Fluffy Cinnamon Rolls

Cinnamon rolls are an American pastime, but they can be quite daunting. Like the rest of the world, I love me some Pillsbury rolls. But I wanted to learn how to make them on my own. I have played around with recipe after recipe, icing after icing, and I have finally did all my tweaks and ended up with the recipe below.

Making Cinnamon rolls are quite time consuming. All in all you need an extra 3 hours to let the rolls rise properly. This is what makes them fluffy. The bigger they rise, the fluffier they becoming. To get them to rise, you have to do the right thing to the yeast. It is very VERY VERY important that you do not kill your yeast. Time after time, I have killed my yeast and I ended up with sad, flat little rolls. I finally found the science behind it and landed at 115-120 being the perfect temp for yeast formation. Get any basic kitchen thermometer and test the water. I find microwaving the water for about 10-15 seconds gets me the right temp.

Next daunting task of making cinnamon rolls is waiting for it to rise. They need to be in  warm and humid place. I found sitting them in my laundry room after i just ran the dryer is the best place. The dough doubles fast. Now, I rise my rolls twice. Once when I make the dough and once after I roll them. If you are on a time crunch, you can skip the second rising. But they won't be as big or fluffy.
You can also make them and rise them twice and then put them in the fridge overnight and then bake them in the morning if you are on a time crunch. I just find they aren't as great this way.

The icing is my favorite part about this. I have tried various recipes and this is my favorite, and it's so easy. It tastes almost like Cinnabons.
You can keep the rolls covered on the counter for 3 days or in the fridge for about 5. I like to microwave on 20 seconds and they taste fresh out of the oven.

P.S. Don't worry, they probably won't be as good the first time you try this, it took me a long time to get it perfect. But that's why baking is fun, you can just keep trying. And if you have some extra buttermilk after this, you can try my Blueberry Banana Bread recipe.

Recipe

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Rising time: 3 hours

Ingredients

For Dough
 ¼ cup warm water (115-120 degrees)*
1 tbs Dry Active Yeast (1 pack)
½ tsp Sugar
¾ cup Buttermilk (room temp)
2 eggs (room temp)
6 tbs Butter (melted and cooled)
½ cups sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp Vanilla
3.5-4 cups of Flour *
 For Filling
 4 tbs butter softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 tbs cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
 For Icing
 3oz cream cheese (softened)
6 tbs Butter (softened)
1 ½ cups powder sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Directions

1. In your stand mixer, pour warm water, active yeast, and 1/2 tsp sugar in and whisk together gently. Let sit for 15 minutes. Yeast should become fluffy. *
2. In mixer with whisk attachment. Add eggs, buttermilk, 1/2 cup sugar, vanilla, salt, and melted butter. Whisk together on lower until combined. 
3. Add 2.5 cups of the flour to mixer and blend. Change attachment to dough hook. 
4. Add 1 more cup flour and mix with dough hook for 5-6 minutes until a ball of dough forms. Dough should not stick to sides of bowl. Add extra flour a little at a time until dough is formed and no longer sticky (you'll use 3.5-4.5 cups total) 
5. Once dough is formed, move to well oiled bowl, cover in plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours until it has doubled in size.
6. Flour a large surface. Punch down dough and move to surface. Sprinkle top with flour and roll out to large rectangle. (20 x15) 
7. Mix together brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in bowl and set aside. 
   
8. Using your hands, rub softened butter onto dough in thin layer. 
9. Sprinkle with brown sugar mixture and spread until evenly covered, leaving about 1/2 inches on the far end of your dough without brown sugar, just the butter. 
10. Starting at end closest to you, begin to roll dough into large log. Once rolled, cut into 1.5-2 inch slices. 
11. On a large rimmed sheet, spray with oil and line with parchment paper and then coat with butter (can use foil with butter or spray). Placed rolls about 1 inch apart on baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap (spray your wrap so it doesn't stick). Leave in warm space and allow to rise for about 1-1.5 more hours.
    
12. Meanwhile, make your icing. In a mixer, add cream cheese, butter, vanilla and powdered sugar and blend for 5 minutes on low until well combined, set aside. 
13. When rolls have about 20 minutes left to rise, preheat oven to 375℉.
14. Once oven is preheated, place rolls on middle rack and back for 25 minutes until tops are lightly browned. 
15. Remove from oven and cover with icing. 

ENJOY 😃

*if your yeast mix doesn't get fluffy, try again because rolls won't rise if it isn't. Test water with thermometer, 115-120 is key. Microwave small bowl of water about 10-15 seconds then cool until 120

* When adding flour, it will depend on how humid your house is, sometimes you need 3.5 cups, sometimes you need 4.5. just add small amounts until the dough is no longer sticky