Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

ooey. gooey. delicious. There's nothing more nostalgic than the smell of cinnamon rolls baking in your kitchen first thing in the morning.  In this case it was around midnight but non-the-less equally fulfilling. I've been wanting to make these morning cakes for a while now but have been a bit intimidated (I get intimidated easy if you can't tell). Something about making dough, letting it rise, then rolling it into a magical pinwheel of love kept me away for quite some time. I finally gave in this last weekend, being General Conference and my boyfriend's family in town, I wanted to make something they could just pop into the oven and devour without me there (I have to work every weekend, *sigh*). These ended up being really fun to make and absolutely perfect for a quick morning meal! A lot easier than i thought. You have it good if 5 minutes of waiting time is the only thing that separates you from sinking your teeth into buttery, cinnamon-y, deliciousness-es. That was absolutely grammatically incorrect but I think I got my point across. This recipe is really good, and great to make with the kids as well. Super easy and even more satisfying. Now that I have made these homemade buns I know what I'd do next time to up the anty of these cakes even more (I know, if at all possible right?) This recipe makes a bun load ;) so it's a good idea to bake them in disposable tin rounds and gift them or like Ree says; hide in your closet and devour the whole batch :) Try these for your families next Saturday morning breakfast! Make them the night before and heat them in the oven for 5 minutes the next morning! I promise this will become a weekend ritual. 

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

  original recipe adapted from The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

• 1 quart Whole Milk
• 1 cup Vegetable Oil
• 1 cup Sugar
• 2 packages Active Dry Yeast
• 8 cups (Plus 1 Cup Extra, Separated) All-purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon (heaping) Baking Powder
• 1 teaspoon (scant) Baking Soda
• 1 Tablespoon (heaping) Salt
• Plenty Of Melted Butter
• 2 cups Sugar
• Generous Sprinkling Of Cinnamon
• (I also added 1/2 cup chopped pecans to one batch and they were delicious!)
• _____
• MAPLE FROSTING:
• 1 bag Powdered Sugar
• 2 teaspoons Maple Flavoring
• ½ cups Milk
• ¼ cups Melted Butter
• ¼ cups Maple Syrup (the original recipe calls for brewed coffee here, but since I don't drink coffee,maple syrup took it's place, and good thing because it tasted like maple donut frosting YEEUUUM!)
• ⅛ teaspoons Salt

I decided I wanted to try a cream cheese frosting too. This tastes very similar to Cinnabon's! 

Recipe from Whisk Kid

Cream Cheese Frosting

3 oz (85 g) cream cheese, room temp
1/4 c (50 g) butter, room temp
1 1/2 c (234 g) confectioners' sugar (may need more or less depending on desired consistency)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
2 Tbls maple syrup (optional - my addition)

Beat together cream cheese and butter until well combined. Sift in confectioners' sugar, bit by bit and add salt. Beat about 5 minutes until light and fluffy, then briefly beat in vanilla and maple syrup, if using. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

Preparation Instructions

Mix the milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a pan. “Scald” the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point). Turn off heat and leave to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour. When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but NOT hot, sprinkle in both packages of Active Dry Yeast. Let this sit for a minute. Then add 8 cups of all-purpose flour. Stir mixture together. Cover and let rise for at least an hour.

After rising for at least an hour, add 1 more cup of flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir mixture together. (At this point, you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it – overnight or even a day or two, if necessary. Just keep your eye on it and if it starts to overflow out of the pan, just punch it down).

When ready to prepare rolls: Sprinkle rolling surface generously with flour. Take half the dough and form a rough rectangle. Then roll the dough thin, maintaining a general rectangular shape. Drizzle 1/2 to 1 cup melted butter over the dough. Now sprinkle 1 cup of sugar over the butter followed by a generous sprinkling of cinnamon. (don't skimp out on the cinnamon people, trust me too much is a good thing here!)

Now, starting at the opposite end, begin rolling the dough in a neat line toward you. Keep the roll relatively tight as you go. Next, pinch the seam of the roll to seal it.

Spread 1 tablespoon of melted butter in a seven inch round foil cake or pie pan. Then begin cutting the rolls approximately ¾ to 1 inch thick and laying them in the buttered pans. (Make sure you leave a little room in between each roll, if there squished together the edges wont get that crusty goodness, and the frosting wont have the chance to hug the sides like they want to) :)

Repeat this process with the other half of the dough. Let the rolls rise for 20 to 30 minutes, then bake at 400 degrees (see note below) until light golden brown, about 15 to 18 minutes.

For the frosting, mix together all ingredients listed and stir well until smooth. It should be thick but pourable. Taste and adjust as needed. Generously drizzle over the warm rolls. Go crazy and don’t skimp on the frosting.

Note: My rolls don’t work for me at 400 degrees anymore. I now bake them at 375 degrees. (My rolls were actually a little undercooked at 375 so I say try 400.)

How cute I had some left over batter so I made mini cinnamon rolls! Look how darling!