Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cinnamon Rolls

I make these cinnamon rolls for special occasions, birthdays, bake sales, etc.  They are always a hit.  Friends ask when I'm making them next; my brother-in-law barters a computer fix for a cinny-bun fix.  And since there's only so much time in the day, I feel the need to share the recipe around, so others can start filling this vast need for homemade cinnamon buns.

With this simple step-by-step guide, pictures included, you, too, could be well on your way to dazzling your friends and family with these delicious cinnamon rolls.

Melt-in-your-mouth Cinnamon Rolls
Makes 30 rolls

 

Ingredients

Dough

• ¼ cup warm water
• 1 cup warm milk
• ½ cup margarine, melted*
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ cup sugar
• 4 ½ cup white bread flour
• 2 ¼ tsp bread machine yeast (1 envelope)

Cinnamon Filling

• 1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 3 tbsp cinnamon
• ½ cup margarine, softened*

 Cream Cheese Frosting

• ½ cup cream cheese, softened
• ½ cup margarine, softened*
• 1 ¾ cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/8 tsp lemon flavor

*For the record, I use butter almost exclusively these days, but you can use margarine interchangeably in this recipe.

Method

1. Put the dough ingredients in the bread machine in the order listed above (or according to your bread machine manual.)  Prepare dough using dough setting on bread machine.
2. Just before you begin rolling out the dough, warm your oven up to 200°F.  When it is up to temperature, turn the oven off.  The rolls will rise in the slightly warmed oven.
3. Mix 1 cup of brown sugar and 3 Tbsp cinnamon from the filling recipe.  Allow the ½ cup of margarine to soften at room temperature.
4. After the dough cycle has completed, roll and stretch the dough out on a lightly floured surface into about a 12″ by 20″ rectangle. (10" x 36" if you want to make mini rolls)

Spread margarine on the dough, leaving an inch unbuttered along the two wide sides so that you can seal the roll.  Evenly distribute the Sugar and Cinnamon mixture.  Be careful to leave your 1″ edges clean.  Brush water onto the unsugared edge.  This will help you seal the roll.

Cut the dough in half so that you have two slabs, 6 inches high and 20 inches wide. (5" x 36" if you want to make mini rolls.)

Roll the dough, starting at the dressed edge, towards the unbuttered edge. Pinch the clean edge with the roll to seal it.

Trim off the left and right ends of the roll. Mark the roll into 15 equal portions.  Cut along the marks to form 15 rolls, just over an inch wide.  Repeat with the second roll.

 
Either grease two 10×15 bar pans or line them with parchment paper. Place 15 rolls in each pan.

Cover with plastic wrap and let them rise in the pre-warmed oven for about 45 minutes (until doubled in size).  (If you do not have this size pan, just do fewer rolls in a smaller pan.  They need their space though, so make sure there is plenty of room to expand without them running into each other.)

Remove from oven and bump the oven temperature up to 335°F.  Once the oven is up to temperature, remove the plastic wrap and bake rolls at 335°F for 20-25 minutes, moving the pans from top to bottom half way through the baking. The resulting rolls should be only lightly browned.


While the rolls are baking prepare your cream cheese frosting.

 

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

• ½ cup cream cheese, softened
• ½ cup margarine, softened
• 1 ¾ cup powdered/confectioners/icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/8 tsp lemon flavor

Method

1. Mix cream cheese and margarine for 5 minutes until thoroughly mixed and creamed.
2. Add 1 cup of the powdered/confectioners/icing sugar and mix for 1 minute on low.  Add the remaining 3/4 cup of powdered/confectioners/icing sugar and mix for an additional minute.
3. Lastly, add the vanilla and lemon flavor and whip for 1 minute on medium.
4. When the rolls are finished baking, frost them while they’re still warm and serve them immediately.

These can be reheated, much like a Krispy Kreme doughnut, for 9 seconds for that "just out of the oven" taste.