Recipe: Cinnamon Rolls
Ah, the scrumptious cinnamon roll. The roll is available in mall kiosks and pressurized Pillsbury cans alike; however, there’s nothing quite like a freshly baked cinna-roll, made from scratch. Using this basic recipe from Paula “butter is better” Deen and this frosting recipe from Alton Brown, I whipped up a batch. Keen to try? Keep reading.
You will need:
Note: You can see my deviations from the recipe in italics
Dough
1/4-oz package yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup scalded milk (I used cream. Oh my, have I out-Paula’d Paula??)
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter or shortening (I used butter)
1 tsp salt
1 egg
3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour (I ended up using 3.5 cups)
Filling
1/2 cup melted butter, plus more for pan
3/4 cup sugar, plus more for pan (I used 1/2 a cup of brown sugar, and 1/4 cup white)
2 tbsp ground cinnamon
3/4 cup raisins, walnuts, or pecans, optional (I used a sprinkling of pecans, but this can easily be omitted for allergies or preference)
Icing
2.5 oz cream cheese, softened (approx. 1/4 cup)
3 tbsp milk
5.5 oz powdered sugar (approx. 1.5 cups)
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water and set aside.
2. Scald the milk.
Paula doesn’t go into details here, but basically heat the milk (or in my case, cream) over low heat, stirring constantly, until bubbles form. Scalding milk basically is a thing of the past, when it was done to kill bacteria. These days, it’s largely unnecessary, but I believe it makes bread a little squishier. So I do it. 
3. In a large bowl mix milk, sugar, melted butter, salt and egg. Add 2 cups of flour and mix until smooth. Add yeast mixture. Mix in remaining flour until dough is easy to handle.
4. Knead dough on lightly floured surface for 5 to 10 minutes. Place in well-greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in size, usually 1 to 1 1/2 hours. I feel like one of those cooking shows, where they put a raw turkey in the oven and pull out a fully done turkey from the other oven. Here’s the dough before:
And SHAZAM! Here’s the dough after rising. It’s aliiiive!
5. When doubled in size, punch down dough. Roll out on a floured surface into a 15 by 9-inch rectangle.
I didn’t punch too hard (more like a light tap), because I wanted the dough to retain some fluffiness.
6. Spread melted butter all over dough. Mix sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over buttered dough. Sprinkle with walnuts, pecans, or raisins if desired.
7. Beginning at the 15-inch side, roll up dough and pinch edge together to seal. Cut into 12 to 15 slices.
8. Coat the bottom of baking pan with butter and sprinkle with sugar. Place cinnamon roll slices close together in the pan and let rise until dough is doubled, about 45 minutes.
Once again, before:
AFTER!!!
8. Bake for about 30 minutes or until nicely browned.
Meanwhile, make the glaze:
9. Whisk the cream cheese until creamy. Add the milk and whisk until combined. Sift the powdered sugar, and whisk until smooth.
10. Spread icing over rolls and serve immediately!
This recipe is a bit time consuming due to the two dough rises, but the hands-on steps are actually quite simple. I made this to bring to work, so I prepared the recipe up through the second rise, and popped them in the oven in the morning. These would be great for a lazy Sunday morning! Try it and let me know how it turns out!
Mmmm. Those look so delicious! Definitely a recipe I'm going to bookmark and save for an upcoming weekend
Thanks for sharing!
1I have been craving these- must be all those scented candles in the shops these days- when I make it I will forsure take photos!
2Thanks for the inspirational nudge!
Yum! Thanks for sharing the recipe. This sounds delicious!
3Oh, yummers! My husband loves cinnamon buns, so it's all we can do to resist Cinnabon when we're at the airport or the mall. I may have to make these for him as a special treat, maybe the morning after Thanksgiving. Thanks for the recipe!
4I'm going to try this! I've never made anything with yeast before b/c it scares me (a lot of things do). Scalding the milk is supposed to break down proteins or something to make the dough / baked good better (fluffy? chewy? bouncy? I can't remember).
5Oh yumm!!! Definitely making these soon!
6YUM!!! Definitely going to give this a shot. Thanks for the recipe, dear. Have a happy Tuesday!
7oh my so yummy! i love all your fun tools as well.
8mm this brings me back to the highschool days when I used to work at the mall and ate one of these from Cinnabon on my breaks.
9Your cinnamon rolls look delicious!
10I've been craving cinamon rolls this week, since miss CB started on weddingbee. I've never tried homemade ones, I'll have to try it out!
11These look amazing. I'm collecting breakfast ideas for my in-laws Christmas visit. I think this one goes on the list.
12Paula is my idol. I love that you did the cream cheese icing on top!
I never knew the reason behind scalding the milk, hmm.
13That first photo is perfect! and those look delish, I'm off to find a way to make them gluten free
14OH MY!!! Homemade…those are the best kinds of desserts! These would be fun to make with my stepdaughters…and a great treat for the holidays! Thanks for sharing.
15OM NOM NOM NOM NOM.
16quite divine, i love cinnamon buns!
17looks yummy! i've gotta try this recipe when i have some free time.
18Looks and sounds SO good!
19Freshly baked cinnamon rolls. I had coffee for breakfast and you're going to show me those pictures?? Sigh … Those do look outstanding.
20So funny – I wanted to make Paula Deen's cinnamon rolls Christmas morning, but was planning to use a cream cheese icing on top. This is perfect!!
21Made your amazing cinnamon rolls and wrote a blog about it!
http://makesmeblush.blogspot.com/2010/11/big-apple-cinnamon-roll-with-salted.html
They are amazing!
22Extra icing on mine please! Mmm.
23Love your cinnamon rolls I have to do soon!!
24Yummm, I love cinnamon rolls! You have lucky work-mates!
25Wow, marvelous blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you made blogging look easy. The overall look of your web site is excellent, let alone the content!. Thanks For Your article about Big Apple Nosh: NYC Food Blog | New York | Food | Restaurants | Recipes | Reviews | Recipe: Cinnamon Rolls .
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