Cinnamon Rolls

Can you hear angels singing a hallelujah chorus?  I totally can.  Or maybe it's the sound of the cinnamon roll begging me to eat it.  When I have desserts around, they call to me.  That is why I half recipes whenever I can.  When they call to me, I eat them and I don't need to eat them.   I halved this recipe but once again was upset that I did.  I thought, my little family doesn't want a whole pan of cinnamon rolls laying around.  That was a stupid thought.  I took them out of the oven the other night at about 7 and by 9 the next morning they were gone.  And I only ate one.  The men in my life were not happy with me for cutting the recipe in half.  Calvin wanted more and Tyler said it thought it was silly I did that.  (Honestly, I was a little mad at myself.)  I have tried a few cinnamon roll recipes and this is my favorite so far.  I am including two different kinds of frosting so you can decide what kind of person you want to be.  The cream cheese frosting is a little more subtle and makes the cinnamon roll not quite as rich.  But if you like the kind of cinnamon rolls you might get at the mall or the airport, I would go with the non-cream cheese version if I were you.  The icing runs down to the insides of the roll and it's pretty darn good.   I can't decide who I am, so I frequently make both.  This is another recipe from my old West Bend bread maker that I have adapted slightly.

Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients:
9 3/4 oz warm milk
1 egg
6 T butter, melted
4 1/2 cups flour
4 1/2 T sugar
3/4 tsp salt
2 1/4 tsp rapid rise yeast (or 3 tsp active dry yeast)
extra milk to brush on rolls after they come out of the oven

For the filling:
1 cup softened butter
1 cup sugar
2 T cinnamon
2 T flour

For Regular Icing:
3 T butter, softened

4 T milk

3 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla.

For Cream Cheese Icing:

4 T butter, softened

4 oz cream cheese, softened

3 1/2 T milk

2 1/4 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
In bread machine:  Add all wet ingredients, then dry, make a well in dry ingredients and add yeast.  Turn on dough cycle.

In mixer:  add milk, butter, egg, sugar, salt and yeast to bowl (if using active dry yeast, wait 5 minutes until it's foamy) add 1 1/2 cups flour and mix with paddle on low 30 seconds then medium for 2 minutes.  Change to dough hook and gradually add remaining flour.  Cover and let rise until double (about 1 hour)

When dough has risen, or bread maker is done, dump dough onto lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 15-30 minutes.  While dough is resting, mix filling.

Cream all filling ingredients together with mixer until fluffy and smooth (about 2 minutes)

Roll dough into a rectangle about 8 inches wide and 14 inches long.

Spread filling over surface of dough.

Roll up, cut off end and then cut into about 1 inch pieces or 12 equal pieces.

Place in greased 9 x 13 inch pan. (the is a smaller pan since I halved the recipe.  I usually do 4 rows of 3 rolls with the bigger pan.)

Let raise in warm place until double in size, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 and bake for 15-20 minutes.  They usually don't look this brown, but my oven seems to run a bit hot.  Remove rolls from oven and use a pastry brush to brush the tops of rolls with milk.

Make icing (after deciding if you want cream cheese or not)

Cream all icing ingredients (cream cheese or regular) together in mixer.  Icing should be pouring consistency but not too runny.  Add more milk or powdered sugar to get the consistency you like.

While rolls are still warm, pour deisred icing over the top.  Icing should cover the outside of the roll and run down into the cinnamon areas.  If it's not running down, the icing is too thick or rolls are not warm enough still.

Enjoy!

Makes 12 cinnamon rolls