The Perfect Cinnamon Roll

I'm a sucker for a good pastry and I'm pretty sure that cinnamon rolls are my favorite! My mom used to make us cinnamon rolls on Sunday mornings before church when I was growing up so that might be why I like them so much.

This year I was asked to make cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning and I thought, no problem. Except that I had never them from scratch before, I usually just pop the tube open and cook them in the toaster oven. But I really wanted to make them from scratch so I found a great recipe. The day before Christmas I made the dough. It didn't rise. So I tried the same recipe again, and it didn't rise. I was getting mad at this point so I pulled out every cookbook I own and looked for another recipe. I couldn't really find one that I liked. That is until I pulled out my Kitchen Aid mixer booklet. I found some recipes in the back of the booklet and decided to try the Basic Sweet Dough recipe. Well it worked! The rest of the recipe is a combination of other recipes that I liked and I think that together, the 3 recipes make the perfect cinnamon rolls!

They are well worth the work and the wait!

Dough:

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter

2 packages active dry yeast

1/3 cup warm water

3 eggs, at room temp.

5 1/2-6 1/2 cups flour

Place milk, sugar, salt and butter in a small saucepan. Heat over low heat until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Cool to lukewarm. Meanwhile, dissolve yeast in warm water in warm mixer bowl. Add lukewarm milk mixture, eggs and 5 cups flour. Attach bowl and dough hook to mixer. Turn to Speed 2 and mix 2 minutes. Continuing on Speed 2 add remaining flour (I only use another 1/2 cup) and mix 2 minutes, or until dough clings to hook and cleans the sides of the bowl. Knead on Speed 2 another 2 minutes. Place dough in a greased bowl, turning to grease the top. Cover. Let rise in warm place 1 hour or until doubled in size.

While the dough rises go ahead and make filling and the cream cheese frosting.

Filling:

3 teaspoons cinnamon

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup sugar

Combine in small bowl.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

6 oz. cream cheese

2 tablespoons milk

3 cups powdered sugar

Using your paddle attachment, cream all ingredients together until smooth. Place in fridge until ready to frost cinnamon rolls.

When dough has doubled size, place on floured surface. Roll dough to a 10X24 inch rectangle. Spread 1/2 stick softened butter over the dough then coat with the filling mixture. Roll dough tightly from long side to form 24 inch roll, pinching seam together. Cut into 24 slices, 1 inch each. Place 12 rolls each in two greased 13x9 inch pans. Cover. Let rise in warm place 1 hour or until doubled in size. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown on top. Let cool for about 5-10 minutes and then frost. Serve warm or when ready to eat nuke each cinnamon roll in the microwave for 10-15 seconds.