Dough

1 cup warm milk
2 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
1 package yeast (1/4 ounce)

Filling
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

Spread for Dough
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

Icing
3 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

Cinnamon Roll Recipe Instructions

Microwave the milk for 45 to 60 seconds. Then, dissolve yeast in warm milk in a large bowl. Add sugar, butter, salt, eggs, and flour. Mix well. Dust your hands lightly with flour and then hand knead the cinnamon roll dough into a large ball.

Put the ball of dough into a bowl that is sprayed with cooking spray.  Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for roughly 1 hour or until dough has doubled in size.

In a new, small bowl, combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter.  Mix them well with fingers to incorporate all the butter into the sugar mix.  Spray a flat surface with cooking spray or sprinkled flour.  Roll out your dough ball into a 16″ x 21″ rectangle roughly 1/4 inches thick then spread a 1/4 cup of softened butter on the dough.  Next, sprinkle the rolled, buttered dough evenly with the sugar/cinnamon/butter mixture you prepared in your small bowl.

Roll up the dough starting with the longer side and cut into fourteen (14) cinnamon rolls (or more smaller rolls, if you prefer). Place the cinnamon rolls in a lightly greased 11″ x 15″ glass baking dish. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and let the cinnamon rolls rise until nearly doubled, which should take around 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350.  Once your cinnamon rolls have risen, bake them in the preheated oven until lightly golden, approximately 18 to 20 minutes. The dough should still be soft, though fully cooked, especially toward the center of the rolls.

As your cinnamon rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, butter, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract, and salt for the cinnamon roll icing.  The icing should be spread on your cinnamon rolls when they are still warm, shortly after being taken out of the oven so that the frosting melts into the cinnamon rolls.