Cinnamon Rolls

Seriously, this week has been the best ever!! Having a Seattle Adventure with my close friends and just messing around was a blast!! Definitely have a ton of food places to review so don't forget to check out my other blog, AJ's Food Adventure, for the reviews when they're up. Sad to say, it's now time for everyone to start heading back to college while I stay here in Seattle to attend UW for my second year. Boy do I wish summer would last forever. haha. Anyways, back to this post.

After making bread doughs for probably 5 times now, I think I've got the hang of it!! Don't worry, unlike my Sticky Buns that I made last time, I didn't break my new hand mixer!!! Oh what? I didn't tell you? I got myself a new Cuisinart Hand Mixer which I am totally excited about!! :DD Any who, so how was I not able to break this mixer? Well, I used good ol' fashioned elbow grease to knead this dough. Took me a good 20 mins kneading the dough but it's all worth it. This is my second time making this recipe. I forgot where I got this recipe but I do remember searching for a copycat recipe for Cinnabon's Cinnamon Roll last year. I came up with this one and thought it was really good the first time so I kept the recipe. The recipe is below with my tips!!

One more thing. If you haven't entered my giveaway for a $60 Gift Certificate to CSN, get to it!! Tomorrow is the last day to enter!! You can have up to three entries. Any entries after tomorrow will not be counted. Well, head over to my Filipino Coconut Macaroons post and enter to win!! :D

**Tips

-Never use a hand mixer to knead dough, even if it comes with dough hook attachments, don't do it!! This is learned from experience. Unless you want it to break, go for it. lol.

-The way to tell if bread dough is kneaded enough is to stretch it slightly into a square. If you can see light through it without it breaking, it's ready! :D

Cinnamon Rolls (Makes about 12 cinnamon rolls)

Ingredients

Dough

2 eggs

1 cup warm milk

1/3 cup melted butter

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup granulated sugar

4 1/2 cups bread flour

2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

Filling

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon

1/3 cup softened butter

Cream Cheese Icing

4 tablespoons softened butter

3 ounces cream cheese

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions

Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk with a pinch of sugar. Let it stand for 5 min. During this time, mix together the flour, sugar and salt in a separate bowl. After 5 minutes, in a new bowl, beat together the egg, melted butter and the yeast and milk mixture. Then, add your dry ingredients and knead with a mixer for 8 minutes. Dough should be sticky but not extremely sticky to where you can't handle it with lightly floured hands. Once kneaded, place the dough ball into a greased bowl, covered with plastic wrap, and put in a draft free area to rise for one hour.

While it is rising, mix together your brown sugar and cinnamon. After one hour, roll the dough into a rectangle that is 24 inches by 10 inches. Spread the softened butter over the dough. Then spread the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture on top of that. After that, roll the dough into a log and cut into 1 ¾ inch slices. Once cut, place into a lightly greased baking pan and flatten the cinnamon rolls just a bit. Place in a draft free area to rise for 35 minutes.

After 35 minutes, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Once preheated, place the cinnamon rolls into the oven and bake for 22 minutes. While it is baking, make the frosting by mixing together the butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, salt, vanilla and lemon zest. Set aside. Once done, let the cinnamon rolls cool and then frost with the icing.

-Aaron John

My Food Outings: AJ's Food Adventure

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