Cinnamon Rolls..yum!

Here's the second recipe we have fallen in love with, cinnamon rolls.  I searched high and low to find a cinnamon roll recipe that made a dense, doughy roll with lots of gooey filling, and a flavorful icing.  I never did find one, but I combined several recipes and came up with this. 

It makes A LOT.  I divide the dough/rolls into three 9" cake pans and freeze them.  It's nice because it allows us to have homemade rolls without all the hastle each time we want them.

Cinnamon Rolls

Dough:
4 3/4 - 5 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 1/4 tsp (1 pkg) active dry yeast
1 cup whole milk
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
Half-and-half

In stand mixing bowl combine 2 1/4 cups of the flour and the yeast.  In a saucepan heat milk, butter, sugar, and salt until warm (120-130 degrees).  Add to flour mixture along with eggs.  Beat on low for 30 seconds, scrape bowl, beat on high for 3 minutes.  Stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.

Change to the dough kneading attachment, knead in enough of the remaining flour to make a moderately soft dough that is smooth and elastic (4-6 minutes total).  Shape dough into a ball, spray bowl, place in greased bowl, cover, and let rise for about an hour.

Punch dough down, turn out on a lightly floured surface, divide in half, and let rise for 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, spray three 9" cake pans (or aluminum pie pans) and set aside.  Make filling.

Filling:
1 1/2 cp brown sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
2/3 cp butter

Stir together brown sugar and cinnamon.  Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Rolls each half of dough into a 12"x8" rectangle.  Sprinkle filling over dough.  Roll up each rectangle, starting from the long side, seal seams.  Slice each roll into 12 pieces.  Place cut pieces into pans.

If you plan to save these, wrap them in several layers of plastic wrap and freeze them at this point.  If you plan to eat them now, cover loosely, let dough rise for about 30 minutes, and follow baking directions below.  When I freeze them, I pull a pan out right before bed the night before and let it defrost/rise overnight.  This may not be "up to code", but we've never gotten sick as a result.

Before baking, brush dough with half and half.  Bake in 375 degree oven for 17-23 minutes or until light brown.  If necessary, very loosely cover rolls with foil the last 5-10 minutes of baking to prevent overbrowning.  Remove from oven.  Brush again with half and half.  Cool for several minutes then pour icing over top.

Icing:
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp corn syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla
1-2 tbsp coffee
1-2 tbsp half-and-half

Stir sugar, syrup, vanilla, and coffee together.  Add enough half-and-half to reach desired consistency. 

I honestly don't even measure this out.  I just dump sugar in the bowl with some vanilla and coffee, then add corn syrup and half-and-half until I like the consistency.  You can't really screw it up.  I like the icing a little on the thick side though because the warm rolls with "melt" it.  We like a lot of cinnamon filling, so I go a little lighter on the icing.  If you prefer the opposite, half the filling recipe and make extra icing.

Dig in!