Jenn's Favorite Cinnamon Rolls

I have perfected my family's favorite way to enjoy cinnamon rolls.

Dough

I use the same dough recipe as this one. I usually use half the dough for the cinnamon rolls and finish the other half as regular rolls for dinner. The amounts for the filling and frosting will need to be doubled if you use all the dough for cinnamon rolls. This makes a dozen cinnamon rolls if using half, two dozen if using all of it.

• 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

Scald 1 1/2 cups of milk, 3/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup of butter in a microwave safe bowl by cooking on high for 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.

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 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). Add 2 cups at time and stir 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 until doubled in size.

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

14 T. butter, softened

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

4 T. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

3 cups powdered sugar

1/2 tsp salt

Cream butter and cream cheese together until creamy. This is important to avoid lumpy frosting later. Blend in milk and vanilla, and then powdered sugar and salt. Put a thin layer of frosting on all the rolls when they are hot out of the oven. Then reserve the rest for when the rolls have cooled.