Easy, Amazing Cinnamon Rolls

Hey, I’m John Kanell. Today on , we’re making some easy, amazing cinnamon rolls. So let’s get started.

Why You’ll Love This

This, of course, will give you so much buttery richness and really make your dough just pillowy soft. It’s gonna be great. It is so easy, but criminally delicious. That is buttery, tender, gooey, delicious, kissed with cinnamon. I don’t know if you could do better than this.

Ingredients

For the Dough

one cup or 240 mils of warm milk
one quarter cup of granulated sugar
one packet or two and a quarter teaspoons of active dry yeast
four and two thirds cups of all-purpose flour (560 grams)
a third of a cup or 73 grams of light brown sugar
one and a half teaspoons of salt
half a teaspoon of cinnamon
half a cup of butter (melted)
One large egg
One tablespoon of vanilla

For the Filling

half a cup or 110 grams of brown sugar
one and a half tablespoons of cinnamon
six tablespoons of the softest butter

For the Cream Cheese Icing

two tablespoons of softened butter
four ounces of a softened cream cheese
A pinch of salt
a teaspoon of vanilla
two cups of powdered sugar
one to two tablespoons of milk as needed

Instructions

First off, in the bowl of your stand mixer, add one cup or 240 mils of warm milk.
To help wake our yeast up, I’m adding one quarter cup of granulated sugar.
Add one packet or two and a quarter teaspoons of active dry yeast.
Give this a mix, and we’re gonna set this aside just for about five minutes or until it’s frothed up.
While our yeast rises up, we’re going to get our dry ingredients together.
Into a large bowl, I’m measuring out four and two thirds cups of all-purpose flour.
Measure out a third of a cup or 73 grams of light brown sugar.
I also want one and a half teaspoons of salt.
I’m also adding in half a teaspoon of cinnamon.
Go ahead and melt half a cup of butter.
While you’re waiting for your yeast to bloom, go ahead and give your dry ingredients a nice mix just to distribute everything and hunt around for brown sugar lumps.
Add all of this into our mixer.
Pour half a cup or 113 grams of melted butter all over.
Add one large egg.
Add one tablespoon of vanilla.
Let this dough come together.
Once you have like a nice shaggy mixture, it can go all the way up to medium.
Knead until this dough is tacky but doesn’t stick to your fingers.
Grab a big bowl and lightly oil it, just using your fingers to push the oil up to the edge.
Transfer that dough over.
Turn the dough over just once so the oil parts on top.
Loosely cover your bowl, and we’re gonna pop this into a warm place to rise until it’s doubled in size.
Towards the end of your rise time, we’re gonna make our filling.
In a medium bowl, we’re gonna combine half a cup or 110 grams of brown sugar.
Add one and a half tablespoons of cinnamon.
Grab a fork, and we’re just going to mix this together.
As soon as our filling’s mixed up, we’re gonna set this aside.
Lightly flour our countertop, and get ready to spread our dough.
Dump this out onto a lightly floured counter and roll it into a 12 by 24 inch rectangle.
Pop six tablespoons of butter into the microwave on half power for 10 seconds until it’s, like, almost melted.
Dot the butter for various parts of your dough.
Spread things out into a nice, even layer.
Bring the butter right up to three of the edges, but leave one of the short edges blank.
Spread my cinnamon sugar over a nice, even layer.
Spread this into a nice, even layer with my hands.
Fold the side with less butter and cinnamon sugar over and then start rolling.
Roll that over.
Grab a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.
Butter the side and bottom really lightly.
Cut this log into two-inch slices.
Mark things off before you get to cutting.
Grab a length of unwaxed dental floss or string, and you’re going to cut sections of it by basically strangling your cinnamon roll.
Set those aside as I cut.
Take the bottom, pushing it up a little bit with your thumb, and then pinching.
Pinch the bottom down.
Pop it up with your thumb just a little bit, and then pinch the bottom together and place.
Place them in the baking dish.
Loosely cover, and it’s time for a second rise.
In the meantime, preheat your oven to 350, so it’s nice and ready.
These guys are ready to go into the oven, 350, for 20 to 25 minutes, or until they’re puffed and golden throughout.
While our cinnamon rolls are baking, make some cream cheese icing.
Starting with two tablespoons of softened butter into a medium bowl, along with four ounces of a softened cream cheese.
Add a pinch of salt for contrast, and a teaspoon of vanilla.
Mix it up to combine.
Add two cups of powdered sugar.
Mix this up on low, and add one to two tablespoons of milk as needed.
Increase speed to medium, just to break up any little balls of powdered sugar you have.
Spread about a third of the frosting on top, so it seeps into all the nooks and crannies.
Just use the back of a spoon, so you can kind of get all those corners together, and add a thin layer of frosting all over the top.

Cooking Tips

If the bowl of your mixer was ice cold, go ahead and either microwave it or run it under some hot water and then pour it out so all the heat doesn’t get leached out right away. Whenever you’re making something with yeast, make sure you triple check the label and use the correct kind. If it doesn’t froth up, your yeast are not okay and you need to start over again. You cannot use bad yeast. You want your cinnamon rolls to have as little flour as possible and still hold together. If you’re measuring this with a measuring cup, you really have to pack it down and make those lumps all the worse. So if you’re doing that, really make sure that you crumble it up on your hands. If you have any other favorite spices you’d like, totally feel free to use those. Go ahead and pop that into a microwave safe bowl and go at 50% power in 10 to 15 second bursts. While you’re waiting for your yeast to bloom, go ahead and give your dry ingredients a nice mix just to distribute everything and hunt around for brown sugar lumps. You can use a hand mixer if you want for this recipe. You’ll just be standing over the bowl for a while. If you really want, you could do this all by hand. You’ll be kneading until this dough is tacky but doesn’t stick to your fingers. It’ll be one and a half to two hours until it’s doubled. Just be patient because it’s totally worth it. If you wanted to, you could add so many things to this. Think of this as your blank slate. Do you wanna have some finely chopped toasted pecans? You could have some orange zest in here. Other spices you love, like allspice or cardamom. The list goes on, so feel free to personalize with your favorites. The little tip is that you always want the dough to be upside down, meaning the side that’s dried slightly is on the countertop. It’ll make things really easy. You don’t really need to do that much rolling. For this, you don’t want it to be room temperature. You want it to be very well softened, meaning with just a gust of wind could make an indent. You do want to really make sure that your butter is soft here, though, only because if it’s a little too hard, you could kind of, like, press into the dough and make it too thin or even tear it. Bring the butter right up to three of the edges, but leave one of the short edges blank. Just give it half an inch of no butter. As you roll, you can tighten it up a bit. The food-safe way that we’re going to use is by taking the bottom, pushing it up a little bit with your thumb, and then pinching. So you pinch the bottom down. Pop it up with your thumb just a little bit, and then pinch the bottom together and place. Pop, pinch, and place. Make sure to give these guys room to grow because they will be puffing up. Should not be cold, it should be on the gooey side. The consistency is up to you. You could have a thicker frosting, or a really gooey icing that seeps all the way into your cinnamon rolls. If you’re making this icing in advance, you’re gonna need to cover it up until it’s ready.

Serving Suggestions

Spread about a third of the frosting on top, so it seeps into all the nooks and crannies. Just use the back of a spoon, so you can kind of get all those corners together, and add a thin layer of frosting all over the top.

That is buttery, tender, gooey, delicious, kissed with cinnamon. I don’t know if you could do better than this. I hope you get a chance to make this recipe.