Birthday Cinnamon Rolls For The Win!

Here's a really quick post, this is the second of maybe 3 post I'm uploading today. Today is my dad's birthday and I thought it would be nice to make him some cool cinnamon rolls this morning. I have a tradition of making breakfast for my family member's birthday. Actually, I regret the whole breakfast thing because it means I have to wake up so early. I remember why I normally don't make cinnamon rolls because of the dough needing time to basically proof for a combined total of 2 hours. So if you have about 4 hours to make these you should try them out. If you like soft, gooey, cinnamon filled cinnamon rolls this is for you.

Birthday Cinnamon Roll

Let's get started

Cinnamon roll dough

• 1 cup scalded whole milk
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons dry active yeast
• 2 large eggs
• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons salt

Cinnamon Roll Filling

• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• sprinkles

Cinnamon Roll Frosting

• 1/2 cup cream cheese (softened)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 to 1 cup powdered sugar (depends your sweetness preference)
• sprinkles

Place the milk in a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil. The moment it reaches a boil, remove from heat. (This process is called scalding, and it ensures the milk doesn't effect the yeast's ability to rise. Don't skip!)

Pour the hot milk into the bowl of an electric mixer and add 1/2 cup butter, to bring the temperature down. Stir and allow the butter to melt completely. 

stir with a spoon until butter is completely melted

Then stir in the sugar.

Touch the milk mixture to test the temperature. It should be close to warm not hot (if it's too hot it will kill your yeast).Once it is just above room temperature, stir in the yeast

Let it foam for approximately 10 minutes. 

The bloomed yeast looks disgusting

Place the bread hook on the mixer and turn on low. Add the eggs, salt, and remaining flour up to 4 cups. 

Allow the mixer to "knead" the dough until it pulls away from the sides. Run the mixer for approximately 10 minutes to allow the dough to stretch and develop the gluten. If the dough seems too sticky after the first 2-3 minutes add an additional 1/4 cup flour.

After 10 minutes, turn the mixer off, you should have a ball of dough.

 Cover the top with plastic, and allow the dough to rise until double in size, approximately 60-90 minutes in a warm kitchen.

For the filling just mix the brown sugar, softened butter, cinnamon and nutmeg until smooth, it will be like a paste. 

smells like a fall day

Keep at room temperature until ready to use.

Dump the inflated dough out on a well-floured work surface.

That's a lot of flour

Roll the dough into about 16 X 20 inch sheet.

Using a large flat offset spatula or butterknife , spread the cinnamon filling over the sheet into a thin layer (be careful not to gouge holes in the dough).

this was fun, I pretended I was laying tiles (thanks HGTV)

Since these are birthday cinnamon rolls I added sprinkles before rolling.

everything is better with sprinkles

Starting at the cinnamon-covered long edge, roll the dough sheet tightly toward the uncovered edge to form a long tight log. Place a piece of parchment paper in a 9 X 13 inch baking dish. Then cut the log into 12 equal rolls. 

cute little rolls

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 

Allow the rolls to rise for at least 30 minutes while the oven heats.

While the rolls are rising, beat the cream cheese, vanilla, and powdered sugar together until completely smooth. 

I added a lot of vanilla

Then bake the cinnamon rolls for 20-25 minutes, until the edges are barely golden and the center of each roll is puffed up.

Don't they look yummy

The moment the rolls come out of the oven, gently spread half the glaze over the tops and allow it to seep down into the cracks. Five minutes later, add more glaze if desired. I added additional sprinkles. Serve warm or at room temperature.

frosted and sprinkled

close up of the sprinkles

yumz

look at all of that cinnamon