Cinnamon Rolls
Nothing can compare to the smell of homemade Cinnamon Rolls baking in your oven. The delicious aroma of that cinnamon sugar filling is hard to resist, and the tangy cream cheese frosting melting all over these hot rolls really seals the deal!
Servings: 12 rolls
Equipment
- 9" x 13" Baking Pan
- Thermometer
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream 240 g
- 1 cup milk whole milk preferred, but 2% will work, 240 g
- ½ cup granulated sugar 90 g
- 2 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 cup all-purpose flour 520 g
- Additional flour for rolling
- Melted butter for baking dish
Cinnamon sugar filling
- 1 cup brown sugar light or dark brown, 180 g
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 2 oz unsalted butter melted, 57 g
Cream cheese frosting
- 4 oz cream cheese 113 g
- 2 oz unsalted butter 57 g
- 6 tablespoon powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Add cream, milk and granulated sugar to a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes. Transfer to the stand mixer bowl and allow the mixture to cool down to below 110°F, check with a thermometer.
- Sprinkle active dry yeast over the top of the milk mixture, stir and let it bloom for about 10 - 20 minutes. The mixture should visibly puff up.
- In another mixing bowl, sift the flour and stir in the salt. Add the flour mixture to the liquid mixture and knead with the dough hook on low speed until everything is incorporated and a soft dough forms, 10-20 minutes.
- Scrape the dough out onto a floured countertop and knead a few times to form a ball. Place the dough ball into an oiled large bowl, cover with plastic, and allow it to rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 2 hours.
- Melt a tablespoon of butter and brush it all over your baking dish and set aside.
- When the dough is ready, dump it out onto a floured countertop. Roll and stretch it out to a rectangle 20”x13” with the longer edge facing you.
- Melt 2 oz of unsalted butter in the microwave for about 30 second, it doesn’t need to be completely melted, but it should be spreadable. Spread the softened or melted butter all over the dough, leaving about an inch untouched at the top.
- Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon together in a small mixing bowl, sprinkle the mixture evenly over the buttered surface of the dough. Use your hand to even it out and lightly press it to adhere.
- Roll the dough up starting from the bottom edge closest to you. When you get to the end, tuck the seam under. If the roll looks uneven, lift it up and stretch it out to make the entire roll about the same diameter. At this point, the roll could stretch out to about 23” - 24”.
- Divide the roll into 12 equal portions with a serrated knife. Place them into the buttered 9”x13” baking dish and allow them to rise for another hour until double in size.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F and bake for 25 minutes.
- While the rolls are baking, make the cream cheese frosting by beating together softened cream cheese and butter along with vanilla extract and powdered sugar combined and creamy.
- Take the rolls out of the oven, use a knife to separate them and spread cream cheese frosting over the hot rolls right away. Serve warm.
Notes
- The dough can be made without a stand mixer, just mix the flour into the liquid with a spatula or wooden spoon and knead by hand.
- This dough is very soft and sticky when it first comes out from the mixing bowl. Try not to add too much flour when handling it. After the first rise, it will be much less sticky and easier to handle.
- After you roll up the dough with the filling inside, if some parts of the roll seem thicker than others, you can gently lift it and stretch it out to make the entire roll as even as possible. It’s okay if the roll stretches out longer.
- You can use a ruler to measure while rolling and cutting, but if you don’t have one long enough, just eyeball it and cut the roll into 12 portions as evenly as possible.
- The cream cheese frosting can be made in a stand mixer or with an electric hand mixer or by hand using a whisk.
Nutrition
Serving: 134g | Calories: 454kcal
