The World’s Greatest Cinnamon Rolls
You know what’s great? The little lip balms that look like mini eggs. Piano music on a blustery day. Smiley face stickers. Finding a ten-dollar bill in an old purse. Laughing so hard you cry a little. And most of all…cinnamon rolls. Specifically, these cinnamon rolls. The best EVER. No, I’m not kidding. They are perfection.
mybakerlady.com
Enjoy them with coffee, make them for a special brunch, have some friends over for the early game or take them to card night with the girls. Did you know breakfast for dinner is always better with cinnamon rolls? Whatever you have to do…just make them. Start with perfectly sweet dough…which comes together very quickly and is a dream to work with. Roll it out into a nice rectangle(ish) shape.
Then brush with melted butter. When the second instruction is to slather butter all over, it’s a good day.
Then take some cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle it all over. Now…this is one of the keys to truly great cinnamon rolls. Use brown sugar. Every other cinnamon roll recipe I’ve seen uses white sugar in the filling. Blah. So boring. The brown sugar gives it a caramelly richness that’s fabulous.
Wait just a minute. I said “sprinkle”? I meant to say “cover”. Really coat it thick. Lay it on like the flattery Mr. Brown Noser at work gives your boss. Yeah. Overdo it. That’s better.
Then roll it up. Start slowly, make sure the first few rolls are good and tight so you get a nice spiral in your dough. Seal up the seam with a little butter.
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 1/3 cup butter, melted
- 4 1/2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
Filling
- 1 cup brown sugar, packed
- 2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- 1/3 cup butter, melted
Frosting
- 1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in a large bowl. Mix in the sugar, margarine, salt, and eggs. Add flour and mix well. Knead the dough into a large ball, using your hands dusted lightly with flour. Put in a bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
- After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
- Roll dough into a 16×21 inch rectangle. Brush dough with melted butter, then sprinkle with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough starting along the long side and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9×13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 20 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract and salt. As soon as rolls come out of the oven, remove them from the pan. Spread any filling that has seeped out over the top and then spread frosting on rolls before serving.
mybakerlady.com