Classic Cinnamon Rolls
A classic cinnamon roll recipe is something that I feel everyone should have in their recipe box. Whether you want to have an easy dessert to grab on the counter or a sweet breakfast to start the morning right, you really can't go wrong with these.
Ingredients
Method
- Warm the milk in microwave for 40-45 seconds. Transfer warm milk to a large mixing bowl and sprinkle yeast on top. Let the yeast sit on top of the milk for ~2 minutes while you prep the next ingredients. (This will give it time to activate with some help from the warm milk!)
- Add in sugar, egg, egg yolk, and melted butter. Whisk until well combined.
- Next, stir in the bread flour and salt with a wooden spoon until a dough begins to form.
- Sprinkle bread flour on a clean countertop and begin kneading the dough by hand for about 5 minutes. The dough should form into a nice ball and be slightly sticky. If it's sticking to the counter too much, add 1/2 tsp of bread flour at a time while you're kneading to loosen it up.
- Transfer dough ball to a well-oiled bowl, cover the top of the bowl with plastic wrap and a warm towel. Allow dough to rise for 1-1.5 hours or until it has doubled in size. (May take more or less time depending on the temperature of the room! Mine took 1 hour.)
- After the first rise, transfer the dough to a well-floured surface and roll it out into a 13"x 9" rectangle using a rolling pin.
- Mix all of the filling ingredients together in a small bowl and spread it over the top of the rolled out dough leaving a 1/4" margin at the far side of the dough.
- Starting from the 9" side, tightly roll the dough up and place it seam side down, sealing it as best as you can.
- Cut off about 1" on each end as the ends won't be as full of the cinnamon sugar filling.
- Cut into 1" sections with floss or a serrated knife (make sure you are not using flavored floss!). You should get 9 large rolls.
- Place the cinnamon rolls in a greased 9"x9" baking pan or 9" round cake pan. Cover with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel for 30-45 minutes for the second rise. Towards the end of the second rise, go ahead and preheat your oven the 350℉.
- Before placing the rolls in the oven, pour about 1/4 cup of warm heavy cream over the cinnamon rolls. You can quickly warm the cream in the microwave for ~20 seconds.
- After pouring the heavy cream on top of the rolls, place them in the oven and bake for 20-25 mins until slightly golden on the edges, not brown! If the edges are too dark, they will not be soft. (My rolls took 22 minutes. As always, the baking time will vary depending on your oven so keep a close eye on them around the 18-minute mark!)
- Combine the frosting ingredients in a bowl and mix until smooth. Spread the frosting over the warm cinnamon rolls and enjoy!
- Optional: Add sprinkles to the top 🙂
Notes
- When letting the dough rise before baking, it is best if your kitchen isn’t too cold. I know this sounds strange, but a cold room is not friendly to rising dough! With a room temperature space (68-72°F), the dough will have a much easier time doubling in size within that 1-hour timeframe.
- If you like a lot of frosting, you are more than welcome to double the batch of frosting!
- As mentioned in the recipe, do not use flavored floss to cut your cinnamon rolls! I know that dental floss is a popular way to cut cinnamon rolls because it works so well, so just make sure that it is plain floss. You don’t want to a subtle mint flavor in your cinnamon rolls!
Leave a Reply