Fresh Cinnamon Rolls
Who knew a bread machine could bring so much fun into my day. I’ve wanted one for years but never got around to purchasing one for myself, so I was quite excited to receive one as a gift recently. I’ve tested two bread recipes so far and both turned out quite nice. My first was a cinnamon raisin fruit bread. It was delightful and so I tried a multi grain recipe, making a loaf of whole wheat oat bread with nuts. This was another successful taste test. So what’s a girl to do but push on to the more complicated options.
This time I decided to make cinnamon rolls. It looked like a big job, but I decided I’m going to try it. Oh my gosh, what a surprise. They were not that complicated and they were amazing!! Yum, I could eat them every day. Of course I’d weigh the size of a small elephant, but these cinnamon rolls are exquisite. They are the perfect addition to brunch or a welcome gift for a friend. Your family will adore them and the effort is not what you might expect, because the bread machine does most of the work for you.
Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls
3/4 C warm milk 90-100 degrees F
1 lg egg
3 C Bread Flour
3 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
4 Tbsp butter
1 pkg or 1 1/2 tsp Fast Rise Yeast or active dry yeast. Both work in a pinch but the fast rise is recommended.
Filling:
1/3 C butter
1/3 C sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg (optional)
1/2 C chopped nuts
Select Bread Setting: DOUGH
Add warm milk and egg to bread maker pan. Add bread flour, 3 Tbsp sugar and the salt to the pan. Tap on the edge of the pan to settle dry ingredients. Push some of the dry ingredients in to the corners of the pan. Place a tsp of butter in each of the four corners of the pan.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients; add yeast. Lock pan into bread maker. Program for DOUGH and start bread maker. My particular bread maker takes 1 hour 20 min to prepare the dough. The great thing is that I can go off and do something else and come back to dough ready to prep for the oven. It is an amazing process.
When your bread dough is complete place it on a flour surface and knead it for one minute. Next let it rest for fifteen minutes in a warm place. After fifteen minutes roll out the dough into a 15×10 rectange and spread with melted butter to within 1 inch of the edge of the dough. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon mixture, nutmeg and chopped nuts. Roll dough up tightly on the long side. Press the edges to seal form into a 12 inch long evenly shaped roll. With a knife cut the roll into 12 individual pieces.
* Key Step: Place the rolls in a 9×13 pan where the rolls are touching each other. They baked better for me when they were closer together. They came out more soft and moist. Let them RISE 30 to 45 min.
Bake in a preheated oven @ 375 degrees. Bake them about 17 minutes. Watch them and adjust time as needed. Do not over bake. They become hard when overbaked. I over baked my first batch…sigh. I learned from it and the next batch were perfect!
Frosting;
1 container of whipped cream cheese
powdered sugar
a tsp of milk
a tsp of vanilla
Mix about 1/2 container of the whipped cream cheese with some powdered sugar, no exact amount necessary, just watch as you mix it. You will know by the consistency. You want a frosting that spreads easily but doesn’t run. Use very little milk. Frost the cinnamon rolls while they are warm. This recipe makes 12 good sized rolls.
Photo Credit: Lisa Overman