Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

Whenever we pass through a "Cinnabon", the inviting scent of cinnamon and freshly baked treats, crave us to try some of their amazingly delicious, gooey delicacies and as a result, we end up buying more than three to four varieties of cinnamon rolls which are not only tasty but very filling with all the frosting and glaze. My kids love cinnamon rolls like crazy but thinking about the amount of sugar and butter in the rolls we buy them once in a while.

Dough ready to get baked...

Recently my daughter was asking me to bake some cinnamon rolls so that she can have them whenever she wants. Before that, I never thought of making the rolls at home, because of the time and effort it would consume. But then I realized that making the rolls at home is far better than store-bought ones as we can adjust the sugar and butter according to our taste and usage. I made this for the first time and these rolls came out perfectly soft, moist and melt in the mouth kind. The best Cinnamon Rolls ever. My little one calls them breakfast sweet rolls.

The ingredients are very basic. We can add sugar according to our choice. While mixing the dough itself, we can add enough sugar and make the dough sweeter. Here I have used instant yeast, then too I gave a little time to proof. Some will add eggs in the dough, but here I didn't use any as without using them the dough was smooth and soft. Here I have mixed with a spatula, you can also use a stand mixer. The dough should be sticky, for a soft roll, don't add too much flour.

For a gooey, rich cinnamon roll, we can add the heavy cream just before keeping the rolls in the oven. But I didn't as I liked it this way. I have used a simple glaze to frost the cinnamon rolls. We can also make a cream cheese frosting to spread on top. The glaze should be added when the rolls are warm and allow it to soak in.

The process looks time-consuming, but once you start making the recipe, it will go with the flow. Here the time-consuming part is the proofing of the dough. Hope with all these tips and tricks you will try making this at home and let me know how they turned out.

Ingredients:

1. All Purpose Flour- 2 Cups
2. Milk- 1 Cup
3. Salt- 1 Tsp
4. Sugar- 1 tbsp
5. Yeast- 2 tbsp
6. Butter- 2 tbsp

For filling:

1. Butter- 3 tbsp
2. Cinnamon powder- 1 tbsp
3. Sugar- 3 tbsp

For the Glaze:

1. Powdered Sugar- 1/4 Cup
2. Milk- 2 tbsp

Method:

1. In a measuring cup, add the warm milk, sugar, salt, butter, and yeast. Keep this till the yeast foams. 
2. Take all purpose flour in a mixing bowl, add the foamed yeast mixture and mix well using a spatula, till the dough becomes sticky. Keep this covered for about 20 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, mix the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon powder together and keep this ready.
4. By this time the dough will rise and doubled in size. Drop this on a floured surface and roll the dough using floured rolling pin into a rectangle.
5. Spread the cinnamon- sugar filling on top evenly using a rubber spatula. Starting at the long end, roll the dough into a tight roll and cut into 10- 12 slices and place on a greased baking tray and allow the slices to rise for another 15 minutes.
6. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes until the rolls lightly golden brown and cooked well.
7. When they are getting baked, prepare the glaze by mixing the sugar and milk in small portions until they reach pouring consistency.
8. Once the rolls get baked, remove from oven and pour the glaze on top so that the rolls absorb the glaze very well. Serve the cinnamon rolls warm. Store the remaining cinnamon rolls in airtight containers.