Cooking Baking Eating

I shock my husband. I really do.

Especially when I suddenly bust out things like home made cinnamon rolls randomly.

He’s slowly getting used to the fact that I’ve started learning how to cook. He still won’t take bites of things when I walk up to him with a spoon and say “eat this”. That freaks him out.

But waking up to fresh cinnamon rolls doesn’t scare him… At least not that I know.

Plus I already have the perfect dough for this project.

This lovely dough was left over from the wonderful Sweet White Bread monster dough. Remember that stuff? Yeah, it rocks my socks off.

Anyways. Take your lovely dough. Knead it lightly. Tell it you love it.

Then roll it out. I rolled it as thin as I could without tearing it. I think it was somewhere between 1/8″-1/4″ thick. Try to make it as rectangular as possible, it makes it easier to cut off the ends later if its mostly even.

You also have to make the filling. I used a little bit of super soft butter, sugar and cinnamon. My butter is unsalted so I added just a pinch of salt to it. Just because I could.

Spread the filling all over the rolled dough. Its a little hard to make sure its completely even, but get it as close as possible. Also, leave one long edge of the dough uncovered. You need one of the long ends to pinch over at the end to help seal your log so it doesn’t come undone while rising or baking.

And now we get to roll the dough. I had issues with this part since I was afraid to make the inside too thick without enough filling. I think I was just being obsessive. Its just cinnamon rolls for crying out loud, not brain surgery. I make things more difficult than they are.

After its all rolled up, make sure to pinch the uncovered side to the rest of the long, seal it closed.

Using the back of a knife, start dividing the dough to make your cutting guides. Its easier that way, plus you only get one chance to cut the dough and you want them to be pretty even. I made mine into 8 rolls, but you could easily make them into 12. They were huge.

Its also easier to use a serrated knife to cut them. Make one pull through with the knife and cut half way down, then one more pull through to cut the rest of the way.

And make sure to cut your ends off too. Or else they just look funny.

Aren’t they pretty? So nice and swirled. Now we just have to let them rise and become what they were meant to.

While I let them rise, I made some Cream Cheese frosting. I had made butter cream frosting before and figured it would be similar, since just cream cheese and sugar really didn’t sound appetizing, I added butter!

Because butter makes everything better.

Cream cheese and butter, with a little vanilla extract and a whole lot of powdered sugar. I think somewhere around 2 cups. After everything was mostly incorporated, I just let my whisk attachment go wild and put it on high for a few minutes. It turned from a slightly yellow (from the vanilla) color to a nice whiter color. Pretty.

Now go put it in the fridge and stop sticking your finger in it.

Now that the rolls have risen its time to put them in the oven. They get a pretty good rise, which is not surprising because of the dough I used. Its awesome dough. But then again thats what happens when you use lots of yeast.

After baking, they just have to be the most glorious cinnamon rolls I have ever tasted. Not nearly as sickly sweet as Cinnabon, and fresh from the oven.

Did I mention that this whole recipe I just winged? It was one of those “soul cooking” endeavors. A little of this, a little of that, add more butter. Sometimes those just happen and its so wonderful that it turned out delicious.

Cinnamon Rolls
Makes 8-12 rolls

• Dough: See Sweet White Bread recipe. Use 1/3 of the dough for this recipe.

Cinnamon Filling:

• 1 cups brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 2-1/2 tablespoons cinnamon

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 1/3 cup cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1-1/2 to 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

1. Take the dough and roll it into a large rectangle, roughly 1/8 inch thick, 16” x 20” wide.
2. Stir together all ingredients for the cinnamon filling, until the butter is fully incorporated and mixed in.
3. Spread the cinnamon filling over the dough evenly, leaving 1” along one long side bare. Start rolling the dough along the long cinnamon covered edge and end on the uncovered side of dough, pinching down the seam to make sure it seals.
4. With a serrated knife, cut off the ends of the roll then cut into 12 equal sized portions. Let rise in a greased 9” x 12” pan for 40 minutes.
5. Bake at 350ºF for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Top with cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Whip together the cream cheese and butter until completely incorporated. Add the vanilla and salt.
2. Slowly whip in the powdered sugar 1/4 cup at a time until all is incorporated.
3. Turn the mixer on high and whip for 1-2 minutes, until the mixture has lightened in color, scraping down the bowl often.
4. Refrigerate until used.