Cinnamon Rolls III: Ultimate Cinnamon Rolls

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Joy, cinnamon rolls again?! Yes, yes, I hear you. Haha. I’m sorry, but I just had to! I feel the need to share great discoveries when I find them. I know I’ve talked about cinnamon rolls for two days but can you blame me for revisiting it now that I think I’ve found the Ultimate Cinnamon Rolls ?! They are incredibly soft, fluffy, chewy, with just the right amount of sweetness and creaminess. It’s criminal to not share it!

When I posted about my dough failure a couple of weeks ago, Elle (who’s a total sweetheart) offered to give her friend’s mom’s recipe for caramel cinnamon rolls with a dough that hasn’t failed her. No kidding. The first rise of the dough made my heart skip beats, and even moreso the second one:

It is a thing of beauty. A moment of silence please. Ohm….
Oh, where was I?

I tweaked the cinnamon filling with more sugar and cinnamon, skipped the nuts, and used less caramel because I still wanted to top it with cream cheese glaze. Here it is right out of the oven and pan:

I wish I had a better picture or a photo of it with cream cheese glaze, but I was so excited that I dug right in and said to hell with photos! Time stopped with my first bite as it melted in my mouth. Ghee-Oh-Oh-Dee-licious. Need I say more? YOU HAVE TO TRY THIS NOW. It should be on everyone’s Things To Eat Before I Die list.

If you’re apprehensive about baking, making rolls, or attempting this, please…shove all these demons aside. Let me assure you that I’m no baker and I’ve had more flops with dough than I want to admit, but this one won’t disappoint. Elle calls the dough “forgiving”. I call it magical. These cinnamon rolls will make you feel like they were meant to be made and enjoyed to your heart’s content.

Have a go at it, why don’t you? [PDF download: Ultimate Caramel Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Glaze]

Ultimate Cinnamon Rolls
[A combination of Elle's magic dough and caramel base, Joy's experimentation, and Molly's cream cheese glaze]

Ingredients [makes 18 rolls, 3 8-inch round pans]

Dough:

• 2 cups warm water (about 1.5 to 2 minutes microwaved on high)
• 2 tbsp active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar, divided
• 2 tsp salt
• 4 tbs softened unsalted butter, room temp.
• 1 egg
• 6 cups unbleached all-purpose flour; extra flour for hands and kneading surface
• cooking spray, for greasing bowl

Filling:

• 1/4 cup softened unsalted butter, room temp.
• 3/4 cup golden brown cane sugar
• 2 tbsp ground cinnamon

Caramel:

• 3/4 cups turbinado sugar (I used Sugar in the Raw)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 3 tbsp lukewarm water

Glaze:

• 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Preparation

1. Mix yeast and 1/4 tsp sugar in warm water. Let sit for 5 minutes. It will look frothy.
2. Stir in the rest of the sugar, salt, and 2 cups of flour.
3. Add egg and butter and mix on low speed. Or stir by hand.
4. Stir in rest of flour by hand. If dough is still sticky add just enough to make it not sticky anymore. Don’t over-flour.
5. On a floured surface, knead for 5 minutes.
6. Tuck into a ball and put in an extra large greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and put in a warm, draft-free area. [Tip: Warm up your oven, turn it off and wait for 3 minutes, then put the bowl in. It will double in size in 15-20 minutes.] Keep an eye on it if you don’t want to meet a monster in your oven or counter. Let the dough rise until doubled in size.
7. Punch the dough gently and transfer onto a floured surface. Roll out into an 18×12 inch sheet.
8. Spread the 1/4 cup soft butter evenly on the dough.
9. For the filling, mix the cinnamon and brown sugar, and sprinkle on dough.
10. Roll dough from the long side until the other end. It should look like a log.
11. Using a fresh dental floss, cut into 18 one-inch thick slices. You can use a regular knife but the floss keeps the dough shape better and it won’t stick to the dough.
12. For the caramel, dissolve brown sugar and butter in a microwave dish until butter is just melted. Do 20-second increments. If you used turbinado sugar, it will take longer to melt but so worth it!
13. Stir then add 3 tbsp water. The water actually helps everything combine, as you’ll find out.
14. Divide and pour the caramel on the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle nuts over caramel, if desired.
15. Divide the dough slices to make rolls. Place 6 rolls for each 8-inch round pan. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for about 45 minutes.
16. Remove plastic wrap and bake in the oven at 325ºF for 20 to 22 minutes.
17. Take out of oven and carefully turn each pan of rolls over on a plate. Don’t leave to cool in the pan or you’ll be scraping your rolls out of it.
18. For the glaze, beat together cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter, lemon juice and vanilla in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, until smooth.
19. Spread glaze on rolls. Serve and enjoy warm.

Tips:

1. Reheat cooked and refrigerated dough in the microwave on high for 30 seconds.

2. You can refrigerate twice-risen dough and bake them the next day.

3. I froze a pan of dough. I’ll update this once I bake that to let you know if they’re good when the dough is frozen.