Have you ever looked at a recipe and immediately thought, “Ooh, I am so making that!” You quickly scan the ingredient list to see if you have everything, forget to (or most likely ignore) the directions and then get out off the stuff so you can get started. As you’re halfway through with the steps, you notice that the directions say, “now, let this refrigerate/rest/set/cook for x amount of time before continuing.” If this is happened to you, don’t worry. You’re not the only one. I’m sure you can guess what I was trying to make…
I am blogging once again about cinnamon rolls. You know, the giant, soft and fluffy, 100% made from scratch that take a couple of hours to rise and eventually smeared with cream cheese frosting. Yes, those. While I really enjoy my quickie roll recipe for its convenience, I don’t mind spending a Saturday morning prepping cinnamon rolls every once in a while, either.
As I said before, I had my fair share of cinnamon roll making in the past and always felt like something was missing. Not to mention that so many recipes called for unnecessary steps which made cinnamon rolls so complicated and intimidating to make. To me, that right there is a big turn off when wanting to attempt to make cinnamon rolls. And I’m not talking about letting the dough rest and rise sections. Letting cinnamon rolls rise are essential to their flavor, texture, and shape. Some cinnamon roll recipes I’ve seen say, “scald the milk to x degrees,” “add in x eggs,” or even “if too sticky, add more flour, but not too much flour.” Do those extra steps really make a difference? Well, for my recipe, I didn’t have to “scald” milk. In fact, I just simply warmed my milk and butter mixture until the butter melted. As for the eggs, well, I didn’t add any! And guess what. My cinnamon rolls still turned out fluffy!
If you’re new to baking, directions with more steps than needed are most likely going to scare you off and avoid making cinnamon rolls altogether. That shouldn’t be the case. Homemade cinnamon rolls are a treat (especially on weekends), but it shouldn’t be complicated. So, here I am sharing my most secret and thoroughly tested recipe to all of you. I hope you enjoy these fluffy goodness because I know my boyfriend and I certainly did.
Yield: 9 cinnamon rolls
Prep time: 25 minutes
Rising time: 2 hours + 20 minutes (2 separate times)
Ingredients:
Dough
3 cups all purpose flour
1 cup milk (I used soy but feel free to use whatever you like)
1 packet of rapid rise yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
3 Tbs unsalted butter
1 Tbs sugar
1/4 tsp nutmeg (it gives the rolls a nice flavor!)
pinch of salt (~1/2 tsp)
Filling
1-2 Tbs unsalted butter, softened (enough to cover dough)
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbs cinnamon
Frosting
4oz cream cheese
2 Tbs unsalted butter
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt (~1/2 tsp)
Directions:
In sauce pan, heat milk and butter until warm and melted on low heat. Cool for 2 minutes.
Transfer milk and butter mixture into a large bowl and dissolve the sugar, mixing thoroughly. Sprinkle yeast over milk and butter mixture and let it sit for 10 minutes. While the yeast is activating, combine flour, nutmeg, and salt in a medium bowl and mix well.
Add about 1/2 cup of the dry ingredients at a time and mix well with a wooden spoon. If the dough is too sticky and difficult to mix with a spoon, lightly sprinkle a clean surface with flour and knead dough for 5 minutes or until smooth. In large bowl (or same bowl you used earlier, just cleaned), completely coat the sides with canola (vegetable oil works, too). Place dough in the well oil bowl and turn the dough so it is coated in the oil. Place plastic wrap over your bowl, tightly and a kitchen towel. Let the dough rise for 1 hour in a warm place (I like my oven or even outside in the sun).
After one 1 hour check on the dough; it should double in size. Flour your work surface and carefully remove dough. Try to shape dough in a rectangle and with a rolling pin, roll out dough into a little bit bigger than 1/4 inch.
Do not preheat your oven yet. Wait until you completely assembled your cinnamon rolls because you’ll want the rolls to rise once more while your oven preheats.
Carefully brush softened butter onto dough and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar evenly. Taking the end closer to you, roll the dough away from you as tightly as you can with the seam side down. Pinch the ends of the dough closed. This prevents the cinnamon roll sugar mixture from falling out.
With a sharp knife, cut the dough in 1 1/4 inch thick until you have 9 rolls. Place dough in a lightly sprayed 8×8 dish. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and allow the rolls to rise once more (~20 minutes). Bake rolls for 28-30 minutes or until golden brown.
Assemble frosting:
While the cinnamon rolls are baking, prep cream cheese frosting. In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add vanilla and salt and mix well. Carefully had powder sugar a little at a time until well incorporated. Beat frosting until light and fluffy.
Once the cinnamon rolls have baked, allow them to cool for 3-5 minutes. Add frosting and serve right away. Enjoy!
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