Almost as good as that expensive store in the mall, which I won’t name. These are less expensive and you don’t need to stop eating at one. There is a recipe in our house that I’ve been playing with. So far, everyone loves these and they are reasonably easy, especially if you have a bread machine.
I have noticed that there is a difference between butter and margarine in the dough. Using butter in the bread dough gives it a delicate texture without being crusty greasy that margarine does. And I highly recommend butter in the filling and frosting.
Plan ahead to take the butter (all 3 sticks) and cream cheese out of the fridge in plenty of time to warm to room temperature before using.
BTW, “tsp” means teaspoon and “tbsp” means tablespoon. Read carefully.
Bread machine dough:
- 1 cup water
- 4 cups bread flour
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 stick butter (room temperature, slightly mushy)
- 1/4 cup dry milk
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp yeast
If you are not letting this sit uncooked for a long time, you can substitute the water and dry milk for 1 cup of regular (wet) milk, if that is easier for you.
Dump all the above items at once into the bread machine and run the dough cycle (mix and knead, not bake). Prepare a flat surface like a clean countertop where you can roll the dough. I like rolling out on a large piece of parchment paper – make for an easier cleanup, plus you can catch the loose sugar filling later. You’ll want to flour-dust the surface so the dough doesn’t stick to it. Take the dough out of the machine and roll it out. Aim for a rolled-out rectangle of bread dough that is approximately 12″ x 24″. It’s OK if it isn’t a perfect rectangle.
Filling:
- 1 stick of butter
The butter should be room temperature, slightly mushy. Microwave it for a few seconds if it isn’t soft enough to spread. Spread the butter across the entire dough surface using a spatula or similar. Go all the way to the edges.
In a bowl, mix together:
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 4 tablespoons ground cinnamon
Use a fork to mix them together in the bowl and break up the brown sugar lumps by squishing them.
Then shake out the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture from bowl so it lands across the entire buttered dough surface and evenly spread it around the entire surface with a spatula or similar, all the way to the edges.
Roll up the dough, using the long side of the rectangle: the roll should be 24″ long when complete. Keep the roll reasonably tight instead of saggy. When done, you should have a roll that is 24″ long and about 3″ in diameter. Using a steak knife, bread knife or other good serrated cutting instrument that cuts without too much squishing, gently cut the roll into pieces about 1 3/4 inches wide. You may wish to discard the two end pieces you cut from the roll, because they are uneven, but only if you are a perfectionist. Otherwise dunk them in cinnamon sugar and put them in the baking pan too.
I recommend a layer of parchment paper on the bottom baking pan, even though there are already 2 sticks of butter present – it will make for much easier cleanup, and it will help the cooked cinnamon butter goo to stick to the rolls instead of the bottom of the pan. Gently place all the cut pieces into a baking pan on their flat cut side. When placing in the pan, try to avoid letting the cinnamon sugar filling fall out. The rolls should be spaced out in the pan. It should fill about a 9×9 pans plus a 9×13 pan.
If you rolled out the dough on parchment paper, you’ll likely have some loose sugar on the paper. Sprinkle all the remaining loose sugar on top of the rolls in the pan.
Cover the pan (ie, plastic wrap) while rising to keep the dough from prematurely drying.
Give the dough time to rise, so that the rolls in the pan are starting to touch each other – this could be 2 to 3 hours. You could do a hack here and just start cooking them and the dough will rise during cooking, but I don’t think it turns out as good.
If your oven has a proofing cycle then use it.
Bake the rolls at about 385 degrees until the the bread dough on top starts to show a bit of toasty brown. I like to put the rolls on the rack in the top half of the oven, so the tops brown and the bottoms stay tender – this gets the pan away from the heat source on the bottom, and toasts the top where the heat collects at the top. You don’t want them to overcook, as the bread could turn dry. You want them to stay a bit moist, with a very slight hint of dough. I cook mine for about 15 minutes – expect to see a toasty top and a still-white bottom. Take them out of the oven to cool a few minutes. Grabbing the edge of the parchment paper, carefully lift everything out of the hot pan so that they do not continue cooking in the pan. Let sit to go from hot to warm While they are cooling, work on the frosting.
Frosting:
- 4 oz of cream cheese (room temperature, half of a standard 8 oz package)
- 1 stick of margarine/butter
- 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp salt
Put all these ingredients into a bowl and blend with a motorized mixer until it changes from dusty clumpy to smooth moist frosting. You might want to add a bit more vanilla extract for some more flavor.
After the rolls go from hot to warm, apply the frosting. If you put the frosting on while hot, the frosting will melt completely, which probably isn’t what you want. Eat them soon after applying the frosting, while they are still warm. All of them, which is why some friends or neighbors should be present or within delivery distance. This ain’t health food, it’s happy food.
marcelk.org 