This Mom's Cinnamon Rolls

This blog is dedicated to my great friend Dominique, who requested this particular post. 

When am I ever NOT in the mood for cinnamon rolls?  Like right now...I want cinnamon rolls.  *Waits 5 minutes*.  Yep, I still want cinnamon rolls.

I have always loved this doughy, baked roll of deliciousness as a child.  But the only place I could get them was at school, when the cooks were in a good enough of a mood to bake up pans of delicious cinnamon rolls that we could smell all the way from our classrooms.  Who else remembers eating these at school growing up in American Samoa?

And those cooks could bake up a mean batch of these babies!  But unfortunately we could only have just ONE roll, at breakfast, maybe once every month, IF we were lucky.  I would always envy the students who were related to the cooks.  Because they always got extra helpings of cinnamon buns.  I always tried to befriend those lucky kids, but somehow my spur of the moment friendliness seemed to never stick.  Meh.  I tried.

Bakeries around the island made and sold cinnamon rolls, but Mom and Dad couldn't afford to buy all 8 of us a cinnamon roll each.  Which made the once a month cinnamon rolls at school that much more magical!

Now that I'm grown and can afford to buy my own cinnamon rolls, I'd much rather make my own.  I mean who doesn't want to say "I make magic happen in my kitchen ;-)!  That and there's nothing quite like cinnamon rolls baking in my oven and just filling up my entire house with cinnamony, baked goodness!

I've tried other cinnamon roll recipes that I found online, but none turned out good enough for my liking.  So I decided to test my dough and see how it stood up to the cinnamon roll test.  The dough did perfectly, just as I suspected, but it was the filling that I had trouble with.  Every single time I made the rolls, the filling inside always seeped out and created a sugary mess at the bottom of the buns, leaving the buns themselves dry and not so cinnamony.

So I did my research and found the solution for the filling.  Using room temperature butter instead of melted butter to create a paste made the difference.

Now if you have been reading my blog, you will know all about my versatile dough recipe.  If not, check it out here now because you will need it to make these bad boys.

So assuming you have another window open with the dough recipe in front of you, use melted BUTTER instead of OLIVE OIL and follow the steps until you get to Step 7.

While you are waiting for the dough to rise, prepare the filling.

Ingredients for Cinnamon Roll Filling:

• 8 tablespoons salted butter, softened to room temp
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• Walnuts or pecans (optional)

1. Mix all of ingredients (except the walnuts) together until the sugar and cinnamon is incorporated into the butter.  Add the walnuts last.  
2. If the mixture is not the consistency of a paste because it is too soft or runny, put the mixture into the refrigerator for about 10 minutes to firm it up.  DO NOT let it firm up too much to where it is no longer spreadable.  You are looking for a spreadable paste consistency.

Set this butter/cinnamon mixture to the side.  

After you punch down the dough in Step 8, DO NOT divide the dough.  This is where you will continue with the following steps:

1. On your floured surface, shape the dough into a ball.

2. Using a rolling pin like the SySrion Professional Non-Stick Rolling Pin, roll out your dough into a large 13x18 inch rectangle.  If you can't get it to be quite that size, DON'T worry.  Just get the dough as big as you can, doing your best to keep the dough a consistent thickness all throughout.

3. Using your hands (I find these to be the best tools for this task), spread the butter mixture all over the dough.  Be careful to do this fast or else you will melt the butter and then we will end up with all of the filling leaving the buns and seeping straight down to the bottom of the pan during baking.  And we definitely DO NOT want that :-).  So gentle hands :-).


4. Starting at one end, roll your dough towards the other end, making sure you keep it tight.

5. Keep rolling and keep a little pressure on the log to make sure the roll is tight and firm.

6.  Once the log is formed, using a sharp knife, cut the log into even rolls (about 1.5- 2 inch sections).

7. Place the rolls into your pans.  You can use one 9x13 inch pan or spread them out into 2 smaller pans. Everyone needs a good, solid 9X13 baking pan like this Farberware Nonstick Bakeware 9-Inch x 13-Inch Covered Rectangular Cake Pan, Gray that comes complete with a cover is great for leftovers, transport or for covering cinnamon rolls while they rise in the fridge (see below)

8. Allow about 30 minutes for the rolls to rise.  If you have time and can restrain yourself from going crazy waiting for these to bake up, place the pans into your refrigerator to slow rise for at least an hour.  This refrigeration will also help the butter filling stay intact.  But if you can't wait, like I can never wait, just let the buns rise on your counter for at least half an hour.  If you are not planning on eating this right away, leave it in the refrigerator overnight. But the rolls HAVE TO BE COVERED.  DO NOT LEAVE THEM EXPOSED because that means dry buns and we definitely DO NOT want dry buns. No No. No dry buns please.

9. Bake in a 375 degree F preheated oven for about 25 minutes, or until the rolls are golden brown

10.  We can't forget the cream cheese icing!

Here is how you make it:
I used the food processor mode on my Ninja Professional Blender (BL660) to make the frosting.  But I could have easily used my trusty Hamilton Beach 62682RZ Hand Mixer too. No hand mixer? No problem.  Use a whisk...but be prepared to get in some real arm work.

Ingredients for cream cheese icing:

• 4 ounces cream cheese (1/2 package at room temperature)
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 6 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Using a hand held mixer, or stand mixer or even a food processor, beat the cream cheese until creamy and smooth
2. Add the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla
3. Beat on low for 30 seconds, then switch to high speed and beat for 2 minutes

11.  Spread the cheesy icy goodness all over the warm buns and voila!


Whether they are for an after dinner treat, breakfast, or as a sweet delivery to your family and friends, how can you not be in the mood for cinnamon rolls?  And why not double (or even triple) your batch so that you can share the love!  Yes, please do share the love!

Have any questions or comments that I have not addressed here?  Drop me a line below and I'll be sure to get back to you. Now go forth and make magic in your kitchen!