Irresistible Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

There is nothing like homemade cinnamon rolls; tender, sweet, carb satisfaction and don’t even get me started on the smell wafting through the house.

At times like these, I’m not counting calories.  If something sounds good, I make it and relish the flavor but more importantly; I’m enjoying the process of cooking and baking.  Baking is a task that requires you to be in the moment, we desperately need to give our brains a break, to be here and now.

I hope you will make and enjoy my special Homemade Cinnamon Roll recipe crafted for YOU with tons of LOVE!

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

Dough

½ cup warm water

1 envelop active dry yeast

¼ cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup warm milk

1 large egg

½ cup butter, melted

4 cups flour

Filling

½ cup butter, melted

1 cup sugar

2-3 tablespoons cinnamon

Frosting

2 tablespoons butter, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon-1 tablespoon heavy cream

Combine water, sugar and yeast in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and let stand for about 5 minutes until yeast begins to foam.  Add milk, egg and ½ cup butter and mix until combined.  Add ½ of the flour and continue to mix, then add remaining flour and salt and mix until the dough pulls away from the edges of the bowl (if dough it too sticky, add a bit more flour). Transfer the dough to a greased bowl and flip to coat both sides.  Cover with plastic wrap and allow dough to rise 8 hours or overnight in the refrigerator.  Punch dough down and roll into a rectangle about 14×24 inches.   Pour melted butter onto the dough and spread it out evenly with a pastry brush.  Mix sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.  Sprinkle the sugar mixture evenly over the buttered dough.  Roll the dough into a spiral starting with the 14-inch edge until you have one long pinwheel.  Slice the dough into 1 ½ inch spirals and place into a greased baking dish.  Cover rolls with a cloth and allow to rise on the counter-top until puffed about 45 minutes.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake rolls for 19-24 minutes until they are brown.  Meanwhile, mix all frosting ingredients in a bowl well.  Allow rolls to cool a few minutes before frosting and serving. This recipe makes 16-18 rolls.

Substitutions:

Don’t substitute rapid rise yeast for active yeast, this recipe rises 3 times, the last in the oven, and needs standard yeast.

If you can’t make the dough from scratch, consider using frozen bread dough or even thawed raw rolls such as Rhodes brand.

Don’t want to wait on dough to thaw or rise?  Use a package of biscuits and pinch each one into a spiral, dip in melted butter and coat with cinnamon sugar, then roll into spirals and bake according to package instructions.  You can use packaged crescent rolls in the same manner.

ENJOY!