and cinnamon, filling my house with the smell of cinnamon-y, sugary goodness, and finally sinking my teeth into a fresh, fluffy, warm roll sounded like a dream. Unfortunately, there is an extremely long process of making the dough and letting it rise for hours and hours in order to achieve those perfect, fluffy rolls, which is why it's taken me years to actually make them.
But I promise you, while this process seems tedious and ridiculous and annoying, it is actually very fun, and most importantly, very rewarding. These are incredible. Probably the best cinnamon rolls you'll ever eat. Actually, they're definitely the best cinnamon rolls you'll ever eat.
Go make them. Now.
Ingredients:
Rolls-
-2 cups of whole milk
-1/2 cup of vegetable oil
-1/2 cup of granulated sugar
-1 package of active dry yeast
-4 & 1/2 cups of flour
-1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
-1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
-2 teaspoons of salt
-1 stick of butter, melted
-1 cup of brown sugar
-1/2 cup white sugar
-1/2 cup white sugar
-tons of cinnamon
Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting-
-8oz block of cream cheese, room temperature
-1 stick of butter, room temperature
-2 cups of powdered sugar, more to taste
-cinnamon to taste
-cinnamon to taste
Recipe:
Rolls-
-Stir the milk, vegetable oil, and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until it's just about to boil.
-Let this mixture sit for an hour to cool.
-Once mixture is no longer hot, mix in the yeast. Let it sit for five minutes just so that it can activate and make your dough all nice and light and fluffy.
-Now mix in 4 cups of your flour. Let this sit for another hour with a towel on top. (Tip: the dough tastes HEAVENLY at this point. Seriously, taste it.)
-Once that time is up, uncover, punch down the dough, and mix in your baking soda, baking powder, salt, and 1/2 cup of flour until completely combined.
-Transfer all of your dough into a large mixing bowl and place it in the refrigerator with a towel on top for at least two hours. Check on it a few times and punch down the dough if it rises too far out of the bowl.
-When your dough is chilled enough, preheat your oven to 375°F.
-Take your dough out of the bowl and place on a floured surface. Roll the dough out pretty thin into a rectangle (smaller width if you want mini buns, larger width if you want regular sized buns.)
-Now pour a nice, even coat of melted butter over the dough. You will probably use 1/2 stick, but feel free to use more/less as you feel is necessary.
-Sprinkle tons of cinnamon on top of the butter, and then half of your brown sugar and half of your white sugar. If you feel there's not enough sugar, add more. No one's watching ya.
-Starting at the end farthest from you, begin to roll the dough towards you. Make sure it's very tight. Once you finish rolling, flip the log so that the seam is on the counter.
-Next, start slicing that baby into 1-inch thick slices. If making mini rolls, slice them into 1/2-inch thick slices.
-Butter, oil, or spray 3 or 4 pans- any type you like- and place those sugary, buttery rolls in 'em.
-Cover the pans with a towel and let them rest one more time for 20-30 minutes.
-Finally, bake those babies for 17-19 minutes or until they're lightly golden on top.
-While the rolls are in the oven, you can make your icing. Whisk together cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and cinnamon until smooth and creamy.
-For some of the rolls I used a brown sugar glaze, which was just some melted butter, milk, and a 1:1 ratio of brown sugar and powdered sugar. I whisked it all together until it was very thin and runny. The cinnamon cream cheese frosting is much richer than the glaze, so it's totally up to you and how you like your cinnamon rolls.
-When those rolls are browned and beautiful, take them out of the oven.
-Spread on your icing ASAP! Watch it melt all over the hot and steamy rolls.
-Finally you can sink your teeth into one of these gooey, sugary, doughy buns. Enjoy them while they last- which won't be very long. Just speaking from experience here.