My cinnamon rolls are the bomb when it comes to family favorite baked goods. I was in a baking mood, established a variation of my regular recipe I wanted to make, and made them just the other day!
I've actually made this recipe a few times now, though the first time I used margarine and the second time I used a mixure of margarine and half-melted butter. I think the second ones came out much better, so that's what I've been going with ever since.
Look at these bad boys! They are so delicious.
First, make the dough.
This is the easiest step, technically, but it's absolutely my favorite. Something about kneading is just so peaceful to me!
All you have to do is dissolve 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast with 1 cup of warm milk in a medium sized bowl. Easy so far, right?!
In a new bowl, mix 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1/3 cup softened butter, some salt (I used approximately 1tsp), 2 eggs, and 4 1/4 cups of flour.
Add your dissolved yeast and milk to the dough and mix it all up. Add flour as needed to make soft but not sticky dough. So far so good!
Put your dough in a big bowl and cover to let it rise. Took me about 1 hour 10 minutes for it to completely double in size.
Here's mine, before it's been raised. It DEFINITELY doubled in size, perhaps even more than doubled for me--which is good.
Not looking too delicious yet--soon though!
Then, make the filling!
Making the filling is super easy. Looks a bit like poop but everyone pretends not to notice, and it tastes delicious so that's all that matters, right?
All you have to do is mix 1/3 cup margarine, 4 tbsp cinnamon and 1/3 cup brown sugar in a bowl. The mixture should be wet and sticky but not runny or crumbling. Add margarine as needed to make sure it's the right texture.
Cut rolls.
This is the exciting part!
You finally get to see your creation brought to life.
Roll your dough out until it's about 20 inches long, or however you want it. Keep in mind this will be the thickness of the breading in your rolls, and how long it is dictates how many rolls there are. I've made this recipe once with huge rolls but only about 10 of them, and once with small once but over 20, so it's completely up to you.
Spread the filling over your dough evenly, and make sure to get all of it. Make more filling if you need to. This is the tasty part, you need lots of it!
Starting to look good!
Roll that big long piece into a long shaft, with the cinnamon in the middle. Cut your rolls the size you'd like--I find that about 1-2 inches is perfect. Remember, these will rise too!
Let them rise, and then put them in the oven!
These are my rolls before they rose. Pretty pathetic, right? They're so small :(
But wait, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and cover your rolls until the oven is ready. Take the cloth off, and tada!
They're bigger now! Perfect :)
Put them in the oven, let them cook for about 20 minutes. Use your mind though--20 minutes is no way set in stone. If your rolls are smaller, maybe leave them in a little less time than that and if they're on the bigger end, leave them in a little longer.
If you want icing, make it!
Want that classic cream-cheese icing you get at Cinabon in the mall?
Well, I got one for you.
Mix 6 tbsp margarine, 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1/4 cup cream cheese, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and a little sugar. If it tastes too much like margarine or like cream cheese, add a bit more powdered sugar. You gotta really beat these things together to make it fluffy, so get your mixing arm on or turn your kitchen-aid to 8 and get going!
This should be enough icing to spread it generously on your rolls. Here's an image of my finished result!
*Note that you'll definitely want to wait until the rolls are mostly cooled to put this icing on. It will melt, and a little melting is good but make sure it's not going to completely disappear!
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