Not Quite Great-Grandma's Cinnamon Rolls

Cinnamon Rolls

So I somehow managed to lose my great-grandma’s cinnamon roll recipe, which were the best cinnamon rolls in the world. But I did my own take on them. It's not quite her recipe but as close as I have gotten to it. So here is my cinnamon roll recipe:

Dough:

1 cup milk
½ cup butter
1 cup cool water
1 tablespoon active dry yeast (this is for those of you who buy a big container like me… otherwiseuse 2 packages of the yeast)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
6 cups all purpose flour

Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles. Then add the butter, you want it to melt. Add the cool water and let the combination cool until just lukewarm. Then add your yeast and let set a couple minutes until it starts to get creamy looking (that means your yeast are alive and working). Add the sugar, salt, eggs and 2 cups of the flour. Mix until combined. Then mix in the rest of the flour ½ cup at a time until the dough has pulled together. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until it becomes smooth (usually takes me 5-6 min of kneading). Cut the dough into 2 pieces.  Take the first piece and roll it out into a rectangle. Top the rectangle with ½ stick of softened butter. I just take a frosting knife and act like I am frosting it. Then add ½ the cinnamon mixture.

Cinnamon mixture:

2 cups brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp ground cinnamon (you can alter this to your taste, I like a lot of cinnamon)

Roll the completed rectangle and seal the edge with a touch of water. Using a very sharp knife or dental floss (I use a knife) cut into 12 equal rounds. Place in a greased 9x13 baking dish. Repeat with the second half of the dough.

Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1-1.5 hrs in a warm area of your kitchen. I like them to double in size, then I think they have expanded enough. Then bake in a 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes. I like to let them cool a little then top them with my cream cheese icing.

Cream Cheese Icing:

1 – 8oz block of cream cheese, softened
½ stick butter – softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 lb of powdered sugar (or maybe a little more, depending on your consistency)

I mix the cream cheese butter and vanilla together until light then add the powdered sugar until it has reached the thickness that I want. If you add too much powdered sugar add just a touch of milk to the mixture to loosen it up some.

So these aren’t my great-grandma’s recipe, but pretty good anyway. Hope you enjoy.