May 21, 2018

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls with Brown Sugar Maple Frosting

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls with Brown Sugar Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

I love cinnamon rolls! The warm gooey center, melting cream cheese frosting, the delicious smell! Honestly, what’s not to love?

My favorite ones are at the county fair every summer where I get one on my way out to eat during the car ride home. Those are next level, so it might be dangerous if I could recreate those on a regular basis. These on the other hand are perfect to make and share!

As much as I love cinnamon rolls, I have never attempted making them from scratch until recently. Michael got a kitchen aid mixer for us which has been a real game changer for us carb lovers. It’s made homemade pasta so much easier, and also added amazing fresh bread to our weekly rotation. So, I figured with the help of that we were ready to take on one of my favorite treats.

We followed a pretty standard recipe for the dough and cut it in half so we didn’t have 13 giant cinnamon rolls for the two of us, and I tweaked the cinnamon filling and frosting for a bit more flare and flavor.

I hope you enjoy this recipe for homemade cinnamon rolls with a delicious maple and brown sugar cream cheese frosting.

For the dough:

• Four… 2 1/4 cup

• Yeast … 1 tsp

• Milk … 1/2 cup warm

• Butter … 1/4 cup melted

• Granulated Sugar … 1/4 cup

Egg … 1

For the filling:

• Brown sugar

• Cinnamon

• White sugar

• Melted butter

For the frosting:

• Whipped Cream Cheese

• Brown Sugar

• Maple Syrup

• Vanilla Powder

Making dough is a little tricky, especially when you are using yeast. You need to dissolve the yeast with liquid that is warm enough to dissolve the granules but not too warm that it kills the yeast and the dough won’t rise. We had a little trouble with this and our milk not being warm enough but for our first attempt they still came out super tasty. Here’s how to make them.

Dough:

1 Start by warming up milk.

2 Add milk to the yeast and sugar in order to dissolve it. Wait for the yeast to froth up and activate with the sugar.

3 Add melted butter and egg then slowly add the flour in sections until combined in the mixer.

4 Allow dough to mix until for a few minutes until it comes into a ball.

5 Roll the dough into a round ball and cover with a damp cloth until it doubles in size. While you wait for this you can prep the cinnamon filling and frosting.

6. Preheat oven to 350 F.
7. When dough has doubled, knead it with your hands for a minute and begin rolling it out.
8. Make sure to have enough flour on the rolling surface, rolling pin and on top of the dough so it doesn’t stick. We didn’t have a rolling pin handy, so we used a wine bottle which works just as well!
9. Once the dough is rolled out to about 1/3 of an inch thick, you can coat it with a layer of melted butter.
10. Sprinkle the filling mixture evenly on top of the whole surface.
11. Begin rolling from one end slowly and evenly.
12. Once the roll is complete, cut off uneven ends and slice into 1 inch to 1.5 inch rolls depending on how big you want them. We ended up with about 10 small rolls.
13. Space rolls out in baking dish about two inches apart and let them sit for about 20 minutes.
14. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown on the top, or less is you like them doughy.
15. Allow the rolls to cool a little before adding the frosting.
16. Coat with a generous mound of creamy frosting and enjoy warm!

Filling:

1 Combine brown sugar and white sugar into a bowl and mix.

2 Add a generous amount of cinnamon and taste/ add until it’s the right flavor for you. I personally like a lot of cinnamon because the dough and frosting are so rich that the fresh and strong cinnamon smell and flavor really come through.

3 Melt a few tablespoons of butter and set aside. You will spread butter on the dough before the filing.

Frosting:

1 Add a large tub of whipped cream cheese to a mixer. I like whipped because you don’t have to wait for it to soften and it blends easier than a stick.

2 Add a few tablespoons of softened butter and mix.

3 Once combined, add maple syrup and brown sugar. You can add more or less depending on how sweet you like your frosting.

4 Finally mix in a 1/2 tablespoon of vanilla powder or 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

5 Set in the fridge to firm up until the rolls are ready to frost.