Gourmet Cinnamon Rolls

My mom taught me how to make bread and cinnamon rolls when I was in my early teens, and for a while those were my favorite things to make. I've always loved to knead dough, and still get very happy when I see how delightfully puffy it gets after it has risen. I saw this recipe on one of my FAVORITE baking blogs, Sweetapolita, and knew I had to try it. The cinnamon rolls turned out amazing! She had listed a cream cheese frosting to go with them as well, and since I've never had cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting, decided to try them out. I wasn't crazy about it. To me, the tangyness of the cream cheese and lemon kind of made these taste like a cream cheese danish. Delicious, no doubt! Just not my preference for cinnamon rolls. So I will definitely make these cinnamon rolls again, but next time I will use a basic vanilla buttercream frosting, the way my mamma taught me. ;)

 Dough: 

1 (1/4 ounce) package dry yeast 

1 cup warm whole milk 

1/2 cup granulated sugar 

1/3 cup butter 

1 teaspoon salt 

2 large eggs 

approximately 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 

3/4 cup bread flour 

Filling: 

3/4 cup light brown sugar 

1/4 cup 

3 tablespoons ground cinnamon 

1/3 cup butter 

 Method: 

For the rolls, dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in a large bowl and let sit for 5 minutes. Mix in the sugar, margarine salt, eggs, and eggs. Add the bread flour, and then mix in enough all-purpose flour until the dough is no longer sticky. 
Knead the dough for 6-8 minutes on a lightly floured surface, and dust with flour if it starts to stick to your hands. 
Put the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place about 1-2 hours or until the dough has doubled in size. 

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface, until it is approx 21 inches long by 16 inches wide. It should be approx 1/4 thick. 
To make filling, combine the sugars and cinnamon in a bowl. 
Spread the softened butter over the surface of the dough, then sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon evenly over the surface, leaving about 1″ untouched on the top and bottom.

Gently roll into a fairly tight roll, trying to keep the filling inside.  With a sharp knife, slice into 12 pieces. Place on parchment lined cookie sheet about 2″ apart, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let rise for another hour. 

Bake in 400 degree oven on rack just above center, for about 10 minutes, or until light golden brown. Cool on cooling rack and gently place into airtight container when cool. 

Adapted from Sweetapolita --the cream cheese frosting I was talking about is on her site, I didn't type it out here since I won't be making it again. 

Warm, gooey cinnamon rolls! YUM!

I packaged them up and sent them to work with my husband, they were well received. :)

Let me know if you try this recipe, and what you think!