Cinnamon Rolls

My kids love cinnamon rolls. This morning, I decided to whip up a batch. I took a hot-from-the-oven pan up to the kids' school and sneaked them into the teacher's lounge for a nice little hump day treat. The rest I kept for my kiddos and I to enjoy. Try this recipe! It is the best I've found...and I've tried a few! I use a bread machine to knead and rise, but you are welcome to do this step by hand if you dare.

Cinnamon Rolls

1/4 cup water

1 cup whole milk

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 large egg, beaten

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup sugar

4 1/2 cup unbleached white flour

1/4 oz (1 envelope) yeast

-Let egg reach room temp. Gently melt the butter. Put the water and milk into bread machine. Allow that to reach between 75-85 degrees before proceeding (I totally guess). Pour the melted butter and egg into bread machine. Then, add remaining ingredients in the order listed above to the bread machine. Prepare using the dough setting.

-After the dough cycle has completed (and risen), roll and stretch the dough out to a 15 x 24 in. rectangle. (I do measure with a ruler!)

1 cup brown sugar

5 Tbsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup butter, softened

-Combine brown sugar and cinnamon.

-Spread butter over the dough with a rubber spatula and then evenly distribute the sugar mixture. Tightly roll up the dough so that you can end up with a 23 in. roll.Trim off the left and right ends. Mark the roll every 1 1/2 inches. cut the roll into 1 1/2 in. long portions using dental floss (unflavored, please!). You should get 15 rolls.

-Place 5 rolls into 8" square baking pans 1 in. apart~one in each corner and one in the center. Cover and let rise in a warm place until almost double, about 1 hour. After rising, bake in oven in 335 degrees for 20 min.

4 oz. cream cheese

1/2 c. butter

1 3/4 c. powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

(I double this because we like lots of frosting. Say sugar high!)

-Let cream cheese and butter sit in bowl to soften. Mix. Add powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time. Add vanilla. Mix at high speed for 10 minutes to get extra fluffy frosting (I know, a long time. But, it really makes is scrumptious. You can just ask Max. He takes his roll with an extra dollop!). Refrigerate.

-Once the rolls are finished baking, frost them while they are still very warm and serve them immediately!

Were you counting? 3 sticks of butter in this recipe and it only makes 15 rolls. That is nearly a quarter of a stick per roll. Ahh...as you can see, I have quite a love affair with butter...this rich, decadent delight.

Enjoy!