cinnamon rolls with cream cheese icing

Prior to a very recent rabbit hole I went down on google, I did not understand the difference between cinnamon buns and cinnamon rolls.  I’m now 80% sure these are officially cinnamon rolls but I’m going to refer to them as both throughout this post because this blog is about butter not consistency.

This was my first time making cinnamon rollbuns (hybrid?) and now I’m obsessed.  It’s really not that hard but I’m going to take you through the process step by step because we are in this together.Step one: Ignore everyone in your family telling you that 10:00pm is too late to start making cinnamon rolls for the next morning.  Time is relative or something like that.

Step two: Realize the dough needs to rise an hour before you roll it out but never admit to the haters that maybe it was a little too late to make cinnamon rolls.Step three: Accidentally spill flour all over your slippers.  This part is integral to the quality of the resulting buns.

Step four: Fall madly in love with these swirly carbs and tuck them into a buttered baking pan for the evening.Step five: Go to sleep. Seriously it’s like midnight at this point.Step six: Stare intently into the oven, knees tucked under your chin, watching them puff up and get super cozy together.  Question if maybe you should make some more friends and get out of the house.Step seven: JUST KIDDING WHO NEEDS FRIENDS THESE ARE EFFING PERFECT AND ALL YOU EVER NEED IN LIFE.Step eight: Glaze them once and feel pretty accomplished as the icing sinks into the the cinnamon swirls that you’ve been extremely attached to.Step nine: Glaze them again.  You just made homemade cinnamon rolls and you’re not going to skimp on the reason everyone is here.Step ten: Serve exactly one member of your family and then take the entire pan away to get a blog shot.

Step ten is really unpopular with everyone at the breakfast table. I think I said all I needed to say above but alternate directions are below.

cinnamon rolls with cream cheese glaze

(recipe from the girl who ate everything)

dough

1 cup warm milk

1 package yeast (1/4 oz)

2 eggs

1/2 cup butter, melted

4 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup white sugar

filling

1 cup brown sugar, packed

2 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon

1/3 cup butter, softened

cream cheese glaze

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter, softened

3 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

pinch of salt

directions

Dissolve the yeast into your warm cup of milk in a large bowl.  It may not look fully dissolved, that’s ok, mine definitely didn’t.  Add in your sugar, melted butter, salt, eggs, and flour and mix well.  Knead the dough with your hands until it forms a sticky ball or use your dough hook on medium speed for 7-8 minutes.  Transfer the dough to a well oiled bowl and let rise, covered with plastic wrap, for about an hour or until doubled in size.  If your kitchen is cold, let it rise in your oven that you preheated for like 2 minutes and then turned off.

In a small bowl, stir together your brown sugar and cinnamon and set aside.  Once risen, roll the dough out on a well-floured surface to make a rectangle about 16×20 inches.  Spread your softened butter onto the dough (this was a disaster for me, just do your best) and then sprinkle your cinnamon sugar evenly over the dough.

Roll into a log starting with the long end and then slice into 12 even rolls.  Use a serrated knife and be gentle but it’s ok if they get a little squished because they will settle and puff during the second rise.  Transfer your rolls into a buttered 9×13 inch baking pan.  Leave a little room in between since they will expand.

If you’re a morning bird and this is all happening the day of, let your rolls rise for 30-60 minutes at room temperature.  If you’re making these the night before, cover your baking pan and leave the cinnamon rolls in the fridge overnight.  In the morning, take them out an hour before you plan to bake them to let them come to room temperature and rise a bit more.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and bake for 20 minutes.  While the rolls bake, beat together all of your frosting ingredients.  Start by creaming the butter and cream cheese, then add in the vanilla/salt, followed by the powdered sugar in batches so you don’t get a cloud of sugar coming at you.

Once the buns are out of the oven, frost them immediately with half the glaze.  Let them sit for a minute and then use the rest of the glaze to finish them off.  Full disclosure, I did not use ALL of this frosting and I am someone who never skimps on frosting.  It’s never a bad thing to have some cream cheese frosting leftover.

Serve warm and accept compliments for your hard work.

Enjoy!