Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

Yes, the day after I made homemade Cheese-its I decided to make homemade Cinnamon Rolls.  And I am still making bags for my 40 bags in 40 days project. So really I am quite busy! These Cinnamon Rolls took a long time to make. You won't wake up on Saturday morning at 8 a.m. and serve these by 8:45 a.m. No, you would serve them around 11 or 11:30! So if you want to make them for a special occasion - wake up at 6 a.m. and start this recipe. I found this recipe on the Savory Sweet Life blog and I felt that she wrote her directions in an easy to follow manner. I will also include some of my own tips!

The day before you make these set your butter out to soften. Before you start the recipe set your egg out so that it will be room temperature and get your cream cheese out of the fridge so that it will be room temperature before you make the icing.

Before I start a recipe - I read it through a couple of times and get out all of the ingredients. Then as I use each ingredient I put it back in the pantry or refrigerator.

I researched Homemade Cinnamon Rolls on Pinterest and Google. They were all very similar. I might try another recipe in the future you know like when I have 3 1/2 hours to kill and a refrigerator full of butter.

Ingredients:

Dough

1 cup of warm milk (microwave for 30-45 seconds)

1 egg room temperature, slightly beaten

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 1/2 cups of flour (plus more for dusting)

2 1/4 teaspoons instant dry yeast 

Filing

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 tablespoons cinnamon

Icing

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1/4 cup cream cheese softened

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. In the bowl of your stand mixer add milk, egg, melted butter, oil, sugar and salt. Add flour on top of the liquid mixture.Sprinkle the yeast on top. Using the dough hook kneed the mixture for 3-4 minutes until the mixture forms a dough ball.  Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover with a clean dishtowel. Turn the oven off and put the bowl into the oven - keep the oven door cracked open Tip - I use the butter wrappers to grease the bowl. The bowl should stay in the oven for 1 hour until the dough has doubled in size.

In a small bowl combine the sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon. Set aside. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Sprinkle your rolling surface with a little flour and roll out the dough to a 10 x 14 inch rectangle.  Using a pastry brush the dough with the melted butter and sprinkle the sugar/cinnamon mixture over the melted butter.

Beginning with the long side start rolling the dough into one long cylinder. Using a serrated knife cut the cylinder into 12 equal pieces and place into a greased 9 x 13 pan. Cover with a damp bowl and allow to rise for 30 minutes.

Bake Cinnamon Rolls for 20 minutes until they are golden brown.

While the Cinnamon Rolls are baking combine the frosting ingredients - butter, cream cheese and powdered sugar.  I used an immersion blender. Wait a few minutes for the Cinnamon Rolls to cool and then generously spread them with the frosting.

Yum - you can really taste the difference when you make Cinnamon Rolls from scratch.