I use elements for my cinnamon rolls from all different places / recipes, but I have perfected my family's favorite way to enjoy cinnamon rolls and wanted to put all of it here so I don't have to look so hard in the future!Dough
I use the same dough recipe as this one. I often use half the dough for the cinnamon rolls and finish the other half as regular rolls for dinner.
1 1/2 cups of milk
3/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon Sugar
1 egg
1 Tablespoon salt
2 Tablespoons yeast
2 cups of warm water
about 9-10 cups of all purpose flour
at least 1 cup of butter
To start out: Scald 1 1/2 cups of milk, 3/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup of butter, in a microwave safe bowl, for 2-3 minutes. Cutting the butter into pieces helps it melt faster. There will probably be some little cubes of butter still floating in the hot mixture, they will melt.
We are going to add yeast to this hot mixture, but it will be too hot to just dump the yeast straight in (it would kill it!). To cool it down stir in 2 cups of flour, then add 1 egg and 1 Tablespoon of salt, and leave it to cool for a couple of minutes. Meanwhile, in a measuring cup dissolve 2 Tablespoons of yeast in 2 cups of warm water and 1 Tablespoon of sugar. Let it sit for a couple of minutes until it is bubbly.
Make sure your milk mixture is just warm, not boiling and add the yeast mixture.
Using a fork or wooden spoon, gradually stir in 7-8 additional cups of flour (including the cups you already added there will be a total of 9 - 10 cups of four). I would recommend only adding 2 cups at time and stirring in between. These rolls turn out so much better when they are mixed by hand.
At the end the dough will be dense and sticky, and may be hard to stir, you can use your hands to incorporate the rest of the flour if needed. Be sure not to add too much flour. Then smooth the dough out and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Leave it in a warm place and let it raise.
Filling
After the dough has doubled in size, punch it down, split in half, and then roll out the dough into a large rectangle on a floured surface. Lightly butter the dough. Mix the following ingredients together:
1/2 c. butter, softened but not melted
1/2 c. brown sugar
2. T. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. salt
Mix well and spread evenly over the dough. Roll up the rectangle and cut into equal sized rolls. Allow to rise again on a greased baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes.
Frosting
We often double this, depending on the number of rolls.
7 T. butter, softened
2 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 T. milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1.5 cups powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
Cream butter and cream cheese together until creamy. Blend in milk and vanilla, and then powdered sugar and salt.
We like this best when we put a thin layer of frosting on all the rolls when they are hot out of the oven. Then we reserve the rest for when the rolls have cooled.
