Cinnamon Rolls with Vanilla Frosting

Cinnamon Rolls with Vanilla Frosting

I made this recipe five days a week for a year, and then rolled them out five mornings a week for a year, until I decided I wanted to take a trip to Washington D.C. to visit my sister and catch up with some Peace Corps friends for a ten year reunion. So I taught my employees and cut it down to making the dough and rolling them out 3 times a week. If you have a stand mixer (I love the KitchenAid, in all sizes) this recipe is super easy, if you don’t have one I’ll add suggestions at the end (you’ll just need a little more arm strength, but you’ll be a better person for it.)

Ready to eat!

Just out of the oven.

Ingredients:

Cinnamon Roll Dough

• 1 1/2 cups hot water
• 2 1/4 teaspoons yeast (or 1 package)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup vegetable
• 1/2 cup dry milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 5 cups flour
• 2 Tablespoons cinnamon
• 4 Tablespoons butter softened
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar packed

Vanilla Frosting

• 1/4 cup butter melted
• 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4-1/2 cup warmed milk (I like to use whole, but all types of milk will work)

Directions for Cinnamon Roll Dough

This dough came out of the fridge and is ready to roll out.

I like to form it into a rectangle with my hands first.

Next roll it into a rectangle about 1/4 in thick.

After you spread on the butter brown sugar and cinnamon, begin to roll it towards you.

What a beautiful roll!

I like to mark my rolls slightly with a dough cutter before cutting, to ensure they are even.

For using a stand mixer:

• In the mixing bowl whisk together water, yeast, sugar, eggs, oil, salt, and dry milk.
• Add 3 cups of flour, mix with hook on low until mostly combined.
• Scrape the bowl with a plastic spatula, so that the flour is not on the bottom of the bowl.
• Add 1 cup of flour and mix on low until flour is incorporated.
• Scrape the bowl again and add last cup of flour.  Mix on low until all flour is incorporated.  It should be smooth and not sticky.  This should take 3-5 minutes.
  • *****if mixing the dough by hand follow from here*****
• Place dough in a bowl coated with cooking spray, cover with plastic wrap and leave out for one hour.
• The dough is now ready to use, but is generally easier to use if placed in the fridge. It can be refrigerated for up to two nights.  I like to make it the day before and have it ready for fresh cinnamon rolls in the morning.
• When ready to make the rolls, remove dough from fridge and sprinkle flour on a large flat surface to roll out your dough.
• Roll out your dough into a rectangle.  It should be slightly larger than your pan that you will use to cook them.  I like to have the pan out so I can see if the dough is rolled out large enough.
• Spread the softened butter almost to the edges of the dough with a butter knife.  Sprinkle brown sugar over butter and cinnamon on top.  I like to spread it out with my hand after that.
• With clean hands roll the dough.  Start with the top and roll towards you.  You want to roll as tightly as possible.  The dough might have stuck to the table, if thats the case, stop rolling and spread a little flour under the sticky part and start rolling again.
• Using a dough cutter (very useful tool, but if you don’t have one a sharp knife will do, or you can use the string method), cut the cinnamon rolls.  If you are making large ones, I like to start by trimming the edges, then cut the roll in half, cut the halves in half, and then into thirds.  This will make 12 cinnamon rolls.  If you want regular sized rolls, don’t trim the edges. Cut the roll in half, cut the halves in half, cut the fourths into half, and then cut three cinnamon rolls out of each eighth.  It will make more sense when looking at the roll, and this is why a dough cutter (aka bench scraper) is great, you can make a small mark before cutting, and the cuts are fast so the rolls form easily back to rounds.
• Spray your baking sheet with cooking spray and place the rolls on the sheet.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 20-30 minutes.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Remove the plastic wrap and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  When removed from the oven they can be frosted, or you can place them on a plate to cool, if you like the icing to not melt into the rolls.

For making dough without a stand mixer:

• Start with step one in a large bowl.
• Using a rubber spatula, stir in one cup of flour at a time.  Once the dough becomes hard to stir, dump onto a floured surface and knead in the remaining flour by hand. This should take 5-10 minutes from adding the first flour to finish.
• Your dough is ready and you can follow the rest of the recipe from the asterisks.

Vanilla Frosting

• Using a stand mixer, dump 2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar in the bowl with melted butter.  Mix on low until combined
• Add 1/4 cup warmed milk and vanilla.  Mix on low until combined.
• Scrape bowl with spatula.  Add the remaining powdered sugar and mix on low.
• Scrape the bowl again to make sure the powdered sugar is combined.  If it is too dry add more milk, if it is too running add more powdered sugar.
• Spread on top of your cinnamon rolls, or store in an air tight container in the fridge for up to a week.

For making without a stand mixer:

• Follow the same order of ingredients, but place in a large bowl and mash it together with a large fork.  Its a little more work, but you will still get smooth results.

I’ve made this recipe gluten free before, and I believe I used Bob’s Red Mill 1-1 Gluten Free Baking Flour, I wasn’t super happy with the results, but they still made a decent cinnamon roll.  I just replaced the regular flour, but I think the whole recipe needs a little tweaking as well for a better gluten free texture.

This recipe also works great for orange rolls.  Follow the dough recipe exactly and then when the dough is rolled out spread on the butter, followed by 4-5 Tablespoons of orange marmalade, followed by brown sugar.  Then roll them up.  Seems super simple, unless it’s 6 am and you put the brown sugar down first before the orange marmalade, then you just make a mess.

To frost these I like to add a little fresh squeezed OJ, or orange extract, and zest to the icing.  These guys are pretty sweet looking too.